Franciscan Well Blarney Blonde

Cask (gravity) @ GBBF 09, Great British Beer Festival, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England.
Clear light to medium yellow orange color with a small, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, white to off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, toasted, butter. Flavor is moderate sweet and light to moderate bitter with a average duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is flat. [20090804]

Got this on draught in the Bull and Castle pub in Dublin. Pleasant golden colour with a decent and fairly lasting white head. Nice fruity aroma with a Taste was quite citrus and gently hoppy with a nice clean, crisp and slightly bitter finish but was perhaps a little watery. Had a nice, lasting aftertaste. Beer was better than I expected and I may well go back to it at another stage.

Cask at GBBF. Pale yellow with a small white head. Sweet malt aroma with diacetyl. Sweet and thin diacetyl bomb in the mouth.

Draft pint at the brewpub. A golden beer, white topped. It’s a bit frothy. Straw and sweet grass dominate in this surprisingly authentic koelsch. Yummy (#3662, 9/13/2009)

Draft. A hazy pale golden beer with a thick white head. The aroma is malty combined with lighter notes of butter and straw. The flavor is sweet with notes of malt and straw as well as lighter notes of lemon, butter, and bread, leading to a dry bitter finish. The body is a bit light.

Cask@GBBF2009. Yellowish golden colour, small head. Aroma is earth, fruits, spices, mild oak as well as some bready malts. Flavour is lots of wood, some yeast as well as mildly diacetylic notes. Quite wooden in the finish.

Cask (gravity) at GBBF 2009, Day 1. Very pale straw colour. Unfortunately the aroma was dominated by a heavy diacetyl taint which masked any other elements, particularly in a delicate Kolsch style (would not have guessed at Kolsch as the style). Diacetyl is less noticeable on the palate but there was rather a paucity of any defining character in the flavour. Maybe a hint of yeast and something ever so slightly sour. Thin, somewhat watery mouthfeel. I had assumed the cask had not survived the journey too well but some of the other ratings, from closer to its home, are not too complementary either. If anything it seemed to me that this was aimed in the same direction as some of "Light" offerings that many US brewpubs feel compelled to produce. I’m prepared to give it a second chance but I certainly can’t say I enjoyed it too much on this showing.

Cask@GBBF. Pale yellow color, small white head. Wet socks, diacetyl butterscotch nose. Flat mouthfeel. Pear, sweat, diacetylic flavor. Light lemony hops. Weird.