Feature Beer Friday! - Abita Lemon Wheat

Alright everyone, it's our first Abita Brewing beer to make it to Feature Beer Friday!  I'm sure most friends of mine and readers know that I'm not the biggest Abita fan ever.  I don't want to hate either, I think they make some good gateway beers and occasionally also put out a nice select brew or two.  I just feel like they miss out on a lot of potential to be a great craft brewery.  Just because they are large (14th largest craft brewery by volume in 2012) doesn't mean they can't also put out some exciting beers.  They just... well... don't.  

Lately though, I've seen a few new Abita seasonal beers, the Spring IPA and the Lemon Wheat which are the new Spring and Summer seasonals.  I tried the Lemon Wheat briefly at the Chafunkta Brewing release party, but recently some friends came over to my place record the Bite And Booze radio show and the Me And My Big Mouth Podcast, and as part of the Bite And Booze show we broke out some local beers for Feature Beer Friday!  The first up was the Abita Lemon Wheat.  NOLA Brown, Tin Roof Voodoo Bengal Pale Ale, and the Covington Bayou Bock are coming in the next weeks, getting local! 

Reviewers: Eric Ducote (BR Beer Scene), Jay Ducote (BiteandBooze.com), Charles Pierce (Me And My Big Mouth podcast), Brenton Day (The Ale Runner.com), and Ross Marcotte.

Serving: 12 oz. brown bottle.

Appearance: Slightly hazy and lemonade-esque.  We all wrote down that it was slightly hazy so I guess that was the most notable aspect here.

Aroma: Brenton and I both picked up lemon, and some sour funk. Jay picked up asparagus, which is definitely not something you want a beer to smell like, and Chuck P didn't get much lemon at all.  

Taste: I thought the taste was better than the aroma, with some of the wheat base coming through.  Brenton thought it was more like pine-sol, and Jay and Chuck P both thought it was bland and tasteless.

Mouthfeel: A little bubbly, very little body, bland.

Overall: None of us really liked this one, which is a shame because I thought Abita made some strides in the right direction with their Spring IPA.  


Overall Rating: 41.4
My Rating: 40