4 Hands Single Speed Session

Brewed by 4 Hands Brewing Company
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
St. Louis, Missouri USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Tap at brewery. Pour i slightly cloudy yellow with a small white head. Aroma is very floral with hints of spice, lemon, chamomile, and a touch of grass. Flavor is also very floral with large crisp pollen notes and a touch of lemon. I am really impressed by the smooth potency of the Elderflowers in this beer. I Was not expecting the Blonds ale to be my favorite offering by this place so far.

Guest tap
Before heading out of town I stopped by a local restaurant for one last taste of Saint Louis. Noticing some interesting local session beers I finally settled on this decent blonde ale. It isn’t anything remarkable but with the right setting it makes for a solid alternative to the usual suspects that you always see at bars.

Aroma / Appearance - Golden with very lively carbonation the white frosty head traps a fairly straightforward nose. The main driver is lemon zest but otherwise this fades as fast as it appears.

Flavor / Palate - A bitter first impression cedes to a lemony midpoint and then a wave of residual hoppiness. For 5% it is a bit warm and boozy. There’s not much to recall after a few minutes as well. As a result this is a mostly average beer but local rather than mass produced somewhere halfway around the country.

Shared draft at the brewpub. Typical, usual appearance factors here -- middle of the road amber, clear, active, and well topped. My initial impression is of gristy wheat, but then it’s topped with a nice tight bitter finish. Citrus is the predominate thing I get from it, but suppose the red wheat adds that graininess -- not sure how the elderflower plays out, but this is a nice enjoyable, snappy beer. (#4503, 2/25/2012)

On tap at the brewery over X-Mas. Pours a hazy gold with great, full white head. Lots of grain on both aroma and flavor. Some slight chalk on the finish.

Sampler at the brewpub. It poured a hazy golden color with a small white head. The aroma was very light and perfectly balanced with a touch of sweetness that over powers the hops. The taste was a little malty with a light hop bitterness at the end. A very good blonde ale.

Draft in a sampler at 4 Hands. Pours a somewhat cloudy pale gold color with a small white head that sticks most of the way down. Aroma of floral and earthy hops, wheat, bready palts, and crackers. The flavor mostly follows suit, with some bready, sweet, and pale malts, dry wheat and grains, and big floral notes. The elderflower is really doing its thing here. Light-bodied, with a dry mouthfeel and moderate carbonation. Even though this was my least favorite of the four in the sampler, this is a nice session blonde (’session’ by American standards; I know an Englishman would cringe at a 5% ’session’ ale).