50 West Eleanor Belgian Blonde Ale (6/10)

The 50 West Brewing Company is located in Cincinnati.  They pride themselves on brewing small batches and doing them well.  Eleanor is a "Belgo-American Blonde Ale" named after their trademark VW bus.  The 50 West web site describes Eleanor as "a Blonde Ale that rides a wave of fruity hops and Ardennes yeast to deliver a mildly spiced and juicy fruit flavor."

The beer pours a slightly hazy pale gold with a thick white head that dissipates relatively slowly. 

Eleanor's aroma is malty and hoppy with a slight hint of Belgian fruit. 

The flavor starts with a hint of sweet malt and fruit, then quickly gives way to hops. Hops bitterness dominates the middle and finish. The bitterness lingers quite a while after you finish sipping.

Beer Advocate doesn't have enough individual ratings to give an overall rating for this beer yet.  The ratings that are present at this time would rank it somewhere in the 7 out of 10 range.  Rate Beer is in the same situation, but what they have works out to around 7.2 out of 10.  I guess I'm a little harder on it than they are, perhaps because I like Belgian style beers but dislike hoppy ones.  I'm rating it 6 out of 10 overall.  That's actually high for me when it comes to a hoppier beer, so it's fair to say I liked this more than many "American" style beers.

When I sampled this beer, it was on tap at The Daily Growler.  It's long since left there, but may come back. You might also find it at other local establishments through that BeerMenus.com link or at the brewery's location in Cincinnati.  

The beer is 6% alcohol by volume and is rated at 20 IBUs, though it tastes quite a bit higher than that.