Review: 21st Street Sweet Lea Dry-Hopped Blonde Ale

When I was in Saskatoon back in September 2017 I was looking on Untappd for ideas of breweries and 21st Street Brewery came up on the list. Unfortunately I looked and looked for the brewery but couldn't find the place. Fast forward to now, I finally get to try their beer thanks to Greg over at Flatland Beer. Today's sampling is Sweet Lea Dry-Hopped Blonde Ale.

From the label: Every artist needs a muse, to inspire and incite them. The muse comes in many different forms but is often a different person who holds a special place in the artist's heart. Sweet Lea is a dry-hopped blonde ale with ripe mango, orange zest and lemon aromas, a light bready malt and more fruits in the body, and a hint of bitterness in the finish. 4.6% ABV

Appearance: Quite a foamy brew, it took a good few minutes for the head to go down enough for me to finally take a photo and then sample the beer, so foamy that if I added a hint of beer, the head would balloon like as if I was making dough or something. The body is quite cloudy with an amber appearance to it, moderate amount of carbonation. Once the head settles, it's a beige hue and fairly light.

Aroma: The malt pops out first to give off a bit of a toasted grain presence to it, followed by a really good hop presence to it - it's floral, citrusy and a tad fruity. I'm getting notes of lemon, grass, a hint of caramel, slight pine bitterness, the smell after a nice autumn rain storm, and a slight iron aroma to it.

Taste: The first thing I get from the beer is that I get a bit of an Earl Grey tea-like herbal presence to it. Floral hops, a bit of grass, notes of lemon and a bit of a fruitiness to it - certainly mango but it's ever so subtle. Hint of pine at the end.

Overall Thoughts: I lost a bit of the beer thanks to the foam overflowing from the glass and it was a bit heavy on the stomach. That being said, it was a decent beer, not your typical Blonde Ale as it was quite a bit more hop forward than most, pretty decent. While it does have a bit of fruitiness to it, I would've liked more mango and orange zest popping up.

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