Ommegang Game of Thrones Iron Throne Blonde Ale (6/10)

Being a sci-fi geek in addition to a beer geek, it should probably be blasphemous to say this, but I don't watch Game of Thrones.  There were too many characters to keep track of and the story just didn't grip me.  To take the blasphemy a step further, although I love several Ommegang beers, I've found them all to be overly hoppy, unlike my favorite Ommegang brews.  My favorite of them so far is the Valar Morghulis Dubbel Ale.

That said, I'm always willing to give Ommegang a chance.  I picked up a bottle of Game of Thrones Iron Throne Blonde Ale on a recent beer shopping trip for $8.99.  I don't recall where it was, but these beers get such a wide distribution that you shouldn't have trouble finding them.  I typically see them in Giant Eagle and other local retailers.

Iron Throne pours a hazy blonde color with enormous white head that has the consistency of whipped cream  The glass in the photo at the left was poured fairly slowly and carefully, yet generated the head you see in the image... which lasted a while.

The aroma is a mix of hops, cloves, and has a bit of a grassy farm feel to it. Some citrus comes through as well.

The flavor starts with hops and cloves (probably from the wheat). The hops recede a bit after that and allows the underlying spice and lemon peel notes to rise up a bit. The finish is pure hops bitterness. While Ommegang describes this as a “gently hopped” beer, I’d say it’s only gently-hopped if you compare it to an IPA or American Pale Ale.