312 Urban Wheat - Goose Island Beer Co.

    312 Urban Wheat is a Pale Wheat Ale brewed by Goose Island Beer Co. in Chicago, Illinois. I'm pretty torn when it comes to Goose Island beers as a lot of their distributed beers seem to mirror the low quality of Goose Island's owner, Anheuser-Busch's products. Their in-pub only brews, however, are on par with those of the best craft breweries in the country. We'll see what side of the coin 312 sits on in just a minute, though I already have my guess.

    312 Urban Wheat pours a pale straw color with vivacious bubbles swarming inside the glass. A two finger head forms at pouring, but quickly subsides into a thin layer of bubbles which lace the glass as the beer is enjoyed.

    Aromas of wheat malt and a bit of sour corn predominate the beer's smell. Very light, hoppy, citrus scents give the beer a bit of a grassy quality.

    312 has a light body and a high level of carbonation. There is a slight bit of wateryness to the beer that I could do without, though it finishes dry. The beer is sessionable at 4.2% ABV.

Goose Island's next Headquarters?

    Goose Island's 312 Urban Wheat beer tastes of light wheat malts with a slight aftertaste of corn. Very light citrus hops give the brew a hint of lemon zest.

    I remember having this beer soon after it was first released and thinking that it was a pretty decent wheat beer. Now, at this tasting, I'm shocked at how much the flavor has chanegd. I wonder if production was changed to make for being able to sell the product to a larger market, and in the process the recipe was reformulated to reduce the wheat malt used in brewing.

    Whatever the change was, it's definitely for the worse. I would definitely look elsewhere for a beer with great, clean wheat malt flavor. If you want something light, 312 still wouldn't be a horrible choice, but you could find better...

Amulets and Ale Rating:

Follow Amulets and Ale on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AmuletsAndAle!

Hell or High Watermelon - 21st Amendment Brewery

    Hell or High Watermelon is a Wheat Beer brewed first with watermelon concentrate, with even more watermelon juice added at bottling (well, canning). This fruity concoction is brewed by the 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco, California. Artificial watermelon flavoring used to really turn me off in candy and other foods as a child, so I have...low hopes..for this one to say the least.

    The beer pours a pale, translucent straw color. There is a bit of haze to the beer, and watermelon particles are visible floating around in the glass which tells me that this is likely an unfiltered beer.

    Surprisingly, Hell or High Watermelon doesn't smell much like watermelon at all. There is definitely a fruity scent to the beer, but it's more of a tart, berry smell, than that of melons. Light scents of malts and wheat are discernible underneath the fruitiness.

    The watermelon brew is light bodied and has a low to medium level of carbonation. The beer feels very watery when swallowing, and has an alcohol content of 4.9% ABV.

Explosive watermelon flavor?

    Ah, there it is, the watermelon flavor I was expecting to smell, I can definitely taste. I'm actually surprised that the fruit flavor isn't just the chemical tasting, artificial watermelon of my youth, but actually more of something in-between the real and artificial flavors of watermelon. The wheat and pale malt flavors are very subtle, possibly overpowered by the watermelon.

    I don't know what kind of watermelons the scientists that invented artificial watermelon flavoring were eating, but I can guarantee they weren't the same fruit that we grow here on earth. Either that, or the scientists assigned to the watermelon artificial flavoring research group just happened to be the exact few members of the human race whose tongues didn't work correctly. Luckily 21st Amendment apparently at least had two people working on the potential flavors for their watermelon beer, one of whom obviously had actually tasted watermelon in his or her lifetime.

    Hell or High Watermelon is extremely light bodied. If you're a fan of watermelon and light, summer beers, definitely try it. If you want a light tasting beer with flavor that isn't nearly-artificial watermelon, look elsewhere for your summer refreshment.

Amulets and Ale Rating:

Follow Amulets and Ale on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AmuletsAndAle!