Destihl Strawberry Blonde

Brewed By: Destihl Restaurant and Brew Works in Normal/Bloomington, Illinois   

Purchased: 12oz CAN from a 6-pack bought at Binny's in Naperville, IL; 2014

Style/ABV: Fruit Beer, 5.2%
Reported IBUs: 15

Mmmm...strawberry beers. About Destihl: 

Destihl is a brewery (Bloomington) and brewpub (Normal, IL & Champaign, IL) based out of the Midwest. Specifically, the middle of Illinois in the middle of the United States. Daaaa midwest. The brewery was founded by CEO & Brewmaster, Matt Potts, in 2007. Like many brewery founders, Potts started out as a homebrewer, and would eventually trade his law school education and law practice for those sweet barley suds. Destihl currently brews a myriad of regular and barrel-aged beers, including an increasing portfolio of tasty sour brews. For more info, check out their website. 

The Destihl Strawberry Blonde is an, "American-Style Blonde Ale with whole strawberries added." This one won the bronze medal at the 2012 World Beer Championships, and a bronze at the Great American Beer Festival in the fruit beer category.

Destihl Strawberry Blonde

Much like the Abita Harvest Strawberry, this beer pours into a hazy, orange body. This one is slightly darker than the Abita, and slightly less hazy too. I kicked up a couple of fingers of golden-tinged head, and the head retention is nice. The head looks to be creamy, and sustaining nicely. There is also some lacing.

The aroma here is much more nuanced than the Abita Harvest Strawberry...I'm getting strawberry jam, strawberry preserves, honey, and some bready biscuit notes. As I dig a little further, I'm getting some strawberry pie filling notes. It's very nice...simple, elegant.

This tastes very nice, and it does live up to its name. You get bready, honey-cereal, honey-biscuit, honey-cracker malt notes, with nice layers of strawberry jam, strawberry preserves, and slightly tart strawberry astringency (similar to what you might find in pie filling that isn't overly sweet). There also appears to be a pretty big hop note in here, with some floral hops showing up in the aroma and on the taste. I'm getting some pretty strong floral bitterness that almost veers into citrus.

This is pretty nice...albeit simple, much like the Abita Harvest Strawberry. This is light to medium-light bodied, with good palate depth and low complexity. At 5.2%, this is still crushable in the 6-pack format. Up front: hops, strawberry juice, strawberry jam, preserves, bready malts with honey; that rolls into more jam, slight hop bitterness, some fruity strawberry notes, strawberry fruit roll-ups, honey; the back end trails with malts, grain, cereal, lingering bitterness, and lingering strawberry candy.

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average on this...I guess we will call it a tie with the Abita Harvest Strawberry. Although, this one is a bit more full in terms of the malt presence, which adds much-needed body. I guess what I'm trying to say is: I like it, and you should pair it with warm weather, any dessert that has strawberries in it, or a nice fruit salad. 

Random Thought: TGIF...I'm ready to sleep of the last parts of this cold I have this weekend.

Finch's Golden Wing Blonde Ale

Brewed By: Finch's Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois 

Purchased: 16oz CAN from a 4-pack bought at Binny's in Naperville, IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: American Blonde Ale, 5.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

I'm still not sold on Finch's, but they are local so there's that. And I'm not if anything but a nice guy. Har. About Finch's:

The Finch's Beer Company is a brewery based out of Chicago, Illinois. These guys really want you to take their brewery tour. Finch's was founded back in 2009 by Benjamin Finch, Paul Finch, and Richard Grant. And that's about all the information you are going to glean off their crappy website. For a brewery about advertising, their website is a bit bare bones. 

The Golden Wing Blonde Ale comes in a can, and while I wish it was unassuming, I am getting rapey vibes from the bird artwork on the can. Yeesh. 

Finch's Golden Wing Blonde Ale

For a blonde, this one pours out into a hazy, honey-yellow body, kicking up a finger and a half of wispy, clingy, white head. The head retention is fantastic, leaving webs of lacing as it drops off. In bright light, the beer is almost yellow-gold, with orange tones, and a glazed honey appearance. There's nice carbonation, but I attribute a lot of that to the teku.

The aroma is malty and sweet, and surprisingly so. I'm also getting some faded hops...that could be on me or the age of the can...with some tea, herbal hops, hemp, pine, pine sap, and aged American Barleywine notes. It's actually a really nice, melded aroma, if you're into that sort of thing. And I am. I love those piney and forest-like hops. It reminds me of crushed leaves and camping trips.

The taste mirrors the nose...you get bready and honey malts as the backbone with big iced tea and aged American Barleywine hops on the forefront. I'm getting pine, crushed leaves, forest, pine sap, maple syrup, hemp, tobacco, and resin. This is fairly simple, and has nice bitterness. I enjoy the hop profile here, I just wonder if it is past the expiration date. 

This is medium-bodied, well-carbonated, crisp, and clean. As it warms up a bit, a drying, cracker-like character emerges. Palate depth is good for the style, but this is simple in terms of complexity. More or less, you get iced tea and pine-like hops up front; that rolls into some of the bread and honey body, with more iced tea and crushed leaves; the back end lingers with forest-like hops, and you get some drying cracker notes on the back end. It's hard to say if this would be more vibrant fresh, since it has a similar character to the Threadless IPA. 

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. This isn't bad, it isn't good...it actually has a nice resin character that sort of reminds me of Sixpoint's Resin. Only that beer was way better. You could pair this with a leafy burger, chicken, or even some heavier meats...maybe a gyro even. This has some malt heft, and it fills out nicely for a 5.0% beer. I will have to revisit this one, but I just can't see myself picking this up regularly. 

Random Thought: I should stop busting Finch's balls...they seem alright. 

Uinta Sum'r Summer Ale

Brewed By: Uinta Brewing Company in Salt Lake City, Utah  

Purchased: 12oz CAN from a 12-pack bought at Binny's in Naperville, Illinois; 2014

Style/ABV: American Blond Ale, 4.0%

Reported IBUs: 17

The Uinta Sum'r/Wyld 12-pack is an awesome little bundle. I picked this one up to crush while moving this weekend. How did these two 4.0% session beers hold up? Well, pretty good, actually. About Uinta: 

Uinta Brewing Company has been around since 1993. The brewery started out in a small, renovated mechanic's garage, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The brewery began to build reputation by distributing beer to bars, restaurants, and liquor stores. By 1996, the brewery installed a bottling line. In 2001, the brewery outgrew its original building, and Uinta relocated to a 26,000-square-foot facility. The Uinta name comes from an east-west mountain range located in northeastern Utah. The brewery names many of its beers after Utah's landscape, including their Cutthroat Pale Ale (after the state fish) and their King's Peak Porter (after Utah's highest peak). An additional note: since 2001, Uinta has been 100% wind-powered, and in 2011, the brewery installed solar-electric paneling. Uinta continues to grow, and continue to produce some stellar, award-winning beer. For more info, click HERE.

The Sum'r Summer Ale is brewed with Sorachi Ace hops and light malts. This one punches in at 4.0% and 17 IBUs, and is available between May and July.

Uinta Sum'r Summer Ale

This one pours into a hazy, yellow-straw-urine body -- cloudy like Gatorade and golden showers -- kicking up two fingers of fluffy, white head. The head is sustaining nicely (suck it, adjunct lagers), and the beer has mean streaks of carbonation. Clingy lacing webs the glass and this is inviting from the get go.

Initially, you might think the aroma is a simple blast of crackers, light grains, and cereal malts. But the aforementioned characters are amplified by the Sorachi Ace. There's some synergy here between the hops and malts. There's a nice lime note on the aroma, floral hops, mild dill, and a really nicely defined biscuit and cracker note. The light grains and cereal malts round out the aroma, which is otherwise clean and simple.

This is super simple in execution, with cracker and biscuit malts providing a lot of the flavor, backed by zesty floral-lemon hops. The hops are peppery and clean, hinting at lime, lemon, and that dill character. The water has a slight mineral edge, which reminds me of a good Pilsner or ESB. 

At 4.0%, this is not only incredibly crushable, but it is incredibly flavorful as well. This is truly a session beer, but does not compromise in terms of flavor. Palate depth is good, with a substantial light-full to medium-light mouthfeel. The cracker/biscuit malts provide substantial weight to the backbone, but the lemon-lime hops cut through the fat making this incredibly boofable and quaffable. This is not a complex beer, but it's not supposed to be. Up front: refreshing malt sweetness, cracker, biscuit; the mids roll into peppery hops and huge lime, lemon, and dill; the back end trails off with lingering floral hops, lingering lime and dill, minerality, and Pilsner-esque biscuit malts. This is a well-crafted beer. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average here. Yeah, I'm serious. This is a simple beer, but FOR THE STYLE, and FOR THE ABV, this is a banger. How they managed to pack so much flavor and malt balance into a 4.0% ABV beer is beyond me. This beer is super drinkable, and that's about all you need to know. If you must pair this with food, pair it with lightly grilled chicken, fish, mashed potatoes, and anything that benefits from mild dill and lime character.

Random Thought: Fuck the Session IPA trend...but cheers to Uinta. Uinta flies under the radar, and that's a shame.