You know, people
are going to start thinking I’m picking on Anheuser-Busch. But I assure, you
I’m not. They do make a few beers I really enjoy, like
Jack’s Pumpkin Spice , but for the most part, even when they try to make
a craft beer (and in that category I certainly do not include the abortion
known as
Budweiser Chelada ), they seem to have hard time getting it right. Case
in point: Wild Blue Blueberry Lager.
Now, I absolutely love Blueberry beers, and I take a lot of flak for that at
times from the anti-fruit beer contingent of the beer geek community. But
hey, I think blueberries and beer go wonderfully well together, as long as
the final product still tastes like beer at the end of the day. Sadly
enough, Wild Blue doesn’t.
When you see the stuff in the store, you might not even know that this is an
Anheuser-Busch product, but it is. The bottle attributes it to the “Blue
Dawg Brewing Company” of Baldwinsville, New York. A little research will
tell you that Anheuser-Busch has one of it’s brewery in that same city, and
this is where Wild Blue is made.
Wild Blue Blueberry Lager pours to a dark purplish color with an
equally purplish and rather fizzy, if somewhat short-lived, head formation.
The nose is full of sweet blueberry flavor mixed with another, off-putting
aroma that I sometimes find in cheap, high alcohol lagers, otherwise known
as malt liquors.
There’s lots of blueberry in the palate, too: maybe a little too much.
That’s because the beer is so fruity that is really loses any beer quality
it might have otherwise had, and takes on almost soda-pop, wine-cooler like
character. Indeed, Wild Blue is cloyingly sweet, and finishes that way, too.
Alcohol content is higher than most beers at 8% by volume, but the extra
alcohol doesn’t really help dry this one out.
With all that said, I could easily drink Wild Blue if it was put before me,
and loving Blueberry beers as I do, even enjoy it in small doses, I think.
But the lack of biscuity malt to remind me I’m drinking a beer would always
be present in my mind, and the sweetness would make it impossible for me to
drink more than one. That might make it a hit with some of the ladies,
however. Anyway you slice it, it’s pricey at $9.99 a six-pack at Total Wine.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft