Clipper City Gold Ale

Brewed by Clipper City Brewing Co.
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Baltimore, Maryland USA

Received 12-oz bottle via trade with kmweaver. Pours a golden pale blonde brew with a fast dissolving white head that leaves behind a fine film. Aroma of very light and could just barely pick up the bread-like-malt, honey, flowery hops, and some sweet citrus. Taste is soft, light bodied with little carbonation. Flavors picked up include light malt, and some faint lemon zest. Finish is light, crisp and hardly any bitterness. A decent summer beer overall.

12 oz bottle (Thanks again to Pam). Not too terribly much on the aroma, but fresh smelling. Notes of medium sweet fruits (apples, pears), some lighter grain malt, minor bread, and leafy hops. Fairly light head on the pour, carbonation bubbles, fairly transparent, and bright gold in color. A drinkable beer, but a few grassy hop notes that are a bit off to me. Not bad feeling on the palate, as it’s light but not watery. Most of the flavors are fairly non-distinct with some light fruit, pale grains, and decently prominent hops. Really not a bad beer, but I can’t think of a time where I would really think to go for this one. Just not refreshing enough to me to think of it as a good summer beer.

Serving: Draft. Appearance: Hazy gold with a thin, foamy, white head. The head disappears pretty quickly leaving behind little in the way of lacing. Aroma: Yeasty, pale malt nose with little to offer. Taste: Fruity and light with slight wheat like notes, some yeast, light honey and floral notes. Wholly uninspiring. You can drink it by the gallon though. Palate: Medium carbonation with a light mouthfeel and a short finish. Overall: Lawnmower fare that you can drink all day. Just enough flavor to keep me going. NobleSquirrel is right, I would take this over BMC any day.

A pure gold appearance, as it should be, this brew only has some solid "golden ale" flavor towards the end of the sip. This is more of a "nachos beer" because it is light. I prefer something more Belgian in flavor.

Bottle at Mo’s Crabhouse in Baltimore. One of the bottles was a beer slushy, but I didn’t mind as it was 95 degrees outside. Pale gold with a fizzy head. Nose is grainy and cloral, a bit sweet. Taste is very light and easy to drink, would drink this over pale lagers any day. Great lawn mower beer. Nice.

On gravity cask, served in a nonic pint glass. Hazy light gold with a thin head. Smells of grain, faint hops, and a touch of DMS. Flavor was similar but the hops played a slightly larger role. Easily drinkable but got boring after half of the pint.

July 2009 Beer of the Month Club , 8/2/09

Aroma: Grainy, floral, light fruits, caramel, honey
Appearance: Clear gold color, minimal head, light lacing
Flavor: Light blond flavor, lots of malts, and some light fruity hops
Palate: Light body, an alright (not great) mouthfeel
Overall Impression: Thanks a lot Beer of the Month Club for sending me another beer from the state I live in! Really? Can’t you send me something from somewhere a little bit away from here? That’s just annoying...
Anyway, this beer was OK, I’m not a huge blond fan (when it comes to beer anyway), but this was drinkable. Eh, not much else to say, it was just OK...

Draft. Pours a slightly hazy light gold with almost no head and thus no retention and no lacing. Aroma is bready, doughy malt with some lemon, grass, cereal, honey, and Fuggles hops. Taste is biscuity malt with honey, light citrus, and faint balancing English hops. Because it poured with no head, I feel that the oxidation has really given this brew a poor showing.