Big Wave Golden Ale - Kona Brewing Co.

Braz

Washington

3.2/5  rDev -9.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a crystal clear vibrant gold color with a one inch white head. Head disappears rather quickly leaving a thin lace. Smells of faint floral and grapefruit notes. Taste is very delicate with a very subtle sweetness. Mild fruit/citrus flavor. I didn't pick up much hop flavor but the aroma is there. Easy drinking, reps the style well. Smooth light body.

Serving type: bottle

12-23-2012 07:04:47 | More by Braz

MadScientist

New York

3.63/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A: A pale golden beer with good clarity. The white head is made of rocky bubble having a fiar head retention.

S: moderate malt sweetness that has fresh baked bread character along with a light peach fruitiness. It has a moderately-light citrus and pineapple hops aroma.

T: There is an initial malt sweetness with a very-light bready malt flavor. It has a moderately-light hops bitterness and light citrus and tropical fruit hops flavor. There is a light bit of fruitiness. The balance is somewhat bitter with a medium-dry finish. There is a light citrus aftertaste.

M: The is a medium-light bodied beer with moderately-strong carbonation.

O: An easy drinking, light bodied beer that would be nice and refreshing on a hot day. Would pair with seafood, chicken and lighter food.

Serving type: bottle

12-21-2012 23:56:56 | More by MadScientist

BeerCon5

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +12.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a clear, bright golden color with a very nice white fluffy head with good retention.

The scent is of citrus and soft bready malt.

The taste is of lightly bitter citrus hops, sweet bready malt, some toasted grain and grassy notes.

Light body, pretty crisp feel, high carbonation.

Overall this was a very nice beer, good flavor that was very well balanced.

Serving type: bottle

12-06-2012 17:09:20 | More by BeerCon5

TheManiacalOne

Rhode Island

3.95/5  rDev +11.3%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 12oz bottle into a US tumbler pint glass.

A: The beer is a light gold color, with a short white head that fades very quickly and leaves a thin lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains light caramelized malts, good amount of hops and some citrus.

T: The taste starts out with some citrus sweetness that is quickly followed by a decent burst of hops bitterness. The malt character is thin but on-target for the style and creates a good balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet.

M: Smooth and crisp, light-to-medium body, medium carbonation, finish is clean.

O: Tasty, goes down very easily, not too filling, mild kick, good representation of style, this is a very good lighter beer to pound down for a long time.

Serving type: bottle

12-06-2012 04:13:49 | More by TheManiacalOne

pkalix

California

3.73/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

straw color pour. hope that isnt a bad sign. 4.4% that is a bad sign.... no head to speak of.
smell is pine-y, floral, grapefruit.
taste is . . . . pine-y, floral, grapefruit. eh, nothing special. drinkable, i guess. wouldnt be interested in having more than two of these in a row. maybe 1 and a half.
mouthfeel.... is good.
overall, not my style. it's a hop-py version of a landshark. not much more to say than that. this was beer #6 to fill out my mix-a-six at whole foods this afternoon... i think i had to use the restroom or something and didnt put a whole lot of presence into the decision... but that's why i have the side of Woodford Reserve bourbon. and the LAkers game....

Serving type: bottle

12-03-2012 02:32:48 | More by pkalix

shand

Florida

3.95/5  rDev +11.3%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Big Wave pours a bubbly golden color with a small head. The aroma is quite nice, it's got fruity hops, citrus, and a bit of grains and sweet malt. The taste brings the grainy malt up front, but it's not too sweet. The citrus and fruit hop flavors, although rather mellow, do a pretty solid job at balancing things out. The grains and a bit of citrus ride out the finish. The mouthfeel is crisp and light, and the drinkability is great. Overall, a tasty thirst quencher.

Serving type: bottle

11-25-2012 01:50:18 | More by shand

kylehay2004

Florida

3.45/5  rDev -2.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Half finger head but nice lacing on a clear golden body. Aroma of wheat, grains, tropical fruit with a slight floral note. Flavor also has a nice balance of tropical fruit and wheat/grains with bready notes. The fruit lingers nicely without being too sweet. light to medium body and moderate to high carbonation. Lease a bit of a sandy feel on the palate in the aftertaste. Nice drinkable beer. More complex than I expected. A nice one to try.

Serving type: bottle

11-07-2012 21:40:03 | More by kylehay2004

TheSixthRing

California

3.53/5  rDev -0.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

Appearance - Pours a clear, brilliant golden yellow with a white, finger width head. Decent retention, the resulting lace is thin but consistent, and displays good stick.

Smell - Citrus notes are most prevalent; lemon and a touch of orange. Pineapple. Faint bready malts play off in the background.

Taste - What's presented on the nose is reversed on the tongue. Mostly big malt notes upfront, grain and honeyed bread. Hops come in a little firmer on the back end, with citrus and a touch of grass. The finish is quick, with a touch of lingering bitterness.

Mouthfeel - Very light in body with fizzy carbonation; seltzer water-like quality.

Overall - Fantastic smell, decent flavor, but a poor body... still, if they made this the summer release over the Wailua Wheat, I wouldn't shed a tear.

Serving type: bottle

10-31-2012 03:42:46 | More by TheSixthRing

ElGordo

Oregon

2.98/5  rDev -16.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Pours a bright golden color with a quick flourish of white head. Aroma of very light pale malt with a mild biscuity sweetness and a hint of tropical fruit. Palate is rather, um, neutral. Pale malt with a touch of sweetness and an underlying note of tropical fruit. The sweetness fades on the finish, yielding to a mildly chalky flavor and texture. Body is watery and, again, mildly chalky at the finish. You could do worse than this on a hot day, but it is pretty uninteresting.

Serving type: bottle

10-30-2012 05:32:05 | More by ElGordo

JoeyBeerBelly

New York

3.95/5  rDev +11.3%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12oz bottle served in a standard pint glass.

L - clear golden color with a white head that thinned out.

S - juicy tropical fruit.

T - sweet and tropical upfront with citrusy bitterness taking things to a tart and dry finish.

F - light, crisp and refreshing.

O - a good example of the style.

Serving type: bottle

10-28-2012 20:47:36 | More by JoeyBeerBelly

riversider76

New York

3.9/5  rDev +9.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a golden orange with a thin white head. Not much retention, and just a hint of laceing. Aroma is of fruit, and grassy hops. Body is light,and crisp with mild carbonation. Taste is sweetart, with a hint of bready malt. Smooth and refreshing. Liked it.

Serving type: bottle

10-28-2012 19:18:12 | More by riversider76

beerthulhu

New Jersey

3.5/5  rDev -1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

dated aug of 12. consumed oct. of 12.

A: Pale orange with a bright clarity and only a whisper of effervesce. The head was slight, creamy with a light tan coloring displaying a short to moderate retention rate. Minimal splashes of lacing on the vessel.

S: Sweet tropical fruitiness, a mixture of oranges, fresh pineapple and mangos. Sweet and perfuny delivery.

T: Flavor of tropical fruitiness of oranges and pineapples, mangos. Sugary grain sweetness, smooth tropical golden ale. Touches of fruity spice hoppiness and fresh greenery is gentle and complimentary to the fruit based nature.

M: Creamy buttery texture in the mouthful. No carbonation felt, light and refreshing.

O: Overall a beach/poolside refreshment. Tropical hints well suited per locale environment, easy going, well balanced and makes for a easy tropical refresher on a hot hawian summer.

Serving type: bottle

10-23-2012 01:00:56 | More by beerthulhu

dsmcva00

Alaska

4.5/5  rDev +26.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a clean, clear, golden color with an off-white head.

Smell is of mango juice and ocean breeze.

Taste is light, slightly sweet and thirst-quenching. Malt prominently comes in towards the end, balancing with the aroma hops. Carbonation is pretty high at first, but a few minutes of off-gassing and warming up lend itself well to this beer. The finish is of biscuit malt.

I really like this beer! It’s really drinkable, refreshing, and quite balanced. My favorite Kona Brewing Co beer!

Serving type: bottle

10-22-2012 03:04:32 | More by dsmcva00

JohnFatAss

New Jersey

3.83/5  rDev +7.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Taking a break from the fall and pumpkin beers I opted for the Big Wave Golden Ale.
Pretty much what I expected. A light golden colored ale. It has a very nice aroma of citrus fruits and hops. This is a mild beer with good flavor. Sweet up front and finishes with a very mild dry bitterness. It is lightly carbonated. It has a light but not watery mouthfeel.
Extremely easy to drink.

This would be a great beer for the summer.

Serving type: bottle

10-18-2012 01:36:16 | More by JohnFatAss

Minkybut

Virginia

3.65/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I poured this beer into my tumbler at 45 degrees. The beer poured a fair head but it went away really fast, Not very pretty. The beer had a nice golden color to it though and looked pretty normal. I could not believe how bad this beer smelled, YUK! I'm glad it did not taste like it smelled. It smelled like a guys underarms that had been dressed in black all day riding a camel across the dessert. However the taste was really good, very refreshing and had a good grainy corny taste I like. I will buy again.

Serving type: bottle

10-17-2012 23:30:50 | More by Minkybut

Darkmagus82

Montana

3.48/5  rDev -2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Poured from bottle into pint glass

Appearance – Pours a lighter golden color with a two finger white head. The head has a decent retention but eventually fades to give a nice amount of lacing.

Smell – The aroma is light overall with some bready and malty notes as well as a lighter citrus hop aroma. Mixed with these aromas is a lighter floral hop aroma as well.

Taste – The taste begins with a lighter biscuit and wheat flavor. Some citrus hop then comes to the tongue. It is slightly sweeter and mainly of an orange flavor with some hints of lemon. These flavors take the taste to the end where they combined with some light floral and herbal hop flavors.

Mouthfeel – The body of the beer s very light with a carbonation level that is on the average to above average side. Both are quite good for making a very crisp and drinkable beer.

Overall – Rather refreshing and easy drinking. While it is not huge on the flavor profile, it does make for a decent session style brew.

Serving type: bottle

10-15-2012 01:09:33 | More by Darkmagus82

KTCamm

New Jersey

3.23/5  rDev -9%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Poured from a 12 ounce bottle into a pint glass. Grabbed in a mix a six.

Pours golden clear with fluffy white foam. good head. Pilsy smell. Clean uncomplicated. Light line of hop woven throughout. Smooth. Just a mellow, run of the mill blonde ale. Nothing remarkable or offensive.

Serving type: bottle

09-29-2012 10:12:45 | More by KTCamm

Knapp85

Pennsylvania

3.73/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

This poured out with as a really nice clean and clear looking yellowish gold. The head is white a fizzy looking. The retention and lacing are minimal. The smell of the beer has a grainy malt sweetness that it relatively inviting. Some honey-like aromas are coming in there as well. The taste of the beer has the same type of sweetness with a bit of a corn-like flavor. There is minimal bitterness throughout. The mouthfeel of the beer is light bodied, nicely carbonated and slightly creamy. Overall this beer is very drinkable and refreshing too.

Serving type: bottle

09-15-2012 00:48:23 | More by Knapp85

PorterLambic

Florida

3.5/5  rDev -1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a clear, golden color with an off-white head. Decent, in fact, pretty good head retention. Some scattered lacing is left behind.
Smell is a little malt, wheat, hops and citrus blended well together. It gets better as it warms, though.
Taste is pretty much the same. Notes of malt, citrus & evergreen from the hops, slight caramel. Again, the flavor gets better as it warms. In fact, I would suggest waiting 10-15 minutes before starting.
Medium body, carbonation is tart at the start but fades fairly quickly. It's a pretty innocuous beer, a good step in the correct direction away from mega-lagers. Nothing special but at least some flavor and a more restrained hop profile.

Serving type: bottle

09-04-2012 22:38:46 | More by PorterLambic

LXIXME

New Mexico

3.78/5  rDev +6.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

I poured this from a bit above the glass giving it a big white head that dies into a thin lacing above a clear golden colored beer.

Light sour citrus hops with some light grains aroma.

Big citrus hops taste, but not just lemon, a nice variety it seems. Also adding to the citrus taste is an added light grain malt that gives this beer a nice balance.

A light bodied beer with a light dry aftertaste that brings with it a slight citrus bitterness.

I usually don't care to much for the so called golden ales but this one is quite good for that style of beer.

Serving type: bottle

09-01-2012 21:32:06 | More by LXIXME

flagmantho

Washington

4.1/5  rDev +15.5%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 5

Poured from 12oz bottle into a pint glass.

Appearance: light golden hue with a moderate effervescence and a clear body. Head is a thin layer of frothy white foam without much retention. Not particularly remarkable to look at.

Smell: big fruity hop aroma with pineapple, tangerine, and grapefruit. There's a light layer of malt underneath. I really like it.

Taste: grainy malt flavor with a big shot of fruitiness right at the beginning. Sweet and smooth with citrus and pineapple flavors. Quite good.

Mouthfeel: medium-light body with a moderate carbonation and decent creaminess. Not bad.

Overall: I rather like this beer. Stylistically, it's pretty fruity for a golden ale, but I quite enjoy the blend of fruity flavors they managed here. I'm going to hark back to the days of rating a beer's drinkability and say that, overall, this beer is awesome.

Serving type: bottle

08-29-2012 17:24:49 | More by flagmantho

Halcyondays

California

3.5/5  rDev -1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

12 oz. bottle,

A: Pours golden with a medium white head, solid lace.

S: Biscuity grain, some English peas, and white grapes.

T: Nice pils malt style flavour, some grassy hops, golden raisins and some citrus.

M: Light-bodied, crisp, creamy, frothy.

O: A solid blonde ale, good flavour, refreshing. Pretty inexpensive so worth a try.

Serving type: bottle

08-19-2012 03:55:26 | More by Halcyondays

AdamBear

Pennsylvania

4.1/5  rDev +15.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 4

A-golden yellow with a slightly sticky white head

S-bitter grains and cooked vegetables. Smells pretty good actually. Strong scent. 

T-comes in with a very crisp and smooth taste of slightly bitter grains. Theres also a taste of cooked vegetables added. I don't mean that in a bad way. It's good! There's a matching after-taste. It's a solid flavor.

M-medium creamy carbonation with a slightly dry finish

O-this is a pretty decent beer. It's very mild yet the flavors are actually quite bold. I could put a lot of this down for sure, though it wouldn't be my beer of choice. It's just an interesting try really. 

Serving type: bottle

08-14-2012 01:33:56 | More by AdamBear

Zorro

California

3.48/5  rDev -2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Clear golden ale as advertised with a small white head that doesn't hang around.

Smell is a surprise, this is seriously hopped and smells strongly of hops the moment you pop the top off. Strong tropical hop aromas it smells strongly of pineapple and passion fruit. Pine and citrus are present. Malt is light soda crackers.

Starts out neutral malt and slightly sweet without a big bitterness hit. Wheat biscuit malt flavor with a subtle tropical hop flavor. High mineral water slightly sweet with a mild passion fruit flavor.

Mouthfeel is light pretty much what you want in a beer of this type.

Overall an interesting beer with a shockingly good aroma. P{pretty much this is a thirst quenching beer made to be pleasant but not win any awards. I can see drinking this again.

Serving type: bottle

08-12-2012 01:37:01 | More by Zorro

TX-Badger

Texas

3.9/5  rDev +9.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

The first time I had the Golden Wave Ale, it was in Hawaii on the Big Island while honeymooning with my wife. I finally found this in Texas, and decided to do a review after not having one for 5 years, lol! I had this offering from Kona Brewing Co. poured into a pint/nonic glass from a 12oz bottle.

A - It pours a clear golden, and did not produce much head on the top, but what was formed was a very bright white.

S - Citrus and tropical fruits with just a bit of hops are what I get on the nose.

T - The main flavor on the palate is sweet grains, with hints of pineapple and citrus. The beer is crisp, clean, and slightly sweet on the finish. There is almost no bitterness whatsoever in this beer.

M - Light bodied, not overly carbonated, it is very smooth.

O - I did enjoy the Golden Wave Ale from Kona Brewing Co. It is a very easy drinking light style year-round beer. Very refreshing beer to drink on any given day.

Serving type: bottle

08-05-2012 19:21:31 | More by TX-Badger