Action Figures & Their Beers: Golden Boy

by Beedo Sookcool
on 2012-05-29, 01:09:17

GOLDINGS

Another Shepherd Neame brew, the only truly golden character I could think of to go with this beer that I haven’t used yet is Goldbug. Except that for several Legal Reasons, he’s not Goldbug anymore, he’s Gold Bumblebee. Rassafrackin’ trademark lapses and killjoy German car makers! (And don’t even get me started on %*#& overseers who go out of their way to overwrite every contribution you ever made on the TransFormers wiki for no reason whatsoever other than perhaps pettily wanting to run the whole show themselves. Bitter? Oh, just a £*%+ing tad.) Anywho, this summer hop Ale from Britain’s oldest brewery (Sixteen-Frickin’-Ninety-Eight; I’m still staggered by that) is brewed with well-water and aromatic hops (presumably the eponymous Goldings variety) to make a particularly refreshing summer thirst-quencher. It’s a little too dark for me to call it golden in colour, even though it’s described that way on the label.

The label describes “light malty flavours and smoothness provide a refreshing summer ale with notes of new-mown grass” and that “the resinous aroma of the hops and fruitiness from the yeast complete the country character.” Well, it is malty and a bit citrusy and resiny, as advertised, I’ll definitely give them that. I ain’t getting any “new-mown grass” notes, though. Either the beer’s too cold, or I’m too unsubtle to pick up on it. I let it warm up for a bit, and still couldn’t detect said notes. (But if you really want new-mown grass flavour, you can’t beat the Goelitz / Jelly Belly “Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans” subline. Their Grass flavour jelly beans taste exactly as you would expect freshly cut grass to taste. And they’re delicious.)

Anywho, back to the beer, it’s 4.5% ABV and nicely refreshing, but it’s getting perilously close to the bottom of the beer ranking table, almost relegated to the Hazy Quantum Cloud of Equal-Quality Brews. This is because despite the high quality of the ingredients and the brewing, the beer itself has a lingering aftertaste that’s a little too bitter for it to earn a higher rank. There’s some intangible quality which I can’t quite pinpoint that keeps it from slipping into the Heisenberg Fog, though, but it’s just enough to earn it a place in the tables. Just.

Drink this if you also like: Hopping Hare, Discovery, Stroh’s, any other hoppy, refreshing ale or lager.