I have heard many disparaging remarks about this brewery in the past, but my experience has been fairly positive. Maybe it's just that people encounter one of the bad beers and it taints their idea of what this brewery is capable of. I, for one, look forward to seeing what they can do with this wheat beer. The fact is, I have said in the past that a brewery should go ahead and add whatever fruit is necessary to complete the beverage before they stick it in a bottle or can. Don't make it my responsibility or a bar's responsibility to have fruit on hand that is cut to the correct size and shape to complete your beverage. It looks like they've done that right.
The mostly golden beer has that slight hue to it that blueberries have. Children and people of lesser minds might assume that a blueberry's juice is also blue, but anyone who is bitten into a blueberry knows that this is not the case. Instead, the inside is mostly a clear yellow with a slight tinge of purple. That is the color that has been added to my gold. The head comes out a reasonable size, but it will not be leaving any lacing as it simmers down to an uneven yet thin layer across the top of the beer. The aroma is much heavier on the bourbon barrel than I was expecting, and I don't know why it was expecting anything else. Blueberry is lost amongst the bourbon and wood that has combined with the thick wheat.First sip does not directly follow the nose. Instead, the bourbon and wood flavors are fairly muted until the beer is gone from the mouth. Instead, wheat and blueberry are most of what I taste in the actual sip itself. It is an uneven beverage, but that appears to be by design. Instead, there is a sweetness on the front and a dryness on the back that feels more like a progression of a beverage than it does an unsteadiness.
Tip-in is blueberry and wheat with a thin cloud of bourbon floating overhead and carbonation sizzling underneath. The middle gets rid of the bourbon almost entirely as wood complements the rising grains for a thick and satisfying mouth feel as blueberries continue to dance overhead. The finish is where things stop being quite as sweet and turn dry as the bourbon comes back up to meet the wood to overpower the grains and fruits for the trail off.
Bottom Line: There are people who would not like the unevenness of this beverage, but I am not one of them.
3.25/5