Review - New Belgium Brewing Company's Blue Paddle
"Climb on in and grab a paddle. Our first foray into lagered beers, Blue Paddle Pilsener-Lager, is a Czech style pilsener with a refreshing crispness from noble hops and a rich, malty finish. ‘Blue Paddle’ refers to the implement our warehouse manager’s Grandma once used to lovingly paddle his a** when she caught him stealing sips of her beer. With more body than a traditional Belgian pils, Blue Paddle is reflective of Europe’s finest pilseners." -- New Belgium Brewing Company
Pours an incredibly light straw yellow color with brilliant clarity with a healthy, white frothy head with excellent retention and remarkable stickiness leaving dense lacing on the glass. Initially an eartly hop presence dominated the aroma. The aroma is what we expect, but as you can imagine it isn't smacking us in the face telling us to take a sip now or else. The malt body was rather light and slightly doughy. The hop presence was nearly undetectable. Initial taste has a very quick hit of dull sweetness and instantly goes into finishing slightly bitter with a very subtle bite that lingers for a long time. With a light to medium body, the Blue Paddle was a bit watery and thin. As it fits to it's name (blue paddle) as it's close to water with a smooth crisp taste. The active carbonated feeling settled leaving our mouths with a slightly creamy texture (over a long duration). Dead on for the style, all the way from the appearance and aroma to the taste and the mouthfeel, this is an excellent representation of a Czech-style Pilsener. Light and crisp with a subtle hop bite, it is pleasing on the nose and gentle on the palate. This is a great beer for the light beer drinker.
Reviewed on October 28th, 2010.
