Beer 99: Atwater Brewery Blond Ale or Spring is Here!

Tonight you are getting lucky!  You get two posts for the price of one.  Gary led me astray at Wegman’s and told me that I hadn’t reviewed Magic Hat yet.  Their Vinyl was sitting there on the beer shelf, giving me the eye so I brought it home and the review is below.  But that isn’t tonight’s review.  Tonight I review Atwater Brewery’s Dirty Blonde -- a blond ale.  

It poured a crisp clear straw color in my glass.  It smells very mild -- lots of general beer scent.  I’ll blame that on my allergies.  The head was big and fluffy and shortlived.  If anyone remembers the blond ale I drank a few nights ago, this is nothing like that one.  It’s light and refreshing at 4.5% ABV albeit slightly on the thin side.  It drinks with hints of lemon citrus flavor and finishes with wheat notes.  I could see drinking a few of these at a Phillies game or PSU’s Blue-White game.  

And now onto tonight’s original post:

Last night we caught up with longtime friends and I spent way too much time talking beer as if I know what I’m talking about.  For whatever reason, it is still mildly frightening when someone heeds my opinion on beer and takes my blog with them when shopping for themselves.  I should not have this kind of influence!

But sitting outside until late in the evening last night combined with today’s beautiful weather has me thinking thoughts of spring and that has influenced my choice of beer this evening.  I went with Magic Hat’s spring seasonal -- Vinyl. 

It poured a fine amber in my glass with a thin, slightly off-white head.  My allergies are killing my sense of smell so the best I could do on that front is that it smells like lager.  The taste is uncomplicated.  Good balance between the malts and hops and it does finish with stronger hop notes.  There are definitely fruit notes - maybe plums?  Overall it is perfect for sitting on my deck, writing this post, rocking out to My Hoopty and crushing strangers in Words with Friends.  Cheers!

p.s.  Magic Hat hails from Burlington, Vermont - an insanely fun town.  It’s where a few of us ran a relay marathon a few years back under the team name The Sweat Hogs.  We had awesome matching t-shirts (with logos, of course) and coordinating headbands and wristbands.  

Do:

Eat at the sushi restaurant on Church Street (it was awesome, but I can’t remember the name of anything ever)

Run along Lake Champlain

Drink craft beer at many of their fine establishments

Don’t:

Run up Battery Street