Blonde or Brown?

Do you like blondes or brunettes?

Me? I consider myself a brunette kinda guy, but my two favorite ladies, my girlfriend Erin and Scarlett Johansson, are both blonde. So I guess that makes me a blonde kinda guy.

But really, hair is hair. Who cares? Not me. One thing I do care about, though, is blonde and brown ale. Not hair, ALE.  These two different styles of beer are very different, with lots of adherents on either side.

Personally, I like them both, but I like brown ales a good bit more. I like the warm, rich, malty taste of a brown ale as opposed the smooth, clean, simple taste of a blonde.

Either way, I've picked out two examples of both to review for your drinking pleasure.  You can thank me later.

First up: Atlanta Brewing Company's Red Brick Blonde Ale.



ABC's Blonde Ale won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival back in 2007 in the Golden/Blonde Ale category. Pretty cool, huh? The AJC wrote a story about it, here, if you're interested.

The gold medal tells you that this beer is a perfect example of what a blonde ale should be. Only thing is, blonde ales are pretty simple. Here are the GABF's guidelines for a blonde/golden ale:

"Golden or blonde ales are straw to golden blonde in color. They have a crisp, dry palate, light to medium body and light malt sweetness. Low to medium hop floral aroma may be present but does not dominate. Bitterness is low to medium."

Sounds good, sure, but not good good. Not make you want to go out and buy a 6-pack good. Actually, to me, that sounds like the description of most big-box domestics from Bud, Miller, and Coors.

ABC's Blonde Ale isn't from Bud, Miller, or Coors, though, so you've got to give it points for that.  As far as taste goes, it's exactly what the GABF says it should be. Nothing more, nothing less (though I did get a slight plastic taste in the aftertaste).

In my notes, I wrote "totally inoffensive" and "good beer for a non-drinker who wants to support craft beer".

So there. 

I'm giving Atlanta Brewing Company's Red Brick Blonde Ale a 3/5. It's simple, but it's perfect for a session beer or for drinking with a burger or a pizza.

Next up, let's try Sierra Nevada's Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale. 

Sierra Nevada makes the world's best Pale Ale, pretty much everybody agrees. 

Their Brown Ale isn't as good.

When I think brown ale, I think of Newcastle.  Smooth, sweet, light, but still robust, all of those great things that Newcastle is.  Tumbler isn't NOT those things. It's just at once too much and not enough.

The too much part refers to a smokey, roasted malt flavor that appears out of nowhere at the end of a drink.  To me, it tastes funny.  And it doesn't fit. 

The not enough part refers to the blandness of the standard brown ale flavors.  The leafy, earthy flavors are present, but they're peripheral and not pronounced. That's why it's so strange that the big smokey, coal-fired flavor pops up so aggressively at the end. Other flavors are present, such as roasted malt, and chocolate, but they don't fill out the beer.

It's not a graceful beer. And that's exactly what a brown ale should be: graceful. And delicious. Graceful and delicious.

Normally, I'd prefer a brown ale to a blonde any day. But this time, I'll take the blonde. I'm noticing a pattern...

Anyway, it's a 2/5 for Sierra Nevada's Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale.