On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, refreshing summertime golden ale becomes diacetyl at vegetal citric finish. Sunny yellow grapefruit tartness desiccated by sour lemon rot, raw-honeyed pale malts and grassy Simcoe-citra hop astringency. Light floral orange fruiting needs better penetration.

Perfectly sessionable golden ale with polite lager-like cereal toasting, cracker-like pilsner malting and grassy hop mildness afforded clean-watered crisping. Lemon-limed carbolic fizz prickles the tongue. Delicate orange fruiting and wispy floral accents caress light mineral grain finish.

Docile Bavarian-like moderation spreads grain-toasted caramel malting across warbled citric murk and light sugared spicing. Lemony grapefruit bittering, tangy orange diffidence, musky hemp-oiled acridity and soft hop astringency depleted by minor aspirin astringency.

Botanical soft-watered moderation (made in small batches) layers effervescent yellow-orange fruiting atop perfumed hop spices. Brewed with rose petals and Bulgarian rose water, its lemon-honeyed herbal tea spree picks up dainty saffron, lotus, lavender, sage and pink peppercorn niceties. Subtle floral peach tones drape the zesty citric finish.

Robust canned ale brings musky Czech hop pungency to light corn-husked mineral graining and crisp lemon-peppered frisk.  Herbal perfumed wisp breeches casual white-breaded spine.

Lifeless light-bodied golden ale (in a can) retains nasty corn malt astringency and dreary veggie-rotted citric spritz to musty wheat-husked white-breaded bottom. Lemony orange misting lost in the mix.

On tap, sessionable light body flows easy. Mild grain roast sedates soft-hopped lemon spritz. Corn-dried astringency underscores buttered biscuit backend. In 22-ounce aluminum cylinder, cotton-candied sourdough yeast and lemony orange zest register above its grassy-hopped vegetable garden. Many disparate elements (such as a latent dry Scotch tinge) rub against each other in this weird cornucopia.

Bettering most in its moderate-bodied class, inviting lawnmower fodder keeps it simple. Silken sourdough yeast frontage is drier than Mayflower’s similarly-styled Pale Ale. Slim citric tease and minimal floral spicing caress buttered baked bread finish. A touch of honeycomb sweetens the delicate wheat spine. Elegant, yet approachable, and worthy of mass appeal.

Another fine English-styled ale by rural Connecticut brewery. This earthier Brit variation bests lighter, less bitter American-styled goldens. Well-balanced citric-spiced crystal malting, raw wood-smoked oats graining and twiggy bark-dried tinder crudity congruently integrated. Vegetal corn-husked celery, carrot and fennel astringency grazes buttery biscuit bottom.

Brisk ‘summer salad’ utilizing fresh-chopped herbs maintains fruity regalia. Tropical pineapple, mango, melon and peach tang inundates sharp lemony orange-peeled grapefruit bittering. Earthen dry-wooded oaken pining seeps into tea-bagged thyme-basil retreat. Ascending alcohol burn deepens ultimate complexity of richly balanced step up from usual moderate-bodied golden ale contenders.

Too tame and pallid to be offensive, unenthusiastic ‘session ale’ will please less finicky ale heads yearning for an inexpressive light-bodied refreshment. Peculiar earthen fungi yeast and cardboard-y vegetal nuance take away from muted orange-oiled sour-candied tartness to cracked wheat spine. Blasé.