High & Mighty Beer of the Gods

High & Mighty Beer Co
Brewed at Paper City Brewery
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Holyoke, Massachusetts USA

Thanks to Tom for the bottle. In the glass this is a wonderful clear blond brew with a rich frothy white head. Great carbonation. The nose is full of big herbs - juniper, rosemary, heather and thyme - with some lemon, pine, apples, pears, cloves, and pepper. Great refreshing taste with light fruit, spice, honey, herbal and floral notes. Dry, spicy finish with a great hop taste that lingers forever. Perfectly balanced, dangerously drinkable, and hugely appealing, this brew is really something special. Not just for the geeks. This is a very well done beer.

The malt base of this is solid but not the kind of thing that draws alot of attention to itself, which is probably why some (dumbasses) don’t "get" this stuff. The copious amount of noble hops piled on top of a sturdy yet basic continental malt frame really makes this an amazingly joyous ale that is about as satisfying as beer can hope to be, there’s maybe some vague hints of mushroom and papery oxidation way in the background here but overall this is "the shit"...IMnotHO, if you can’t grasp what’s good about this then you should probably just give up on describing why a particular beer is good.

Pours a cloudy cake-yellow with a creamy, steamed milk like head that settles but doesn’t die out. Instantly I think Zinnebir, due to the fresh grass and golden cake notes, only this beer is hoppier, somewhat sweeter, and with a slightly less enchanting malt profile. Being unfiltered really helps with the mouthfeel, which is creamy. Something about it reminded me of a pilsener but it’s hard to describe. the important thing is that the beer is very very well made and interesting, but still what most would consider a session beer. If this beer were more readily available I think it would be extremely popular, which is astrange thing to say about a beer so well made. I plan on having many of these in my lifetime.

12oz brown bottle from Florian’s. Very hazy yellow body with a half inch of white head. Smells malty with a good dose of floral hops. Tastes like citrussy pithy floral hops with caramel malt making a nice malt backbone. The mix of hops is really nice. Lighter bodied with only a moderate amount of carbonation. The great flavor and light mouthfeel make this a really drinkable beer. It has the perfect balance of full flavor and refreshing drinkability. Good stuff.

12 oz bottle from Spirit Haus in Amherst MA (September 2006) imbibed from a HOTD glass at cellar temperature. Totally stunning appearance, shiny/luminous very cloudy, unfiltered yellow-gold with a gigantic fluffy ice-cream-soda head which very slowly descends leaving thick, thick lacing....very fresh grassy, perfumy aroma, faint traces of oak and white grapes and a bit of orange zest, rather complex for the style but mostly inviting and zippy....crisp, bitter character predominates in the body, reminiscent more of a German pils at first than an English golden ale -- it actually fits the commercial description very well -- with sharp dry grassy hops increasing throughout the mouthfeel, though light caramelized textures in the malts and lower carbonation do belie initial lager feel....wonderfully round, the balance goes more to sweetness and maltiness with warmth....this is just beautiful and will certainly be a regular fixture for me now that it’s available in Vermont.

Thanks to Beer Swap 1.0 for this. Pours hazy morning urine yellow with 2-finger white head. Definite 4-5 look for this. The aroma is spicy and floral, with a sweet lemongrassy note, plus some perfume coated pears, apricots, rose petals, and slight funky yeast. The flavor is spicy, floral, but not dry liek your standard bier de garde. It has a good wet citrusy hoppy spicy note, with some late additional spices and florals. The flavor is complex, and nicely balanced. If I didn’t know any better, I would have pegged this as a Belgian brewed saison. Actually, it reminds me a great deal of a younger brother of Bells Two Hearted. It’s that good. Arguably the best blond/golden ale I’ve yet quaffed, and its a travesty of the halls of beerdom that the ratings are so low for this. There is a case of this at Pat’s, and I just hope no one beats me to it! Get ya some today, and get some for your step father too!

Hazy golden orange with a large head, good lacing and retention. Aroma is a huge blast of fruit and grass. Like, loaded without being overbearing. I can’t stop smelling it. For a golden ale.. wow. Flavor brings this with a relatively high bitterness, medium body. Big flavors for the style, but also very well balanced. My favorite Golden Ale, if the 6 packs are $8 or less I’m buying a case, which says a lot.

12 oz bottle. Hazy gold with a big white head. Sweet bread and lemongrass nose, some perfume and orange notes. Surprising initial bite, a dry, bitter grass flavor, followed by white grapefruit and bread. Crisp, lively mouthfeel, but not from carbonation - the flavors really wake your tongue up! Sharp, grassy finish. More like a hopped up saison than a golden ale, but an excellent beer whatever you call it. A pleasant surprise!