Beer # 70 Iron Spike Blonde

Iron Spike Blonde Ale


Railway City Brewery
St. Thomas Ontario, Canada
Independent
Blonde Ale 4.3% ABV Tall Boy Can 473 ml.
$2.40 (Canadian) At LCBO.

Back to the brewery I started with in November of 2010. The first Beer I tasted for the blog was Dead Elephant Ale By Railway City Brewing, out of St. Thomas Ontario. Continuing with their railway theme (Dead Elephant refers to Jumbo the Elephant of the famous Barnum and Bailey Circus that was struck and killed by a train in St. Thomas in 1885) Iron spike refers to the large nail used to hold the rails of the train tracks to the wooden sleepers buried in the rail bed. Million of these nails were struck into the sleepers by hand to link Canada from shore to shore in the 1800's. Even today repairs on the rails are almost continuous across the nation with each of the spikes still being driven in by hand. The imagery is excellent as St. was such an important part of Canada's rail history,(at one time 26 railways passed through St. Thomas) and any rail worker would immediately identify with this ubiquitous symbol of the rail-line.

Onto the tasting:


Light gold in colour  with an off-white head made up of medium sized bubbles that disperse quickly. Roasty malt and herbal nose. First sip is clean and light with mild hints of honey. Malt intensity builds through the middle culminating in a slightly musty wet grain flavour. Finish is black tea and damp hay. Very unbalanced, the beer is almost wishy-washy to start and holds back until the aftertaste which it releases with a vengeance.



Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional                         


Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 4/6 PASS
Re-Order:  2/6 SO-SO  
Experience:   3/6  SO-SO


Final Thoughts:


I really hate to knock an Ontario brewery, especially one trying as hard as Railway City. However, of the two beers I have tried from them, I am impressed with neither. Far from me to say stay away from this brewery... By all means seek them out and try their beers. I remind you my opinion is my own and I cannot dictate what you should like or will find pleasing. I look forward to trying more of Railway City's brews, perhaps they have a stellar offering on the horizon for me.


Cheers


CJT