Kona Wailua Wheat

Brewed by Kona Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Kailua Kona, Hawaii USA

Enjoying this one in Corolla, NC while looking out over the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Currituck Sound on the other. Aroma is yeasty at first, a little mildewy even but you can also smell the passion fruit, and that becomes more prevalent as the beer settles. Appearance is cloudy gold with a thin almost non-existent head and weak lacing. Flavor is fruity and has a creamy consistency. Carbonation is very light and dissipates quickly. Not my favorite beer from this brewery but always like to try anything from Kona.

12oz bottle, bottled 06.04.09, from summer secret santa. Pours yellow golden, topped with a medium sized white head. Aroma of straw, wheat, passionfruit and lime. Flavor is primarily straw and wheat, with notes of lime, tropical fruit, and mild white pepper. Medium bodied, drinkable, and refreshing. Not bad.

Jun1009 Bottle Date; Sampled August 2009
A vigorous pour produces a three-finger thick, pale, off-white colored head. The beer is a full gold color that shows an almost brilliantly clear, bright gold color when held up to the light. The aroma smells of tropical fruit as I am pouring this, but smells of tart wheat and light lemon notes when I go in for a more directed inspection of the nose. The SSXDFA fruit somehow seems to accentuate a grassy, freshly thrushed grain aromatic here, but also has a certain musky fruitiness that lightly scents the finish of the nose.

A nice prickly carbonation is coupled with a light, but fullish body. The beer starts out dry as it hits the tongue but picks up a grain sweetness through to the finish. Lightly tart tasting with an accenting carbonic bite, the beer has a fairly muted fruitiness though. There is perhaps a touch of non-descript fruitiness in the finish, but there is also a certain peppery, sort of vegetal (reminds me of a green chile actually) note in the finish that is a bit more noticeable. The light grainy wheat character is the most distinct thing about the flavor, but this is certainly a light refreshing brew overall.

Not bad, but the fruit character is awefully subtle. This I suppose is not necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly doesn’t help this beer to stand out.

12 oz bottle shared with Craig. This pours a pale clear gold. Very thin bodied. Nose is nice with passion fruit and maltiness. Flavors are lightly tropical. There is some pineapple, passion fruits, and mango. Mouth is light and refreshing. Nice hot summer day.

Had on tap at the brewpub and from a bottle later. A pretty decent wheat beer, but I really wasn’t picking up a whole lot of the fruit.

12oz bottle purchased at Hannaford. Pours a crystal-clear light yellow body with a quickly dissipating thin film of off-white head. Smells fruity, similar to grape of plum (presumably the passionfruit). A unique fruitiness dominates the flavor too, though it’s far from overpowering. Light bodied with moderate carbonation. A unique beer for sure, non-offensive, and great for the fruit wheat beer drinker, as it’s one of the better examples I’ve had.

The aroma is DMS, green olive, and something distinctly vegetal that I can’t quite place. Shimmering golden, no head. The aroma I couldn’t identify is artichoke, as its taste is unmistakable. Cabbage aftertaste. Really worse than I feared. Poor ingredients AND poor QC, a rare and dangerous combination. I should rate it even lower.