Back East Golden Ale

Golden Ale
1 Growler, $9.00, 4.9% ABV

Purchased at the brewery, Bloomfied

I am the rare person who didn’t drink a drop until I was 21. No, this isn’t revisionist history, it’s the simple truth. There are probably many “reasons” for this ranging from “my dad scared the crap out of me” to “my older brother didn’t drink and I did what my older brother did” to “I was actually a pretty good athlete for a while there in my late teens/early 20’s” to “I wasn’t interested in going to the ‘cool’ parties in high school at all.” Even in college, I just didn’t do it until I was over 21.

When I did start, I was influenced by my best friend and roommate at the time, Dan. Being poor college students, we weren’t exactly exploring the (pretty much non-existent) world of craft brewing, so we settled on buying cases of Golden Anniversary as our bad beer of choice.

Why? I have no idea, but I witnessed Dan convincing young college women more than once that the “Gold medal award” Golden Anny cans proudly display was a mark of incredibly important distinction. I convinced myself that it was the best of the bad college beers and frankly, it might be. (Though I think Old Milwaukee became that for me when I started branching out a bit. I haven’t seen that around here for years though.)

So any time I drink something called a “golden ale,” I think back fondly to those days of drinking Golden Anniversary with my college friends and having a great time in Storrs.

But, let me be very clear here, Back East’s Golden Ale is light years ahead of any crappy adjunct beer. It’s clean and crisp and not the least bit muddy. I usually prefer beers with more body to them, but even Back East says that their golden ale is for those without the taste yet for the better beers of the world.

Back East:

Back East Golden Ale is a deep golden, light-bodied American-style ale. This West-coast style beer has a smooth, crisp taste, accentuated by a light malt character and even hop balance. This easy drinking, thirst-quenching beer appeals to a broad range of beer drinkers whether they are a seasoned enthusiast or a Craft beer beginner.

If you’re spending the nine bucks on a Back East growler, I’d recommend the IPA or the porter. But you won’t go wrong with this one, it’s just not exciting.

Overall Rating: B-
Rating vs. Similar style: B+

Beer Advocate’s Reviews of Back East’s Golden Ale (n/a)
Back East Brewing
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