Grimbergen: Blonde Ale

I have a new attraction: blondes. While that is an incredibly cliche intro to this post, that's the most apt way of describing my latest craze for blonde ales; an attraction. Within the past couple months, whenever I am at the liquor store or on a bar stool I find myself gravitating toward the blondes. If you dig through my 50+ prior posts I'm sure you'll see in there somewhere that I have professed my love for pale ales and amber ales. While I can't say that I have changed my preference away from hoppy American ales, I find myself more and more preferring a Belgian Blonde.

As a result of this latest crazy, my latest visit to the store resulted in the purchase of a sixer of Grimbergen Blonde Ale. Grimbergen starts with an incredible aroma of fruit, bubble gum, and touch of yeast. The most amazing and unique part of this brew is how bubbly it is. Honestly this is this might be the most carbonated bottled beer I've ever seen. As soon as I poured it into the improper glasswear, the air pockets have been racing their way to the top. I'm been drinking some of these guys pretty slow and no matter how long I let the glass sit on the table the bubbles keep screaming to the top. These bubbles also create more than just a visual effect. The carbonation cuts through the thickness of the beer pretty nicely making the beer feel lighter and easier to drink. The initial taste is kinda bready but the aftertaste clearly has a strong citrus flavor. While the citrus lingers a little long leaving almost a sour feeling on the tongue it doesn't taint the flavor of the beer and it's still dry enough to round out the flavors.

While not my favorite blonde ale ever, again this was exactly what I was in the mood for. And I guess I'm ok if that preference never changes back. Cheers.