Legend Golden Ale

Brewed by Legend Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Richmond, Virginia USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

Darker gold than the lager and a longer lasting, bone-white head. The aroma surprises me. This is hop dominant. Since when are golden ales hoppy? Apricot, amarillo-like hops. Really more of an IPA than a golden ale. A surprise.

On tap at the VBF. Pours a light amber with white head. Sour malt in the nose and flavor. Eh.

Largish draught sample at the brewpub. Clear oily gold with a smidgeon of lasting head....buttery caramel and plenty of dry toast in the nose, some light woody hops evident through the diacetyl haze....very robust, sweet, woody hop character dominates the thick, lightly syrupy body....as it warms, leafy pungent notes creep into both nose and tongue, with a light farmhouse yeastiness and some mineralic/metallic bitterness that hamper the finish and mouthfeel somewhat.....the pungent, funky earthy/herbal stuff is really interesting, and saves this from being a total wash, but it was definitely the least successful sample I tried.

Draught at the Brewery: No aroma. Seriously, I passed it around the table and no one smelled a thing. Golden color. Sparkling. Good, creamy white head which lasted. Tasted acidic. Some hints of caramel malts. Essentially it made me think I was drinking old mayonnaise. Sour finish. Light bodied. Lively carbonation. Not very drinkable, unless you like the to drink sweatsocks. What is this supposed to be? What is was was pretty gross. I’m with Braudog on this one.

22oz Well they dropped the IPA off the end of this one and they might have dropped me off the frequent buyer list. Pours a very light golden color with foamy with head. The aromas are pretty energetic but much less citrus now that it is only a golden. It does have a certain degree of creamy feel in the mouth with can be enjoyable. Overall not a bad quaffable beer from Legend but I remember liking it much better with the more solid hop structure it used to possess.

First Beer from the Richmond brewery. Not a bad ale. It could use some work in the malt department in terms of making the beer a little bit breadier and darker. The hops are pretty good, though not the best I’ve had.

UPDATED: JUL 27, 2006 22 oz. Bottle. Fantastic find. Orange color, powerful aroma of a variety of fruit was shocked by the very fresh flavor without any bad tastes or aroma.

Bottle. Pours a brilliant orange ambre with a huge head. Sweet citrus, grapefruit, mango, butterscotch, and almost a slight caramel aroma. Outstanding. Flavor is along the same lines, with a lot of butterscotch up front, followed by a very nice long hop linger. I like this one!