Leinenkugels Sunset Wheat

Brewed by Leinenkugel Brewing Company (MillerCoors)
Style: Wheat Ale
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin USA

Tap at HDG. Cloudy yellow with a huge thick white head. Intense fruity sweet aroma, orange and coriander on a massive level. There’s nothing subtle about this. Blueberryish fruit and juicy fruit gum over lemon balm and more coriander. The flavour is sweet and a bit underattenuated. Lemon, berries, and light wheatiness. Seems entirely too sweet for me. Warming brings up some nasty esters that I don’t really care for. Buh.

Bottle. Smells like blueberries, or rather like a poorly made blueberry wheat. There’s some light orange soapy scents in there too, but the nose is dominated by a funky blueberry scent. Appearance is proper for an unfiltered wheat. Light and smooth up front, a little more rough on the palate after that, with those blueberry wheat flavors showing up... finishes with a light creamy texture. Really far off from what a wheat beer should be like, but I guess I can see drinking this when cold and it’s hot and sunny outside. Still, not very good compared to others in the style.

Looks good, a hazy straw body with a decent sized head, but the aroma smelled way too artificial, like orange and lemon candy with soapy yeast. The flavor was an improvement, starting with soft wheat and a smattering of barley malt, but then the faux orange and lemon surged forward again, leaving a finish like I’d just finished sucking on chaep hard candy.

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Cloudy straw color with a creamy, small white head. Blueberries, coriander, and mild orange peel in the aroma. A touch to perfumy in my book. Lightly acidic with a touch of wit. Quite fizzy, but appropriately quenching. A cross between an american wheat and a wit. A bit sweet and fruity for me. A wit version of the Berry Weiss IMO.

Tap @ The Front Door in Boise, ID: Hazy orange/yellow, nice head and lacing. Nose of vanilla and orange extract, vanilla orangecicle maybe. Lightly musky wheat, artificial, albeit slightly refreshing. Nothing near a wheat beer though, more like a SHV with as much coriander as they loaded this with.

On tap at Kieran’s Irish Pub, Minneapolis, June 2007. Hazy orange colour. Whereas the Leinenkugels Honey Wheat I tried just before this was laden with lemon from an unrequested wedge, this one was served up with its citric companion, a slice of orange. The orange wasn’t quite as intrusive as lemon but I’m not sure that this was a good thing as it allowed a most inappropriate sulphurous edge to show through in the aroma. This was accompanied by bubblegum, soap and a spicy note that I thought was more reminiscent of aniseed than coriander. All this did not bode well for the flavour but, in fact it was surprisingly palatable. The spicy aniseed again showed up with some quite clean, wheaty character. Fairly dry, with even a touch of tart bitterness on the finish. Quite watery though. The overall effect was rather odd and somehow unbalanced but I didn’t find it undrinkable.

Bottle. Poured cloudy orange color with an average creamy white head that mostly diminished with fair lacing. Moderate orange citrus wheat aroma. Medium body with sticky texture. Medium orange sweet flavor with a sweet finish of moderate duration. Drinkable soft brew.

Bottle from State Line. This one is better than the rating. The pour is hazy gold with a big, 3-finger, fluffy white head. Aroma of champagny malt, citrus, slight floral spices and hops. Tastes citrus ruity, with bready floral malts, and some yeasty spicy clovey funky notes. Notable complexity. I will buy more of this on my next trip to State Line.