Goose Island Belgian Blonde Ale

Draft at Clybourne. Pours golden with a white head. Light bodied, but not watery. Flavor is sweet, with notes of pineapple, pear, and apple. Just enough hops to be detectable, but not to balance it with sweetness. Some dusty and yeast notes on the finish. If you like sweet beers, this is good.

Cask at the Clybourn location. The nose is lightly citrusy with a soft wheaty spiciness. A little bit of light sulfurousness as well. Fruity and lightly wheaty with a light herbal/fruity hoppiness on the back. Just a kiss of apple and pear and a light flinty bitterness. Quite light but tasty and quaffable nonetheless.

Had on tap after a tour at Clybourn. Strong spicy aroma, very fruit flavor. As I drank, the hops came out in flavor and aroma.

Light golden color with a moderate white head. Pale malts, light candi and mildly spicy hops scents. Pale malt, sweet start with some decent spice and ester. Cloves and bananas in a belgian way verses a weiss way. Reminds me of a thin Duvel, back when Duvel was better, if that makes any sense.

on tap at GI LPB, pours hazy gold with small white head. nose is sweet candy sugar, some spice and hay. flavors are sweet with spicy yeast finish, clean and pretty simple, a touch too sweet for making this not very drinkable.

Cask conditioned via firkin at Dark Lord Days ’08. Pours a clear golden pale brew with a thin white head that quickly dissipates due to cask drawn beer. Aroma of light multi-grain bread malt, some coriander, a touch of banana and some white pepper. Taste is medium bodied, no carbonation, with flavors of bread malt, coriander some citrus zest and a touch of cloves. Finish is semi-sweet with a hint of banana esters/yeast aftertaste that quickly disappears.

Draft at GI Clybourn. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot, but turns out I loved this one. Poured a clear golden color with a white head. Some lace was left behind at the end. Enticing aroma of fresh citrus fruits and light clove. Light bodied and pleasantly effervescent, even a little chalky. The flavor was similar to the aroma with citrus stronger than clove and accompanying subdued banana. Delicious.

A decent enough version of this deceptive style. It actually pics up points due to the the fact that the Japanese hops they apparently use offer a nice resiny character. Nothing amazing, though it’s interesting how the resiny hops interact with the phenols produced by the yeast. bananas and cloves. Chill haze. Decent.