Excuse me, while I kiss the sky
Written: Apr 08 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The raspberry part is good
Cons: Lacks everything else
The Bottom Line: Raspberry flavor is blatant and tastes authentic (as opposed to essence). Just seems to lack everywhere else, is out of balance and tastes unpleasant in the finish.
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| andaryl's Full Review: Abita Purple Haze |
As one of the earliest players in the US craft brew revolution, you’d expect Abita to be one of the finest, right? The Louisiana based brewery prides itself on its small batches, exclusively pure ingredients (water, yeast, malt, hops and wheat), and use of spring water.
However I’ve had a hard time with Abita beers so far. I found their Amber lacking and their Andy Gator too sweet and syrupy, although the Turbo Dog was a decent play on a brown ale. I also wasn’t crazy about Purple Haze when I first sampled it, but since it turned up in a collection pack I decided to give it a full review tonight.
According to the brewers:
Purple Haze is a crisp, American style wheat beer with raspberry puree added after filtration. Therefore, you may see raspberry pulp in the beer. The raspberries provide the lager with a subtle purple coloration and haze, a fruity aroma, and a tartly sweet taste.
I also noticed a picture of a beautiful purple beer on their website:
http://www.abita.com/brew/purplehaze.html
Tasting Notes
Before I even opened the bottle I was concerned by the amount of space in the neck. No, I wasn’t concerned that I was maybe being shortened half an ounce on my beer. I was concerned by the amount of air which increases the chances of the beer spoiling. More beer and less air is better, which is one of the reasons why draft beer is usually better.
Purple (yes I said purple) Haze pours to a pale clouded amber color. There are no reddish, pink, purple or anything other than regular beer colors to be seen. The carbonation is active but head formation is light. As stated in the commercial description you really can see the raspberry pulp floating around.
It smells of tart, slightly unripe raspberries. Unlike most fruit beers it does smell like real fruit and not of some essence, which I have to admit, is not what I expected. Other aromas are a little masked but I do get some rain dampened wheat, graininess and a slight earthiness which could be attributable to the raspberries.
The raspberry comes through blatantly on the palate, again with an unripe greenness. I’m really surprised and have to question whether they upped the dose as my recollection of this beer is a very weak raspberry flavor. There’s an obvious touch of sugar in the middle, with some wheat grain and mild bitterness in the finish. The raspberry flavor does linger briefly in the aftertaste but it quickly sours.
Verdict
I’m not particularly a fan of fruit beers, but for those who say that they don’t like beer, this would probably be worth a try. Even so, there are a few fruit beers that I’ve enjoyed but this unfortunately is not one of them.
There’s plenty of raspberry in there and I’m happy to say that it doesn’t seem artificial. But I just don’t feel like there’s much else and if anything I’d say that it’s somewhat out of balance. If the basis beer had a little more body, yeast, malt or wheat it might have been a success. I was surprised to read the description as a lager. If it had been an ale, like a wheat beer should be, and if it had not been filtered it would probably have tasted much better.
Some will find it novel, but most probably won’t care for it.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
andaryl
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Member: Andrew Smith
Location: The Desert, So Cal
Reviews written: 219
Trusted by: 174 members
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