Most blueberry beers, we’re sure you all know, come in the form of a blueberry wheat, where the fruitiness is submerged to the point of being merely a gentle aftertaste. So imagine our surprise when picking up Wild Blue, a blueberry LAGER, at the Foodery and discovering how very fruity it is. It’s like chugging blueberry juice with some beer snuck in. (Enough beer to make it 8%, we might add.) This was a new and bizarre experience, to say the least. Imagine our deeper surprise when we learned that A) it’s a product of mainstream beer titan Anheuser-Busch, and B) it got fucking PANNED by Beer Advocate and its readers. Seriously. We are instructed to avoid this beer. So what to do? Well, despite the corporate ogre and the naysaying experts, Wild Blue really is a jolt of taste that our buds seem to welcome. And again, it’s quite strong. So we may feel small tinges of guilt from now on, but we’ll still reach for it every so often, especially as the weather gets warmer. Because, just like the Four Tops, we can’t help ourselves.
VERDICT: Yay, easily. They had us at blueberry lager.
I just had this beer at Gullifty’s in Rosemont. I stopped in with a couple of friends to catch last week’s OT contest between the Flyer’s and the Capitols and asked the bartender for “a girl beer.” (Sorry, guys.) The waiter came back with a bottle of the Wild Blue Lager and a (somewhat) frosty glass. My taste buds were definitely hit with a fruit forward blast, but the initial sweetness settled down, it tasted darn good. I can’t say I’d be able to tackle more than, but in the summer, when you are absolutely dehydrated and craving a bit of fruit juice, this is a worthy choice. With an 8% alcohol content, I expected to be a little loopy (I can drink a straight vodka martini, but hit me with a high-octane beer and …), but really, I was spot on sobriety wise. I think it would make a great culinary complement, but I haven’t figured out what to cook with it. Give it a try though; it’s pretty yummy.
We just reviewed this beer as well (small world!).
http://twoguysonbeer.com/2008/05/02/two-guys-on-beer-episode-07/
We weren’t as optimistic. Instead of fresh juice, to us it tasted like sugary juice concentrate blended with really weak beer (despite the 8% ABV). So we were less than impressed the more we drank it. To each his/her own I suppose! And @DEWarden - be careful, no beer is good for when you’re “absolutely dehydrated”
i just bought a six pack of this “beer.” I was really, really disappointed. It is awful. It’s not even beer. It’s like soda.
Told you it was a girl beer.
And yes, I know I am living under the fallacy that an icy cold beer quenches my thirst…but, generally speaking, the time I crave a beer the most, is when I am exceedingly thirsty. Maybe some of you more scientific folk out there have some insight? Maybe I am a candidate for Gatorade as often, water (which I love) doesn’t always cut it either…