Pontoon "New Wave" Blonde Ale

I intentionally left the "radical" out of the description of the beer that was written on the label. It's not that I don't think that this beer may, in fact, be mindbogglingly radical, but I try to keep the names of these entries a bit more clean and predictable. So, effectively, I think that I am simply not radical enough to keep up with the labeling. Will I keep up with such a radical beer? We shall see. 

The beer is a bit recalcitrant when it comes to emitting bubbles, but this is about as blonde an ale as you can get. I recently had a beer from Michael Waltrip that was a blonde, and that brewer should probably take notes about how a blonde presentation should happen. The aroma of flour-covered dough is emitted from the top of the glass, and it is delightful.

First sip is a whole lot more fruit than I could smell, but the dough malt is still strong, and the mix is just about right. All that solid, sweet malt is powering the beer in a straight and reliable way while the fruit adds a lightness and tempers the sweetness so that the fairly simple beer is helped out by both sides. 

Tip-in is bread with lemons and oranges above a very slight carbonation tingle. The middle wonders in with a dramatic and bombastic swell of carbonation burn while grapefruit and pears help out the fruit to further bolster that very good and solid malt. The finish is a swing of dryness before a fog of bread dough trails off.

Bottom Line: Not actually radical, but darn good.

4.0/5