New Belgium Hoptober Golden Ale

Brewed By: New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado 
Purchased: Single bottle (6oz) from a 12-pack bought at Jewel-Osco in Illinois; 2011
Style/ABV: Golden Ale, 6.0%

Halloween and October are both more than a month away, which means I am premature in my choice to drink an October-themed beer. The story here is that my best friend was heading back to college. We were hanging out for the night, and I wanted some beer. I went to my local Jewel-Osco on a quest for beer, and came back with this. New Belgium is a good haul for Jewel, a store that doesn't specialize in special beer. 

New Belgium is a brewery that shouldn't need an introduction, because they are one of the more popular craft beer outfits. If you aren't sure, you might know New Belgium from this: 

The beginning of a good thing...

Fat Tire is one of those stepping-ladder beers into the world of craft beer. It was one of my first beers way back in the day, and still holds up pretty well despite my refined palate. I actually have lots of good memories associated with Fat Tire, so someday I will review it. 

New Belgium is based out of Fort Collins, and opened in 1991 when founder Jeff Lebesch took his home-brewing into the commercial world. For reference, New Belgium is the thrid-largest craft brewery in the United States. That is awesome because New Belgium seems to be available in many places, and they make beer that overall is pretty tasty. 

Cool Artwork

Speaking of tasty beer, today's beer, Hoptober, is a Golden Ale/Blonde Ale...on hops. Blonde Ales are an American style of beer that are supposed to be malt-forward and easy to drink. Today's beer certainly is malt-forward, using four malts including pale and wheat malt, as well as rye and oats. This should yield a creamy and smooth mouthfeel. The catch with this beer is that it also uses five hop varieties. This beer is brewed with Centennial, Cascade, Sterling, Willamette, and Glacier hops. The hops contribute to the beer's 40 IBUs, and should give it a nice grass, pine, or citrus kick. 40 IBUs is pretty hefty for this style, and this beer is fairly hoppy for an October-themed beer...so let's see how she plays out. 


This beer is clearly golden in color, and filtered as well. You can easily see right through the body. There is moderate carbonation, as evident from the bubbles, but nothing extreme. However, there is a glorious head perched atop this beer. The head is white and foamy, and as it slowly recedes it is leaving wonderful lacing around the glass. I feel compelled to mention the awesome bottle artwork. Depicted on the front of the bottle are black silhouettes of people around a bonfire. The colors used are very autumn-esque, and just looking at the bottle makes me think of bonfires, autumn sunsets, and music that I associate with autumn. It sets the mood nicely.

Hops dominate the aroma, which isn't all that surprising being that five of them are used in the brewing process. I get a lot of grass and some earthy pine on the nose, with maybe even some lemon or tangerine-grapefruit. It's VERY fresh smelling, and is quite pleasant. I'm not picking up any specific malt characters on the nose, but again, with five hops used in the beer...you would expect to get lots of hop notes.

What I don't get in the nose I do get in the flavor. There are a ton of malts in this beer providing a nice cereal-caramel counterpoint to the hops. The rye and oats actually do come out in the taste, with an almost cereal or oatmeal quality coming from the oat malts. Considering that five hops were used, I get mostly grass and piney notes with subtle pulls towards citrus that never really blossom into any immediate flavors. This is a very well-balanced beer, but I wouldn't call it complex. Still, it has moderate depth and a nice medium body. It also is incredibly drinkable, and despite the 6.0% ABV, I could put 2 or 3 of these back without any issues.

Rating: Above-Average
Score: 84%

This beer makes me happy. But does it make me think of fall and October...we will get back to that.

Epic lacing...

This is a creamy beer that is easy to drink, but also packs enough bitterness to keep things interesting. On the front of your tongue you get mild carbonation, and a lot of malts including rye and oats. The middle is smooth and the hops come in with a very earthy and grassy quality. The back end is more hops and finishes with a slightly dry and refreshing punch from the 40 IBUs. Again, this isn't complex despite all the ingredients, but it is well-balanced and has enough depth that it could stand alone.

I'm a fan of this beer. I do think that this beer is fitting for October. It has a lot of earthy hop notes that are refreshing but not distracting. Golden Ales are supposed to be drinkable, and this beer certainly is. I am also an alcoholic and a hop-head, so the fact that this beer packs five hop varieties, 40 IBUs, and clocks in at 6% ABV all adds up to a win-win for me.

Pick this up if you like malty, hoppy beers. I will throw out a final disclaimer: while 40 IBUs is hardly a lot, this beer is definitely on the hoppy side of life. ESPECIALLY for a Golden Ale. If hops and bitter beers aren't your bag, be warned. Fat Tire would be the hop-less counterpart to this beer, if you wanted lots of bready, biscuity goodness. Check it out.