SLO Honey Blonde

Brewed by Downtown Brewing (formerly SLO Brewing Co)
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
San Luis Obispo, California USA

OK. I cut and pasted this part from my other ratings at SLO brewing: "Tried at the brewpub in downtown Paso Robles after a day of visiting wineries. Man, the wineries ROCK here. What an awesome day. What a better way to finish off the day than to sit down with a sampler platter of ice cold uber-crappy beer." On to the beer: Yellow color. Lightly sweet. Hint of dishrag. No bitterness or hop aroma or flavor.

Draught at the Santa Barbara location. Dark gold apple juice color with no head. Watery iced tea with plenty of honey in the aroma. The flavor is dominated by the honey, with a slight tea quality as well. Quite sweet, like honey was stirred into the beer, and almost no bitterness. Light and watery body. Wow, this almost doesn’t taste at al like beer, but is manageable enough. I don’t think I would enjoy a whole pint of this though.

Pours a clear, bright golden colour. Head is a little weak- both in size and aroma. Leaves behind little evidence of lacing. aroma is faint of fruit and grain. On the palate, very light again, slightly watery, grainy and hint of corn.

Paso Robles location. Very light beer that has a big honey nose (not cloying) but a very nice honey and spice flavor. Smooth and easy to drink on a hot summer day.

Draft at Claim Jumpers. Very smooth, light-yellow. Not a lot of flavor, but a hint of banana. Won’t buy again.

Had as a beer sampler at the new Santa Barbara Downtown Brewing co.Not much aroma.color was average amber.Had a weak taste of honey.The base beer was not very pleasant.Kind of like a miller.Won’t buy again.Just your average crappy beer.

Draught at Claim Jumper, Lombard, IL. At first the bartender said this was buckwheat honey, which may be. Pours a light lager color with a thin lacy head. There is a nice honey smell that I don’t pick up with other commercial "honey" beers. Taste is mostly light malts, less complex than even a pilsener. But a definite body instead the watered down texture of a mega-brew, so points there. Not sticky, but definitely some honey present, balanced by a nondescript bittering. Not a beer geek’s beer, but a decent starter.

Draught at the Claim Jumper in Rancho Bernardo, CA
Pale yellow color, light head and lacing. The nose is lightly grassy and sweet with honey and hops but falls flat in the malt department. An expectedly light beer but pulls a touch of flavor out and stands above a handful of other blonds. But then again, that’s not saying much.