Blonde Ale
New Planet Beer Company

Blonde AleBlonde Ale
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From:
New Planet Beer Company
 
Colorado, United States
Style:
American Blonde Ale
Ranked #385
ABV:
5%
Score:
60
Ranked #28,467
Avg:
2 | pDev: 44%
Reviews:
12
Ratings:
25
Status:
Active
Rated:
May 21, 2023
Added:
Jul 27, 2014
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  9
No description / notes.
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Ratings by biboergosum:
Photo of biboergosum
Reviewed by biboergosum from Canada (AB)

2.27/5  rDev +13.5%
look: 3 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2
12oz bottle - ok, back to the sorghum and brown rice extract method of removing gluten from the beer equation - gulp.

This beer pours a clear, medium golden amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and mostly fizzy off-white head, which leaves a few minor instances of sea plume 'lace' around the glass as it quickly sinks out of sight.

It smells like apple or white wine vinegar mixed with rubbing alcohol, with a heady dose of free-range berry sugar tossed right in, and an acrid vegetal graininess (my old nemesis, sorghum, right back out of Cletus' back 40 again, it would seem). The taste is sweet, musty, and kind of thin apple cider, more unpleasantly vegetal maltiness, some stricken earthy yeast, cheap dark sugar notes, and a hollow attempt at weedy and floral hop bitterness.

The carbonation is fairly light in its incessant and pandering fizziness, the body on the wan side of the barest middleweight, and not really all that smooth, as the tart and pithy fruity nature doesn't lean that way. It finishes off-dry, that stale apple cider thing still a real going concern, while the other goings on are of no concern.

Yup, the divide between the two processes for arriving at gluten-free (or reduced, I get it) beer ever widens. I can't really tell apart all the alternative grain offerings, especially from this brewery, as they are all pretty much a variation on what I've detailed here. Oh, and I just noticed that New Planet is from freaking Boulder, Colorado! How have they not yet been run out of town, or at the very least, um, better educated?
Nov 13, 2015
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 2.52 by craigbelly from Iowa

May 21, 2023
 
Rated: 3 by jeschaefer from Texas

Sep 01, 2021
Photo of dacrza1
Reviewed by dacrza1 from New Jersey

2.26/5  rDev +13%
look: 2 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.25
DATE: August 12, 2021... OCCASION: sweating out a Thursday night with a new-ish GF beer... GLASSEWARE: Liberty inverted pint... this sizzles while pouring out the can, but its head fizzles from a white, two-fingered coral that stars in its own disappearing act... its sallow golden body approximates apple juice... speaking of which, the aroma is apple, cracker malts, sweet oats, light citrus, and some odd yeasts... not quite alluring... its mouthfeel is light, oily, refreshing enough, with the finish agreeable, if not fleeting... the flavor profile is soft, if not repressed--apple, noble hops, lemon, cereal oats, and some funky yeasts leave this light and refreshing but not quite a fully-formed blonde... this does come with a great caveat: gluten-free makes this a possible go-to on warm summer night such as this...
Aug 13, 2021
Photo of smcolw
Reviewed by smcolw from Massachusetts

2.41/5  rDev +20.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.25
Crystal clear, light gold color. Decent starting head but it fades to rim bubbles and leaves absolutely no lace. After five minutes, even the rim bubbles are gone. There is, however, a steady stream of upward bubbles throughout the tasting.

Thin and weak aroma. Dry, almost a apple cider-like nose.

Initially, I pick up on more apples. Lightly sour, lightly sweet. No notable hop. The body is very thin--like a macro. The carbonation is high but not like soda pop. The finish is flat and sour. Short aftertaste. Overall, it's not as bad as the rating I saw before the tasting, but it's not that good either.
Apr 03, 2021
Photo of Squire
Reviewed by Squire from Mississippi

3.43/5  rDev +71.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Clear light gold color with small white cap.

Sweetish grain aroma with a slightly floral character.

Very rounded flavor of clean grain with a touch of sweetness. Similar to AALs without rough edges. Simple grain taste with a minimum hop influence that finishes quick and clean.

Medium texture with balancing carbonation.


I don't understand the low reviews on this one unless there are some production problems. My example was clean and straight forward with a pleasant if unassuming character.
Nov 17, 2019
 
Rated: 3.48 by The_Kriek_Freak from Pennsylvania

Feb 10, 2019
Photo of pat61
Reviewed by pat61 from Minnesota

3.5/5  rDev +75%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
L: very effervescent as streams of bubbles race to the surface. It is bright gold with a thin but persistent ivory foam collar

S: aromas feature sorghum earthiness and orange peel with some hop citrus

T: It starts prickley with orange and sorghum and some earthiness. The orange peel masks some of the sharp sorghum flavors and softens it

F: medium light body and high carbonation

O: The beer is a little cidery and the sorghum earthiness comes across as a little musty especially in the aftertaste.
Jul 22, 2017
Photo of tone77
Reviewed by tone77 from Pennsylvania

2.4/5  rDev +20%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 1.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2
WTF? A bottled beer from woodychandler? This is a rarity. Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a golden color with a 1/2 inch head and lots of carbonation. Smell is of sorghum, green apples. Taste is strong of sorghum, cough medicine, green apples, yucky yuck! Feels light in the mouth and overall thank God I am not gluten free.
Jun 04, 2016
Photo of betobeer
Rated by betobeer from Colorado

2.7/5  rDev +35%
look: 3 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3
It would be interesting for those guys that drink a lot of Modelo. It a session beer for the summer.
May 04, 2016
 
Rated: 1.25 by Ogdon from Pennsylvania

Oct 16, 2015
Photo of mmmbeer89
Reviewed by mmmbeer89 from New Mexico

1.08/5  rDev -46%
look: 2.25 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1
there's nothing wrong with the look of this beer but that's where the positives end. there's only six listed ingredients so i don't know what makes it taste so bad. i've tried all three of the ''omission'' beers which are gluten free just like this one, and the omissions are good so it can't be the gluten free factor that makes this one so bad. it's overwhelmingly citrus at first and the aftertaste is just horrid. luckily i bought this in a mixer-sixer so i didn't have to stomach more than one.
Sep 03, 2015
 
Rated: 3.14 by wilfonzo from Florida

Aug 20, 2015
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

2.48/5  rDev +24%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5
I had a colleague who is gluten-free and I told her that I would keep my eye out for G-F beer options and report back to her on my findings. In the interim, I retired from that job and I still have the beers awaiting review. I have not felt perfect these last couple of days, so I thought that I would try something(s) fairly innocuous.

From the bottle: "Refreshingly Smooth"; "Gluten Free"; "Ale Made From Sorghum and Corn Extract"; "For every New Plane beer you enjoy, a portion of the proceeds is donated to help our planet."

Geez, Louise, no sooner had I begun to Pop! the cap than I got a bunch of foam coming up through the neck! I placed the bottle in the awaiting glass and waited for it to calm down before proceeding. Can you say, "Gentle pour", boys and girls? It acted like soda pop, creating three-plus fingers of fizzy, foamy, bone-white head that burbled, popped and fizzled its way out of existence. Color was Straw-Yellow (SRM = > 2, < 4) with NE-plus quality clarity. Nose had an apple vinegar-like sharpness and I have noted this before in other G-F beers. Mouthfeel was thin, kind of watery. The taste had a tart apple-like flavor, which, while not great, was drinkable. Finish was semi-dry with an apple-like flavor that seemed to linger. I am not sure how I feel about this one as I have other tests to conduct. It was reasonable, especially when you consider the narrow bandwidth of the gluten-free style.
Mar 21, 2015
Photo of Mrbseward
Reviewed by Mrbseward from Virginia

2.34/5  rDev +17%
look: 3 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.25
Poured a light gold color with an airy looking, white head, no residual lacing. Smell some hops, citrus, and some bread, very cider like. Taste and feels much like a cider with a carbonated, light feel. Taste is light and not much too it. Definitely tastes like rubbing alcohol smells..
Mar 20, 2015
Photo of grnco
Reviewed by grnco from Colorado

1.15/5  rDev -42.5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 1.25 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1
As a long time celiac sufferer, I've kept up a long search for a decent ("good" GF beer is like a white rhino) GF beer. New Planet would be out of business if there were many good options. This "ale " is as undrinkable as the rest of the beers produced by New Planet. I'll drink anything tolerable as there aren't many options, but this stuff tastes like you sucked on a dirty penny and then provides an aftertaste that lingers on your palate and makes the experience even worse. Their other beers are horrible as well, but this is the worst of the worst. Do not waste your money or time with this brewery. I'd rate it a "0" overall if it was an option
Dec 20, 2014
 
Rated: 1.5 by Boone757 from Virginia

Nov 26, 2014
 
Rated: 1 by tdm168 from Pennsylvania

Oct 26, 2014
Photo of Hossjob
Reviewed by Hossjob

1/5  rDev -50%
Wish I could give this a lower score. Awful. 2 drinks and dumped it. Bought a single with a mixed 6 pack. Trying to find a good wheat beer I like so I tried this one. As a previous review said intolerable. Tastes like horrible champagne with corn.
Oct 15, 2014
Photo of bubseymour
Reviewed by bubseymour from Maryland

1.1/5  rDev -45%
Beer looks like a typical adjunct lager. Smell is of rubbing alcohol. Tastes like rubbing alcohol. Drain poured after just a few drinks. Intolerable.
Oct 03, 2014
Blonde Ale from New Planet Beer Company
Beer rating: 60 out of 100 with 25 ratings