Blue Ridge (MD) Golden Ale

Brewed by Wild Goose LLC (Flying Dog)
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Frederick, Maryland USA

At first whiff I thought it was a plain cheese pizza. There’s no cheese in the taste, but does remind me of plain pizza crust. Only a slight malty taste. Overall, I’d say this beer is a lot like going out to a bad club. You try it, it’s not bad, but it’s not good, you keep thinking it’s going to get better, but in the end, you realize you should have just moved on to a new bar much earlier in the evening.

Bottle. Large white fizzy head that mostly dissipated, fine-small sized bubbles, sparse lacing, carbonated, yeasty, hazy, and a straw yellow hue. Aroma was malty, sweet and somewhat skunky. Malty, sweet flavor that was not very impressive. Tingly palate.

Bottle: Looking at the bottle this appears to be bottle conditioned with a small amount of yeast visable on the bottom. Slightly hazy medium golden yellow body with a small frothy white head. The head on this beer diminishes somewhat quickly, leaving you thinking it’s just going to die away, but then recedes to a small ring that leaves a fair amount of wispy head on top of the beer. Aroma is a faint light honey scent, followed by some waxy citrus, herbal, and lemony hops, cookie dough, bread, sweaty malt, and a hint of vegitables (I think this may be due to the combination of malt and hops rather than quality control). Taste is initally sweaty/bready light malt, very much like a pilsner, then the citrus, lemon, and plant-like hop flavors shine through - though they’re much more subtle than an IPA, they hit at about the same time as the carbonation so you almost perceive the beer as very bitter. There’s a touch of honey, biscuit, and stale malt too....and there’s that hint of vegitables again (faint) or maybe it’s yeast + stale hops...it’s difficult to tell what exactly, but it’s not what I want in my beer. Light to medium bodied, watery mouth feel, medium carbonation. If they were to get rid of the slight vegi flavors and introduce a bit more malt sweetness and body this beer would be excellent.

This bottled brew poured a large sized frothy head of white colored mostly diminishing finely sized bubbles that left behind a very carbonated transparent but slightly hazy body. It had a malty bready floral aroma. The mouth feel was tingly and very bubbly causing it to foam up in my mouth as I tried to drink it. This made it very difficult to drink. Too bubbly. The crisp flavor was that of mild malts and mild hops.

Hazy, dark golden with a medium-sized white head that is partially diminishing. Aroma of honey, cookie malts, and a light earthiness. Cookie malt sweetness initially is followed with a sour graininess and hints of cardboard and stale bread. Mildly carbonated, with a decent, hefty mouthfeel. Not very interesting or particularly tasty.

Bottle: Yep it’s golden with a small lasting head and good lace. The aroma has notes of pale and biscuity malts, floral hops, orange zest, and veggies. The taste starts citric and twangy with a very mild bitterness. Get a bit of pale malts throughout. A touch soapy on teh finish. The feel is watery and bland. Overall, it is better than most of the blonde ales out there, so give it a try.

In the bottle. Sparkling gold in color with big bubbles and a frothy white head. Nice lacing. Mild hop aroma coupled to a sweet flowery scent. Surprising tart flavor without the sweetness or hop bitterness expected. Tasty, yet harmless.

Has a zesty aroma full of spice...taste was a bit sweet for my liking I would pass on this brew next time.