New Glarus Hometown Blonde

Brewed by New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: Pilsener
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

This is balls to the wall pilsner; if you can’t take it than switcth to smirnoff ice! Bitter and full flavored session pils; acidity, hops, hops, malt, hops, and refreshment. A great beer for the summer. This is Wisconsin baby and you bettta recognize game.

12oz, 2007. Dan Carey told me this was his favorite easy drinking beer he made. Pours a clear golden with a one finger white head that fades to a film. Aroma of grassy and spicy hops, though the grass is dominant. There are some biscuits and some light fruitiness. Flavor adds a lemony orangey character, and I don’t think it’s the same type of fruitiness I got in the aroma. Grassy and spicy hops are back stronger in the flavor, though the grass in dominant. Grain and biscuits make up the backbone. Not a lot of bitterness here. Moderate creamy carbonation with a light to medium body. Very good and very refreshing.

Bottled, April 2007 release. Poured a clear bright golden with a long-lasting rocky beige head. Aroma was quite pleasant with cereal, floral, and a faint hint of lemon zest representin’. Flavor found about the same stuff.. a crisp cereal and honey base with mild floral and citrus bitter accents. Crisp and lighter-bodied, and full of flavor.. left a somewhat sweet and very refreshing finish.. Great stuff!

Aroma of subtle lemon, light malt and a hint of corn with floral notes. Golden-yellow in color with a nice white head that thins. Light, honey/bread flavors with noticeable noble-hop flavor that are lightly spicy with some floral, earthy bitterness. There is also a hint of minerals in the finish. Body is medium-light, but the texture is fairly "big" feeling, coating the mouth. The finish sticks with you, with some drying bitterness and a touch of minerals. Interesting, probably the best pilsener I’ve had. Thanks malachi for gifting me a couple bottles!

Pours a golden amber with off-white head. Aroma of grains & grass with some mild hoppiness. Flavor follows aroma, but introduces some honey notes and a bitterness on the finish.

Decent looking clear golden colored beer with a well retained egg white head. Aroma is grassy/hay. Flavor improves upon the aroma with a straightforward bitter hop bite. There is a dash of oat grain in the finish. A good beer, excellent for the style.

12 oz bottle: a foaming, clear yellow monster…an ice cream like mound remains as the head shrinks. A sweet malty aroma crinkles the nose, but does boast some decent banana, and hop presence does offer some solace…thin, watery palate with minimal flavours of soap, bitter honey, and wet grain. A stronger hop presence would make this one very nice.

I thought this was really good. Really, this is a style that doesn’t get much respect--"blonde" often stands in for a brewpub or microbrewery’s least offensive beer intended for the masses. But in the hands of New Glarus it is a very subtle, sensitive beer. Pouring a clear yellow with a rich white head--as advertised--the aroma is very fresh, with little of the stale grass notes often found. A few citrus notes complement a very gentle hop touch, with a restrained bitterness that lets you know it is in a German style. Nice enough carbonation (nothing to distinguish it, however, though that is a commentary on the style rather than the brewing). I could drink this one on a regular basis, and I virtually never say that about pilseners. Well done, New Glarus!