Rockhound Brewery opened its doors last April but didn’t fire up its in-house brewery until a few weeks ago. It had been relying on Madison brewers like House of Brews and the Great Dane to make its beer during the start-up period. Now that things have settled into a routine in the front of the house, Rockhound owner and brewmaster Nate Warnke is finally getting to do what he wants, and that’s brewing. What he considers his first core beer, Sandstone blonde ale, just went on tap.
What is it? Sandstone from Rockhound Brewing Company of Madison.
Style: Sandstone falls generally into a broad class of blonde ales. It’s probably closest to Belgian Blonde style because it’s made with a Belgian yeast that lends a little earthy spiciness and hints of fruity sweetness to the aroma and flavor. Blonde ales are usually not hoppy. They are clean and balanced with medium to light body. They commonly finish around 4–6 percent ABV.
Background: Sandstone is actually Warnke’s fifth in-house beer since he got his brew house assembled over the summer. His first four batches he considers one-offs, and were simply named by number, as in #1, #2, #3, and #4. They allowed him to see how his new system worked, so he could fine tune approaches and techniques as he establishes a list of regular beers.
Sandstone has potential to be become part of the brewpub’s core line up. It fills the bill for a light-bodied beer with a range in food pairing. It’s really just a straightforward golden ale made with pilsner and biscuit malt, and hopped with Saaz. “I was looking at the lighter beer side of things and wanted to make something with a different take on their flavor,” says Warnke. The Belgian yeast offers that touch of difference between other golden ales you’ll find in local breweries with a bit of spicy-fruitiness (at least right now).
Like many of the recent crop of new brewers in Madison, Warnke was a homebrewer before following his commercial beermaking dreams. “It’s the first one of my true home brew recipes that was brewed here,” Warnke proudly adds.
Sandstone is on the lighter side of blonde ales finishing between 4.5-5 percent ABV, with an estimated 25 IBUs (international bitterness units). It’s sold over the bar in pints for $5/glass and $12/growler (refill).
Tasting notes:
Aroma: There isn’t much aroma, just light earthy-biscuit tones with a hint of floral-fruitiness.
Appearance: Yellow-golden color. A medium-bubbly, light-tan head.
Texture: Light bodied, bubbly with some softness.
Taste: A ready-biscuity-graininess from the malt. There is a fruity-yeasty sweetness that comes out more as the beer warms.
Finish/Aftertaste: The light fruity-yeastiness is still there in the end. Yet, this beer finishes fast and clean.
Glassware: Rockhound serves Sandstone in a standard bar pint which really doesn’t do much to enhance it. When taking it home in a growler, I prefer a Willi Becher to show off the beer's vivid yellow-golden color, while the inward lip focuses an otherwise almost undetectable light-yeasty aroma.
Pairs well with: Sandstone is a pretty light beer. It won’t overpower any of the brewpub’s food offerings, and some menu selections might just overwhelm it. However, it’s a nice match with the creamy chicken or hearty veggie pot pies.
The Verdict: Light beers like Sandstone all too often get overlooked on beer menus by craft beer enthusiasts looking for bigger and more assertive brews. However, a solid golden ale is a necessary component to a well-rounded brewpub menu. Light blonde ales are challenging to the brewer because they are often about a finesse of flavor, rather than a cry for attention like an IPA or a sour.
I gotta hand it to Warnke for tackling a blonde ale so early after just firing up the brew house for the first time. It would have been easy to just hop something up to cover over any early shortcoming while getting used to a new brewing system. Sandstone turns out to be a nice light beer with a mild fruitiness that emerges even more as it slowly warms. That’s when it becomes smoother and softer, and more inviting. I actually prefer this beer that way. This is an easy drinking beer that’s clean and without lingering aftertaste. That means there’s room for a second pint, just like there should be with a well-designed golden ale.
