5:00 O’Clock Afternoon Ale, Renegade Brewing Company, Denver

Style: Blonde ale

ABV: 5 percent

Serving Type: 16-ounce can

Malty? Hoppy? A faint hoppiness

Reviewed: May 2013

It seems we’re seeing more and more low-alcohol session beers around Colorado. Fine by us. Sure, we dig the occasional 10 percent imperial IPA, but it’s hard to drink three of those in a row without feeling like you’ve been punched in the brain. And beer drinking in the summer often means spending an entire afternoon sipping brews in a backyard. For those moments, we’re looking for something light and crisp that still has a bit of flavor and doesn’t register much higher than 5 percent alcohol. Enter: Renegade’s 5:00 O’Clock Afternoon Ale.

This brew isn’t going to blow anyone’s mind, but it’s tasty and well balanced—crisp with a subtle hoppiness and a hint of spice. Halfway through our first pint we found ourselves craving a bite to eat, a brat or a bowl of chips and salsa. Our only gripe? We could drink quite a few of these, and so we wish Renegade would package this blonde ale in 12-ounce cans and sell ’em in six packs.

Would we buy it again? We’ll almost certainly buy this a couple times this summer, but we’d pick it up more often if it came in sixers.