There are times when I get the feeling that the blonde ale gets a bad rap. Sometimes labeled Kölsch-style, golden ale, or summer ale, it is a frequent denizen of craft brewery taprooms. But blonde ales are dismissed too often as the beer for non-beer drinkers who find themselves stuck at a brewpub or for macro lager drinkers who end up at a Bud-free joint with friends who are there to get lost in a juicy haze.
You taste some malt, a little fruitiness from the yeast, and
some hops with a bit of bitterness. There's balance with no flavor dominating
the others and it's light, not only to the eye, but also on the tongue. While I
am sure that some American craft brewers somewhere have barrel aged them and even
made them dark so as to have a black blonde ale, they generally seem to be left
to themselves, thankfully. However, I do recall Vintage Brewing here in Madison
steeping sumac in their Sister Golden several years back and Sam Adams has used/uses
Grains of Paradise in their Summer Ale so the style is not additive proof by
any means.
This time around we have Bubbler from Next Door Brewing.
While not next door, Next Door is only about a mile and half from my house so
it is my local brewery. (Well, until that person in my dreams opens a zoigl
brewery when the Voit Farm property is developed and it assumes the title.) I
don't frequent Next Door that often but they have always had good food when
I've eaten there and you can take your meal in the company of total strangers
as they offer communal seating. I have enjoyed the beers of theirs I've had and
I like to go there during the summer to order a Berliner Weisse sampler with a
variety of syrups. I'm a Waldmeister man at heart, but a little mango
and whatever the blue flavor is makes for a nice summer treat.
About five years ago there was a trio of Wisconsin brewed
beers called "Bubbler", including this one. Considering the
Wisconsinness of the term, I am surprised it took so long for the name to appear.
Bubbler is a classic example of regional English. It refers
to a drinking fountain that has the water bubble up from a spout instead of
shoot out towards a drain. Having grown up in Chicago, I always said drinking
fountain as opposed to the decorative kind like Buckingham Fountain down in
Grant Park. "Bubbler" is a Milwaukee-area word owing to Kohler fountains
(made in Kohler, WI, just north of Milwaukee) that bubbled the water and
Milwaukeeans taking a shine to the word.
And so at one time we had a blonde ale from tiny Plymouth Brewing, a hefeweizen from New Glarus Brewing, and Next Door's blonde ale all
having this name. I have no idea how that shook out trademark-wise but I
haven't seen a New Glarus Bubbler in a while, Plymouth either doesn't can/bottle
its beer or distributes in a very small area, and Next Door's Bubbler is a
common sight in beer coolers around town.
With smells of biscuit and straw, it was not totally unlike,
say, a Miller High Life. My nose also caught a bit of fruit – like apricot.
In a 180 from my last beer review, Grainne's Special Bitter, Bubbler had a firm
fizz to it. I tasted cracker and a touch of white raisin sweetness. It had a
smoothness to it as well and I caught some berry in there on subsequent sips. A
grassy and slightly spicy bitterness came out on the finish which was fairly
dry.
Of my recent encounters with blonde ales, I must admit my
preference for Bubbler. It's got a really nice cracker taste with restrained
sweetness and fruitiness. The carbonation and judicious hopping keep things on
the dry and crisp side but not overly so. Balance is the watchword. There's simply
a tasty harmony amongst the malt, hops, and yeast here. A little bit of
everything but never too much.
Junk food pairing: Bubbler will pair well with Ruffles Poutine Potato Chips.
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