02 Apr New Republic Kadigan Blonde by Tony

NRB Kadigan Blonde

New Republic Brewing Company

College Station

Blonde

ABV: 5.2%

IBUs: 25

Packaging: Draft, 12oz. Cans

This review was one of the earlier ones, but it didn’t make it to the site. Check out the beer fridge above. That ought to make this a late summer, early fall pic. The first iteration of the We <3 Houston Beer pint glass is also an indicator.

We drink more beer than we can write about, so this one had to wait in the backlog for a little while. I’m about to put together a post about the best Houston beer to pair with crawfish, and this one’s definitely on the list, so I had to dig back in the archives.

NRB Kadigan Blonde has a light gold color that’s almost crystal clear. It pours with a one finger, white head that sticks around for a while considering the lightness of the beer. It laces down the glass very delicately. It’s light bodied with a thin mouthfeel and lots of tiny bubbles, adding to the refreshing quality.

NRB Kadigan Blonde is a pretty good beer. As a rule, I don’t care much for blondes because they’re low in flavor and don’t lend themselves to much creativity as a style without completely compromising the integrity of the original beer. There are some exceptions, but it’s just rare in my experience.

That’s not to say all blondes are bad, but they’re just far from my go to. The one thing they’ve got going for them is drinkability, and that’s why we can’t shun them just because they’re not explosively flavorful or creative.

Nonetheless, this Kadigan Blonde has a little bit more flavor than the rest of the blondes I’ve had in recent years. It starts off light and crisp, and then there’s a very light, grassy hop aftertaste. It’s really refreshing and clean drinking.

Kadigan Blonde reminds me a little bit of Peroni a bit because of the light flavor, the mouthfeel, and the aftertaste it leaves.

This is a terrific beer to offer someone that’s not familiar with craft! Your Bud Light or Coors drinking buddy might be more apt to enjoy one of these than that DIPA you might be tempted to hand him just for entertainment.

I’m giving it a 3.5 because it’s a good beer, and I enjoy it. I prefer a bit more flavor for my go-to-fridge-filler, but I gave it that extra half because it’s enjoyably sessionable.

Everything from New Republic has been solid in my book, and others on our team agree, so I expected another solid brew. I got it.

The Kadigan Blonde artwork is just like all the rest from New Republic, with tons of great information that’s pertinent to a craft beer drinker. The ABV, IBUs, ideal drinking temp and pairings all flank big, bold, yellow typography. Each of their cans are similar, but the colors are usually the biggest distinguisher from a distance. See what I mean with Marlinspike and Skylight!

I got this one at HEB, per usual, but I’ve seen New Republic in quite a few nicer grocery stores.

This beer is solid, and it’s a good one for a BBQ, tailgate or Crawfish Boil. It’s the kind of beer you can use to open the minds and palettes of your friends. What’d y’all think of NRB Kadigan Blonde? Anybody care to share what in the world a Kadigan is, anyhow??

Let us know below. Beers to you, Houston.