New Belgium Blue Paddle

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Pilsener
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Bottle. Very clear golden beer with a thin white head. Grass and spice aroma. Light malt backing, spicey hops, just a bit of fruitiness. Clean crisp and dry. Sounds like your normal pilsner, but just a tad darker, and just missing something the great pilsners have.

Bottle Pours a crystal clear very light amber with a momentary white fizzy head leaving sparce lacing. Aroma is of light grains, not much hops and biased to the malts a bit. Flavor is a bitter, almost sour flavor at first, but after a moment the mellow, bread and yeast comes through. Still pretty easy on the hops. Feel is thin, dare I say, watery..and quite lively carbonation. Aftertaste is a pleasant and soft wheat bread flavor. Not bad..but forgetable.

I found this to be an interesting beer. Didn’t really care for it at first blush but it actually improved toward the end of the glass. Had almost no carbonation and very little head. Pleasant fragrance. Will look to try it again.

bottle poured a golden yellow with a medium head. nice hoppy arroma and taste with a citrus finish and palate. thin body and well carbonated.

Yes, on my trip out west I was happy to find a pilsner, but was unhappy when I tasted it. I have access to both the hop pocket and Prima versions of the style and much to my chagrin this had none of the rich spicy pils quality those two have. This beer is doable, I’d take it over a BMC any day, but it certainly is not a great pils. Passable head, the flavors were muddled, the color was wrong. Oh well. Will be back soon to my Prima!

(12 oz bottle) New Belgium’s web site talks about how they debated about whether to release a pilsener or not, and they should have held steady to their Belgian inspiration because this effort falls short of reaching the "upper echelon," as they put it; This is somewhat sweet, mildly malty and hoppy, and nicely balanced, but is rather light on the flavor, lacks crispness on the palate, and is, well, boring, plain and a big disappointment; The nose is lightly malty and hoppy, but not very pleasant; Yellow color is paler than expected; White head is creamy and large on the pour, and is buoyed by a plethora of large carbonation bubbles that rise rapidly through the beer; Large patches of dense lacing are left on the glass

Very light clear yellow. I like New Belgium beers and this one was great. Smooth and refreshing. I would buy this over any other New Belgium beer.

This beer pours a very clear light yellow color with a relatively small white head which disappeared extremely quickly. The aroma is very light and sweet, with hints of hops and grass...perhaps a bit of wheat in there, but its relatively quiet. The flavor is light and well...just pilsnery. Light wheats and grassy flavors, perhaps a hint of cleaner and clove...very strange. Weak but balanced..perfect for a ridiculously hot evening. Mild carbonation, worth a couple dollars for a six pack, but not a raters brew.