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Hoptober Golden Ale
New Belgium Brewing Company
- From:
- New Belgium Brewing Company
- Colorado, United States
- Style:
- American Blonde Ale
- ABV:
- 6%
- Score:
- 85
- Avg:
- 3.79 | pDev: 12.93%
- Reviews:
- 501
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Oct 13, 2021
- Added:
- Aug 20, 2009
- Wants:
- 56
- Gots:
- 76
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by drperm:
Reviewed by drperm from Virginia
4.72/5 rDev +24.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5
4.72/5 rDev +24.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5
This is my new favorite New Belgium offering, hands-down. The "American Blonde Ale" designation does not even begin to do justice to this multifaceted, complex brew. In the best of the American Craft tradition, this one takes simple genre, tips its hat to it, and then leaves it far behind.
Appearance: Just beautiful. Golden, shimmery, clear, sparkly, with a snow-white pillow of foam atop. Looks like the best of the Czech pilsener world, as it smiles at me in its glass.
Aroma: Earthy, crisp, mellow, dark, woodsy. I'm reminded of laurels and boxwoods after a rainshower, and expect to hear a wood thrush start singing any minute. Rye, dark hops, green apple, and wheat bread round out the nose. This smell is stupendous, comforting, and slightly intoxicating.
Taste: Delicious and refreshing. Surprisingly complex for its color and clarity, and also for its unassuming beginning (but remember that nose...). A delicious rye-wheat note marries perfectly with the ever-so-fresh hop quintet, and something rather perfumey (but in a good way) finishes it off.
Palate: Sublime and divine, if maybe flirting with being ever-so-slightly thin.
Overall/Drinkability: Highly drinkable. Scarily drinkable, in fact. I'm kicking myself for buying only a single instead of a sixer. I could drink this all day, all summer and fall -- this would, in fact, be perfect on a crisp, warm autumn day. I see this one working perfectly with any number of foods, from smoked (or unsmoked) craft cheeses, to seafood, to Mexican dishes, to fish, omelettes....I had mine with a yesterday-picked fresh mountain green apple, and it was divine.
Aug 30, 2009Appearance: Just beautiful. Golden, shimmery, clear, sparkly, with a snow-white pillow of foam atop. Looks like the best of the Czech pilsener world, as it smiles at me in its glass.
Aroma: Earthy, crisp, mellow, dark, woodsy. I'm reminded of laurels and boxwoods after a rainshower, and expect to hear a wood thrush start singing any minute. Rye, dark hops, green apple, and wheat bread round out the nose. This smell is stupendous, comforting, and slightly intoxicating.
Taste: Delicious and refreshing. Surprisingly complex for its color and clarity, and also for its unassuming beginning (but remember that nose...). A delicious rye-wheat note marries perfectly with the ever-so-fresh hop quintet, and something rather perfumey (but in a good way) finishes it off.
Palate: Sublime and divine, if maybe flirting with being ever-so-slightly thin.
Overall/Drinkability: Highly drinkable. Scarily drinkable, in fact. I'm kicking myself for buying only a single instead of a sixer. I could drink this all day, all summer and fall -- this would, in fact, be perfect on a crisp, warm autumn day. I see this one working perfectly with any number of foods, from smoked (or unsmoked) craft cheeses, to seafood, to Mexican dishes, to fish, omelettes....I had mine with a yesterday-picked fresh mountain green apple, and it was divine.
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by mothmanscott from Georgia
3.93/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
3.93/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
From notes 1/14/12: Pours clear deep gold producing a 1+inch of chunky, somewhat lasting head that leaves nice lacing. Aroma is citrusy, pine and grass hops with bread and biscuit maltiness. Taste is similar with the addition of honey following lemon/lime zest and grassy hops. The finish is light pepper spice,dry and bitter.
Dec 01, 2018Reviewed by patre_tim from Thailand
4.17/5 rDev +10%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.17/5 rDev +10%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
A: Deep brown with a slight red tinge, 3 fingers of fluffy, slightly beige head fades like snow in early spring, slowly.
S: Citrus, spicy hops, light toasted notes, mild but vibrant with many hued notes of hops like multi coloured leaves on autumn trees.
T: Follows the nose with some citrus orange, toasted roasted light notes like burning leaves with slight sweetness like maple, many vibrant hued notes of hops like multi coloured leaves on the fall trees. Seems like a brown ale, reminders of Sierra Nevada’s autumn Tumbler.
M: Medium body, medium carbonation.
O: Complex but so subtle that it entices for another sip. The label reminds me of a Thom Thompson painting, and certainly says autumn. The notes are fine like the many leaves on changing trees at multiple levels and hues. Really is a seasonal I could return to over and over. I will give it 8.9 out of 10. Went awesome with pot roast.
Jan 04, 2018S: Citrus, spicy hops, light toasted notes, mild but vibrant with many hued notes of hops like multi coloured leaves on autumn trees.
T: Follows the nose with some citrus orange, toasted roasted light notes like burning leaves with slight sweetness like maple, many vibrant hued notes of hops like multi coloured leaves on the fall trees. Seems like a brown ale, reminders of Sierra Nevada’s autumn Tumbler.
M: Medium body, medium carbonation.
O: Complex but so subtle that it entices for another sip. The label reminds me of a Thom Thompson painting, and certainly says autumn. The notes are fine like the many leaves on changing trees at multiple levels and hues. Really is a seasonal I could return to over and over. I will give it 8.9 out of 10. Went awesome with pot roast.
Reviewed by poisoneddwarf from Idaho
3.31/5 rDev -12.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.25
3.31/5 rDev -12.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.25
2009 backlog. 12 oz bottle. Aroma is of sweet malt, some piney hops, apricot. Appearance is golden (obviously), has nice lacing, thin collar of foam. For a beer called "hoptober," there’s not much hop presence in the flavor (only in the aroma)--there’s more malt here than anything. Tastes like toasted biscuits. Okay, I took a break. As the beer sits, the hop flavor comes out. A nice bitterness lingers on the back of the tongue. Not a bad beer, but nothing I’d ever buy.
Jun 11, 2017Reviewed by Wasatch from Colorado
4/5 rDev +5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4/5 rDev +5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
12 oz. Bottle
Pours a pretty nice amber color, pretty nice carbonation, with a pretty nice thick/creamy/foamy white head, which leaves some sticky lacing behind. The nose is hoppy, malty, citrus. The taste is hoppy, malty, citrusy. Medium body. Overall, a pretty tasty brew.
Apr 04, 2017Pours a pretty nice amber color, pretty nice carbonation, with a pretty nice thick/creamy/foamy white head, which leaves some sticky lacing behind. The nose is hoppy, malty, citrus. The taste is hoppy, malty, citrusy. Medium body. Overall, a pretty tasty brew.
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada
3.22/5 rDev -15%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
3.22/5 rDev -15%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
Right out the gate this wasn't impressing me, it had the usual AAL yellow color and head, meanwhile the aroma was pretty mute not giving off much in the way of characteristics that you could describe.
Taste brought on a very slight, warm fall day bitterness and Saaz like hop mouthfeel. The word hop in the beer is a little bit of a curve ball, but ultimately the taste and mouthfeel are the strongest aspect of this beer, which I guess is the most important. Its a decent gateway blonde with slightly more toasted pale malt and light hopping than average.
Aug 16, 2016Taste brought on a very slight, warm fall day bitterness and Saaz like hop mouthfeel. The word hop in the beer is a little bit of a curve ball, but ultimately the taste and mouthfeel are the strongest aspect of this beer, which I guess is the most important. Its a decent gateway blonde with slightly more toasted pale malt and light hopping than average.
Hoptober Golden Ale from New Belgium Brewing Company
Beer rating:
85 out of
100 with
969 ratings
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