Today's sampling is thanks to a good buddy in Ottawa who will be reading this, Ryan.. merci man! - Dominion City Brewing's Town & Country Blonde Ale. Their website describes it as a beer all about contrast, combining soft malty sweetness with a mild and citrusy hop crispiness. 5.5% ABVAppearance: The first thing I noticed was how frothy this beer was getting as I was pouring it - LOTS of head, but it's no surprise as the beer shows up just as frothy right on their website! The body is a deep, amber/golden colour with minimal clarity to it. Light carbonation in the body.
Aroma: This is a decently sweet Blonde Ale with notes of honey, sweet grainy breakfast cereal notes, but as well as a very hefty hop presence of pine and lemon. Decently bitter and floral. For the hop fanatic, it's pretty welcoming so far.
Taste: Sweet, grainy, hoppy. There's a honey-like sweetness throughout the beer, which reminds me of a good amount of Blonde Ales over the bajillion years I've been doing beer reviews. The Blonde Ale aspect stops there - there's a very aggressive hop presence to it that's giving off a bitter pine presence to it, a smidgen of grapefruit, and a lemon zestiness to it - it leaves behind a moderate bitter aftertaste. There's a tad bit of "Saturday morning breakfast cereal" vibe that us kids born in the 80s/early 90s will remember well, but for the most part.. it's pretty hop-forward.
Overall Thoughts: I didn't expect a Blonde Ale to be so aggressively bitter but here we are. Do you like hops? If so, you'll like this. If you're hoping for a retro Labatt 50 kind of beer, this isn't for you.. though 50 is pretty hoppy now days..
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