McNeills Big Nose Blonde Ale

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

Bottle: O.k. nose. Toasty with a hint of citrus. Classic yellow/gold color. A quick hint of the toasty malt and into a bitter hop finish that stays a while. Was prepared not to like this. Not one of my usual flavors. I ended up a bit suprised. Not a bad lighter ale

Plain gold color, very fine whispy head. Flavor has a quick hop snap up front, but then dies immediately. Not a very pleasing hop bite either.

"big nose" is in reference to the lion on the label who, like the lion in the wizard of oz, got bopped for being very presumptuous. at first blush this was like a cut-rate pils to MY big nose, but then on inspiration from bacchus i opened a german krombacher pils to sample beside it. voila, the mcneill’s instantly seemed much improved. by contrast it was much more fruity and floral (mysteriously perfumy) ; the plain-jane krom smelled merely of match sticks. the big nose (the ale, not mine) is sure enough blonde, with a head that, when viewed from above makes a deep moonscape of swirls, ridges and craters. flavor is dinner rolls dabbed with fragrant hop butter; sweet start, gentle carbonation, light bodied, morphing to dryish finish and moderate bitterness. as ratebeerian ’steak’ says, it didn’t knock my socks off. on the contrary, my socks got tighter. good session ale, anyway.

Big nose? Is this meant to say that there is a large aroma from this brew? Well there isn’t a large aroma, much less any aroma at all. There was a little, and I stress little, floral aroma. Color was a fairly clear maize. Taste was very clean and crisp with a pretty good body cosidering the style. Dosen’t really have any wheaty characteristics like some blonds can have. Finishes with a smidgen of hops taste, but the beer was pleasant throughout. Nothing to knock one’s socks off, but at the same time nothing that one would pour down the drain.

Not much in the way of aroma. Nice, light maltiness with a bitterness to compliment, probably cascade or centennial. This is a good beer for the hot Atlanta days.

Is this McNeills mainstream beer (or is it the Firehouse). Very good light beer.

Always a beautiful beer in the McNeill style, hoppy, aromatic and big bodied

01:Not distinctive enough to qualify as 'great' this is nonetheless a fine light ale, with a light flowery nose (where did 'Big Nose' come in? Bud has a 'bigger' nose), sweet/sour citrus/honey tang, and a slightly bitter but clean finish. Another winner from this fine brewer.

03: Ah, what 2 years will do your knowledge; even though I'm rating this lower, I probably liked it more...I just overrated a lot of stuff when I first got on. Anyways, this is a dull golden, small-to-medium-headed specimen with a big nose indeed, if you let it warm up properly. Very "tropical" fruity aroma, full of apricots, mangos, limes, malt but little hops. Delicate and delicious. The flavor is less distinctive, caramel and buttery, a bit on the bland side, with light hop bitterness at the end. Smooth, medium body. Certainly a fine blonde, but no great shakes for McNeills.