Way back in the day, when I went to a work conference that was being held at the Swan & Dolphin, we meandered over to the Cabana bar probably on a daily basis to grab a drink or two.  Yes, my job willingly paid me to go to Disney World.  Little did they know what they got themselves into, or that 80% of my time was NOT spent at the conference.  But I digress….. At the time Cabana had just  [ Read More ]

The summer seasonal from the Boston Beer Company is Samuel Adams Summer Ale. Referred to as an American wheat ale, its inspiration comes from Belgian witbiers (think Hoegaarden). Samuel Adams’ twist on the style includes lemon peel and Grains of Paradise. Summer Ale has a hazy golden color with a nose full of grain. Malty grain flavor with a lemon citrus tang and just the slightest bit of spice. Lots of carbonation. It’s a good beer to have a bunch  [ Read More ]

Plain and simple this is a great drinking Golden ale. This is not however a simple beer. Made with 4 malts on top of the base malt and 5 hops this complex flavored beer is well balanced and very refreshing. This seasonal beer is available every year from August to October. If you are able to pick one up I would highly recommend it. Made with Pale 2-Row base malt, Crystal 80 malt, Rye, Oats and Wheat. With the complexity  [ Read More ]

Another Samuel Adams brew found at Hops and Barley during the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival, Cherry Wheat is an interesting beer. The name pretty much describes the beer; it’s a wheat beer with dried cherries added. A beer with fruit isn’t particularly uncommon (Abita’s Purple Haze includes raspberries, for example), but the addition of cherries is somewhat unique. It looks like a fairly typical wheat ale; perhaps a slight bit darker than usual. Take a sniff of this  [ Read More ]

A witbier found at the Belgium booth during the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival, Hoegaarden Original Belgian Wheat Beer gets its name from the village of Hoegaarden in Belgium. The witbier style originated from this village; however, this beer was first brewed in 1965 by Pierre Celis, who tried to bring back the witbier after all the breweries in the village closed. After a fire destroyed the Hoegaarden brewery, Interbrew (later InBev after a merger with AmBev) helped rebuild the  [ Read More ]

Ed reviewed Shiner Hefeweizen (originally called Honey Wheat) back in December and loved it. Since it’s part of the Shiner Family Reunion, now it’s my turn to try this one. It’s a nice shade of golden orange and a bit cloudy; flavors of wheat and lemon are dominant in this beer. It’s fairly light, but quite refreshing with a good flavor. This would be a good beer for a hot day (every day this time of year is a hot  [ Read More ]

I picked up Kona Brewing Company’s season beer, Kona Wailua because I love their Longboard beer commonly found at the Polynesian resort. Kona Wailua is a wheat ale blended with tropical passion fruit and has a slightly sweet/sour flavor. It’s not an overpowering beer and is fairly refreshing, especially in the summer heat (well at least its hot down here in North Carolina). I highly recommend this beer if you are a fan of fruit beer or even if you  [ Read More ]

Another fine beer from the Goose Island Beer Co. (Chicago, IL).  It’s described as “Citrus hop aromas, a fruity ale flavor, and a creamy body make 312 as satisfying as it is refreshing.”  This is a smooth beer that I find very enjoyable.  And for those who don’t know or didn’t guess… 312 is one of the Chicago area codes.  You will often see 312 tap handles in the shape of phone receivers in the local establishments.

Tonight’s beer of choice is Abita Purple Haze.  It’s a raspberry wheat beer; the scent and the front end of the taste definitely lets you know raspberries were added to the beer.  The back end has a wheaty, grainy taste.  Purple Haze is very cloudy with an almost grapefruit-like color.  Honestly, this isn’t my favorite of the Abita beers.  I’ll drink it if it’s what’s available, but if there’s something better I’ll pass on the Purple Haze. Purple Haze can  [ Read More ]

I wanted to like this beer…I really did. But I just couldn’t do it. The initial taste of the beer was meh. Nothing to write home about. The aftertaste though made up for it slightly, but it tasted like I had just eaten a blueberry muffin, but not what a beer should taste like. Strange. Heading to WDW Thursday and will be Drinking Around the World on Monday… hopefully the Blackberry WordPress app will decide to work for me!