SUMMER BEERS

Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer, a Fruit Beer by 21st Amendment Brewery

12 ounce can, served in Weizen glass, $1.92 per pint.

First, it must be stated that I am a sucker for fruit and vegetable beers. I am not sure why. But if a beer is brewed with apricots or asparagus, then I am most likely going to try it. Second, it must be noted that although I used to once relish wheat beers, especially hefeweizens, I am now less enamored with them. So I began this beer in conflict.

It poured from the can the hazy yellow of hay. The head was thin and white, and it didn't last.

The aromas, in descending order, were of grain, an ever so faint watermelon, vegetable greens, and light caramel. (I may have even imagined smelling the watermelon since it is part of its name.) The very mellow taste consisted of a whisper of wheat with the lightest of watermelon finishes. Neither flavor was very strong. They may have actually classified as impressions rather than flavors.

Nevertheless, this was drinkable summer fare and went well with homemade tacos. I could imagine cracking open a couple of these as I chatted with the neighbors in the back yard or mowed the lawn.

---

This was all going well, until the wife intervened.

"May I see the can?" she asked.

"Sure."

TWT hands the can to her.

"Did you agitate it before you opened it?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Did you agitate the can before you opened it?"

"Let me see that."

TWT grabs the can back.

---

At the top of the can, in a thin green band below the lip, are the following words: YEAST INSIDE. AGITATE BEFORE OPENING.

Crap.

---

I poured the beer back into the can. Then I poured it into the glass again. It increased its haziness and slightly increased the watermelon aroma and flavor. But only slightly.

---

After injuring my back, Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer was the first beer that I had after cleansing my body of all of the medications they filled me with. My second encounter with it was similar to my first.

I did agitate the can, shaking it a few times and then letting it settle before popping the top. The agitated pour delivered a more confident head and hazier body. The watermelon was more prominent this time around, but still somewhat lackluster.

---

Pliny the Elder, an Imperial IPA by Russian River Brewing

16.9 ounce bottle, served in snifter, $5.20 per pint.

Pliny the Elder is one of my favorite beers. I also discovered that it contains the melon flavor that I was hoping I would find in Hell or Highwatermelon.

The pour becomes an orange that glows. It is topped by a thin skin of white head that leaves fragile washes of lacing.

The aroma is of pine resin, pine needles, melon rind, orange peel, a dash of rosemary, and perhaps a smaller dash of saffron.

The taste is similar with pine and a lightly bitter orange at the forefront. This is undergirded by nettles and needles that also provides a lengthy bitter finish. The nettle flavor is what I imagine would be an established stalk rather than the usual budding foliage and leaves that usually appears in hoppy beers. If I thought about it, this nettle flavor is very similar to the watermelon that is closest to the rind.

---

And there was the missing flavor of Hell or Highwatermelon. It was hijacked and included in Pliny the Elder, making an already favored beer even more enjoyable, especially in the heat and humidity of July in the Pacific Northwest.