Fruit beers suffer an image problem in the beer world. Beer guys (like me) tend to dismiss them as "girly beers" or "kiddie beers". They aren't serious beers for serious men. It's okay to serve them at an art gallery opening. Not okay for Saturday's tailgate party at the A&M game.
Chicks there? Okay to serve fruit beer. Guys there, NOT Okay.
The implication of course is that men drink real beer, and real beer tastes like hops. Kids and girls can drink Kool-Aid or wine coolers, and Kool-Aid and wine coolers tastes like fruit.
Well, sometimes a beer can still taste like a beer even though it has fruit in it. To me, that's really he hallmark of a good fruit flavored beer, and I've got to say, Pete's Strawberry Blonde is a pretty darn good example of how to do just that.
What Makes a Great Fruit Flavored Beer...
Evaluating fruit flavored beers can be a tricky balancing act. On the one hand, you need to evaluate the underlying base beer to see how well made it is and how well it lets stylistic signature characteristics shine, but at the same time, you need to balance that with the how well the beer succeeds in letting the fruit flavors and aromas come through. The final verdict needs to carefully consider this balance and to reflect not just how fruity the product is, but how good it is as a fruit beer.
Careful beer critics keep the balance in mind and do a good job of trying to fairly evaluate fruit beers, but unfortunately, you do often see reviews that forget about the balance. These reviews either blast all fruit beers in general as a sacrilege against the great beer Gods, or they sometimes go to the other extreme and focus only on the fruit as if they were judging a the State Fair's fruit preserves competition.
A carefully made fruit beer can be a wonderful thing. The fruit and beer flavors can marry harmoniously, and can let the fruit have its moment in the spotlight while at the same time letting the underlying beer refresh and satisfy the palate the way it is intended.
What Do I Want to Find in This Beer...
Pete calls the beer "strawberry blonde" so that's what I expect -- I want to be able to identify that the beer is basically a blonde ale. I expect it to taste and smell of fresh strawberries, and I expect that neither the fruit nor the blonde ale characteristics are going to overwhelm the other.
The blonde ale should be roughly average strength and body and be very pale in color but with a firm body characteristic of all-malt beers. I don't expect big hops nor big malt in this beer. It's a drinkable, everyday light beer that's meant as a refreshing quaffable brew. A pretty good choice for working with fruit, in my opinion.
Now let's see what I find in this beer...
Almost any general-purpose beer glass will present this kind of beer well. I'll choose a smooth sided glass mug.
Tasting Notes...
Appearance:
Pale golden yellow with a dense, creamy white head. Foam lingers all the way through the beer leaving beautiful lace on the sides. Crystal clear without a trace of sediment nor of unusual colorings. Looks like a well brewed European lager beer if appearances count for anything.
Aroma:
I like to smell a beer as quickly as possible after pouring it, and that's especially important with this beer because it's got an initially complex aroma that dissipates after a few seconds. That first fleeting smell is tantalizing with its dominant strawberry ester, a bit of grassy hops, and a somewhat sour note that's very nice and that reminds me of some of my very favorite fruit beers -- like Baltimore's classic microbrew, Oxford Raspberry Wheat, which is sadly no longer available.
When I come back to the beer and smell it a second or third time, after having taste a few ounces, the smell is more rounded and straightforward, coming across to me as fresh strawberry, but without the sour component that I smelled the first time. Still, a very appetizing aroma.
Flavor:
My first impression is that this is a beer with a surprisingly nice body -- quite firm with a lot of soft, smooth, sweet pale malt flavor. It's also quite well balanced. While a lot of blonde ales go light on the hops, this one actually does seem to have just an edge of earthy hop flavor that helps give it depth and complexity and help me really justify grading it highly as a fundamentally sound beer.
The strawberry flavor really kicks in a couple seconds later. Especially after I swallow the first gulp and start taking a second sip. It's probably got something to do with the way the beer is swirling around in my mouth, releasing esters that are picked up as I exhale.
As I work my way through the beer, jotting down comments, I'm impressed by the way the balance between beer aspects and fruit aspects seems to stay in check throughout the session, right down to the last refreshing gulp.
The Verdict Is In...
I have a confession to make. (Digame.) I actually like fruit flavored beers. I know, I know, most beer geeks turn away in contempt, and I always feel like a bit of heretic in not following the party line, but the truth is (at least in my view of "truth") that fruit beers represent a chance for brewers to exercise a little artistic license. They can experiment and play and see what they come up with.
When fruit beers work, I find they work very well, and I think that Pete's Strawberry Blonde is an example of this.
I fully understand. I comiserate. Beer geeks aren't supposed to like fruit beers. We're also not supposed to like blonde ale because it was brewed as a "dumbed down" style. But the thing is, Pete's is a beer that works!
The underlying blonde ale tastes solid and well-brewed. It's got a clean fresh malt flavor that just wraps itself around the fruitiness of the strawberries and creates a wonderful hybrid that's truly greater than either of its parts. The strawberries add gastronomic interest -- they don't detract from a good beer and they don't mask flaws (both common problems in lesser fruit beers).
Bottom line: good brew that's refreshing and flavorful. A nice casual light beer. I'd drink a bottle of this on a warm evening while sitting outside enjoying grilled chicken. I'd like to hear what you think it...
Further Reading...
About blonde ales...
http://www.epinions.com/content_1622515844
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