Bruphoria James Blonde Ale

[damienair]

I don't believe a review has been done yet on this Kit. I enjoy a Blonde Ale and decided to give the James Blonde Ale from The Homebrew Company a try. It is a two can kit, 3.0 kg of premium liquid malt extract with Mangrove Jacks US West Coast M44 Yeast, and I believe a mixture of Nugget, Summit and Sorachi Ace hop pellets for dry hopping. This was my 6th brew and I started it on the 06/03/21. OG =1.040 and yeast was pitched at around 23 degrees C. I was worried that fermentation had stalled so I took a hydrometer reading on 13/03/21 and the reading from the sample was 1.010. On St. Patrick's Day the 17/03/21 I checked and had a reading of 1.008 and I added the dry hops in a hop sock weighed down with marbles. On the 21/03/21 the FG reading was 1.006 and I bottled the beer getting a yield of 59 x 330ml bottles. I batch primed the beer in a bottling bucket before bottling with 180g of brewing sugar dissolved in 400ml of hot water. Bottles were left in the airing cupboard to condition and go through secondary fermentation. On the 05/04/21 I moved the beer down to the garage to condition.

The Homebrew Company's description is : James Blonde Ale is a smooth blonde ale that should be served cold. Do not shake or stir this homebrew. It has a beautiful golden straw to medium blonde colour with moderate bitterness and maltiness. This ale is close to a lager but its unique flavour will distinguish it enough for you to come back for more. A superb, unrivalled light session ale, suitable for all occasions.

I tried a couple of bottles on the first weekend in May 01/05/21 and to be honest I did not like it at all. I had read about people saying that a certain beer had a Homebrew twang and I don't believe I had got it from any of my previous brews, maybe the first one, but I was just happy that that was drinkable. But there was a serious homebrew twang from this beer. It tasted OK but the aftertaste was not great. I believed it was going to be difficult to drink this one and I was a little disappointed as I had high hopes for this kit.

Roll on another couple of weeks. I tried a couple of bottles last weekend, 15/05/21 and it is a completely different beer. It tasted really good. If I was served this in a bar I would be very happy. It is a very nice smooth, refreshing and easy to drink blonde ale. I think this will be absolutely fantastic in another month. I am now really happy with it and I am looking forward to enjoying this brew. I have the equivalent of 31 pints left in 330ml bottles. One of my neighbours had a couple of bottles with me last Saturday and he loved it too. So a big thumbs up from me. I'm interested to seeing what this is like in another month. I will report back then.

 

[GhostShip]

Great review! They describe it as 'close to a lager', would you say that's true, or is it more like a light, golden ale? Can you taste the hops?

 

[damienair]

Great review! They describe it as 'close to a lager', would you say that's true, or is it more like a light, golden ale? Can you taste the hops?

Well to answer your question I had to open a bottle. So thank you, great question . I happened to have one in the fridge. It is definitely more like a light golden ale. You can both taste and smell the hops. It is a lovely beer which I think will only get better with age.

I was just going to have one beer tonight and I picked a Richies Simply Lager which I brewed with 1Kg of brewing sugar back in December. It was my first beer to brew. I only have a few bottles left. It is still nice, but basic. So my taste buds were primed. When I had my first taste again of this beer straight afterwards it was a huge jump up in flavour and hoppiness.
I have also a Mangrove Jacks Bavarian Wheat beer, Mangrove Jacks Juicy Session IPA, a Mangrove Jacks Pink Grapefruit IPA, a Festival Oaked Apple Cider and this Bruphoria James Blonde Ale. So it fits in well as an alternative for any guests who don’t like an IPA or Wheat beer. It’s something different and worth a try.

 

[GhostShip]

Sounds great! Might add this one to the list.

 

[damienair]

A month later and a quick update. This is really really nice. Currently I have a stash which is dwindling of Pink Grapefruit IPA, Juicy Session IPA, Bavarian Wheat beer and Oaked Apple Cider. The Bruphoria James Blonde Ale started out well down the list, but as the weeks have gone by it has aged really well and now sits on the top of the list. All the others are lovely and I have a brew started of Pink Grapefruit IPA and will be doing the Juicy Session IPA next. But this James Blonde beer has surprised me by taking the number 1 spot on my list. It is definitely on my to do list again. Next time I’ll bottle it in 500ml bottles. Give this a try and let it condition for a couple of months before touching it.

 

[GhostShip]

Just when I thought I'd selected my next kit, you come along to divert me!

 

[damienair]

Just leave it to age. I bottled mine 3 months ago and it is just perfect now.
By the way I followed your tip and added 1 litre of Pink Grapefruit Juice to the latest batch of Pink Grapefruit IPA which I put on last Sunday. It tasted lovely from the trial jar. Looking forward to it.

 

[GhostShip]

Just leave it to age. I bottled mine 3 months ago and it is just perfect now.
By the way I followed your tip and added 1 litre of Pink Grapefruit Juice to the latest batch of Pink Grapefruit IPA which I put on last Sunday. It tasted lovely from the trial jar. Looking forward to it.

Great stuff - hope you get the same result I did. Still drinking it and it's just so good.

 

[damienair]

A James Blonde Ale goes very well with the Smiths in the back garden. Especially whilst listening to Stop Me, my fav.