Double D Blonde - Hop Valley Brewing Company

Murrhey

Montana

1.95/5  rDev -46%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

Poured from a 12oz can into a pint glass. Reviewed from notes.

A- Finger width white head. Low retention and some white lacing. Pale gold color with crystal clarity.

S- Crystal malts, some piney hops and a hint of grassiness. Light and unattractive smell.

T- Light hops, crystal malts, some sugar but very weak flavor.

O- Wet air. Light and insubstantial.

O- Do yourself a favor and pass on this one.

Serving type: can

12-19-2012 04:23:18 | More by Murrhey

MaltsOfGlory

Oregon

3.55/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a pretty standard one finger white head into my standard pint glass. The head is very soapy looking and has mostly small bubbles, but a fair amount of medium sized ones too. The head really doesn't look too great, a soapy look is never good, even though the bubbles are small, it looks very soapy. The head has decent retention, but it has already faded almost all the way. Not much in the way of lacing at all in this beer. The body is slightly cloudy, which is nice to see for this style The color of the body is pretty standard though, blonde, yellow, whatever you want to call it, it reminds me too much of a lager. At the beginning, when I first poured the beer, bubbles were sticking like crazy to the side of the glass, leading me to think the carbonation would be wayyy too much, but it has since settled down and now the few bubbles rising to the top lead me to think that I might be under carbonated. The head has left a tiny tiny layer of bubbles on top of the body, which is nice, but overall the head was nothing impressive. I did like the cloudiness of the body, but the body wasn't too amazing either. Overall the look is ok. The smell is very light, crisp, refreshing, but not necessarily an amazingly good smell. I get a little bit of lemon, maybe a touch of hops, light malt, and unfortunately I get a bit of a sour adjunct smell, reminds me of an adjunct beer, just slightly, but it's for sure there. The smell really isn't blowing me out of the water at all, not that great of a smell. The only redeeming factor is the possibility of lemon and maybe some other light fruits, other than that the hops are too small and the adjunct smell shouldn't even be there. Maybe 3 is too low for this beer on the smell, but I'm not smelling anything to grade it otherwise. Well it's better than I thought it would be from the smell, but it's still not amazing. Very smooth, almost creamy feel to it that really just dominates the beer, it's hard to notice any flavors with a mouthfeel as awesome as this. I usually don't grade the mouthfeel first, but it's just so overpowering that I have to. For sure a 4 on mouthfeel. The carbonation is for sure there, but not at all overpowering. The feel overall is just really smooth and creamy, which is surprising for the style, but oh well. As for flavors and taste: well there are some hops that I can notice, but they are mostly in the finish/aftertaste, still better than nothing though I suppose. No adjunct flavor at all in this beer, which is very good, the malts are solid and they do their part well. Maybe a tiny lemon flavor, but really not much at all. Overall there is nothing wrong with the flavor at all, it's just that it's nothing out of this world. I can't give the flavor points just because the beer itself has such an amazing mouthfeel, because the flavor alone is just good, not great. I can however give the beer overall a better grade, which is exactly what I'm going to do. Overall on flavor, good, not great. Overall on the beer, kinda all over the place from appearance, smell, taste and mouthfeel, but the final product is very nice to drink and even if it's just the mouthfeel alone, I think it deserves a 4 overall, because it's so easy to drink, and the taste isn't half bad. Overall good beer.

After drinking this beer more and more I have a few updates, the appearance really barely makes the cut for 3.5, bad lacing and not much in the way of a head like I already mentioned, the only reason it holds a 3.5 is it's cloudiness and decent foam on top of the body. The taste is the same for the most part, but I do get somewhat of a vanilla taste hidden in there somewhere, it's a very creamy beer and it reminds me a lot of Ninkasi's cream ale. Like I said before the mouthfeel is the most dominant part, but there are some nice flavors hidden in there. I am tempted to give this a 4 for taste, but it's not quite there.

Serving type: bottle

07-18-2011 09:55:30 | More by MaltsOfGlory

RedDiamond

Oregon

3.58/5  rDev -0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

This ale is named for a hefty bra cup size. Putting aside the ethics of naming a beer for the size of a woman's undergarments, Double D is pale daisy yellow with a smiling cap of white head and a sweet, distant aroma. The beer serves its purpose well enough. It features gentle contours with a light blush of sweetness, minimal bittering, and a clean, refreshing persona. Despite its name, this blonde deliberately lacks excitement in favor of succinct, entry-level functionality.

Serving type: on-tap

07-25-2009 02:40:35 | More by RedDiamond

Hoptometrist

Oregon

3.58/5  rDev -0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Served on tap into a shaker glass at The Bridge

A- Poured a clear golden color with a frothy head that left spotty lace

S- Very pungent grapefruit aroma, nothing else

T- Big pungent grapefruit flavor with a mellow cracker malt and lemony finish

M- Fizzy carbonation, lighter to medium body, semi-dry finish

O- Not very complex, but great punch of pungent (cascade?) hops and very easy to drink. Drinks like a session IPA.

Serving type: on-tap

11-21-2012 05:00:11 | More by Hoptometrist

flagmantho

Washington

3.61/5  rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Poured from 12oz can into a pint glass.

Appearance: golden-yellow hue with a moderate haze and a strong effervescence. Head poured two fingers of creamy white foam. Decent head retention with a little chunky lace left on the glass. Not bad!

Smell: sweetish malty aroma with a hint of grain and a little bit of fruitiness, probably due to the hops. There's almost a spiciness to it, like grains of paradise or something, which doesn't particularly work for me. Overall, though, pretty decent.

Taste: the flavor is similar to the aroma, but a bit drier and grainier. The overall effect is of harshness, unfortunately. It's not bad, per se, but it's a bit rougher than I'm looking for in the style.

Mouthfeel: moderate body and a big carbonation give this brew quite a creamy texture; this is the beer's best feature.

Overall: not bad, but a bit on the harsh side for my taste. A blonde ale should be smooth and easy drinking.

Serving type: can

04-15-2013 15:02:32 | More by flagmantho

jdense

Oregon

4.08/5  rDev +13%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

22 oz. bottle picked up at Belmont Station upon recommendation of awesome staff.

One finger billowing white head, medium-slow dissipation, with significant lacing. Light gold clear body, multiple streams of carbonation bursting on top of body, thin broken layer of head retained long after pour. Fruity hops, grapefruit in the nose, balanced with sweetish and bready malts. Taste mirrors nose, this is a pretty hoppy blonde ale. Good effervescent medium mouthfeel. IMO quite sessionable and drinkable. Another fine offering from the new kid on the Eugene brewing block.

Serving type: bottle

09-11-2010 22:39:02 | More by jdense