Chickawawa
Great River Brewery

 

 

12ozCan

Big thanks to Mattchew for tossing me one of these the other day! Chickawawa is a bright golden beverage that glows when backlit. The foam is a little slow to get started but eventually rouses with an aggressive pour. The head reaches a simple crown, bubbly and crackly , short lived. As it dissipates it leaves behind a ring and whispy foam on the surface.

The nose isn't bad but it's certainly full of artificial lemon. It's got a lot of that powdered Country Time lemonade thing going on. The actual beer character is that of stale wheat. As a matter of fact it has that very generic graininess found in non-offensive beer. Pretty middle of the road.

The flavor is a little harsher than the nose led on. Again, we get that generic graininess leaning toward wheat I suppose. Artificial lemon is big and verges on burning. the throat. Too much Country Time, not enough water. The aftertaste lingers long as the artificial lemon grows and becomes overbearing. It''s weird but the harsh lemon somehow makes what little alcohol is in this beer more prevalent.

The body has a bit of a syrupy feel though it's not that weighty. Carbonation is fairly lively and that tends to loosen it up a bit. It dries out and leaves behind that acrid, artificial lemon that feels like it's eating at your throat. It's an easy beer to put away when very cold, the warmer it gets the tougher it is to drink.

Drink this beer cold and fast if you find it in your fridge. It's pretty non-offensive off the bat but each minute that passes it becomes more artificial and tougher to drink. Great River missed on this guy. It may not have been good, Mtt, but it was fun to try.

Bright golden orange, thin veil of skim across the surface, initial clusters of bubbles and some minor lacing.

Aroma of lemonheads candy, mineral water, light wheat. More or less hard lemonade.
Taste has a light sourness, odd lemon candy sweetness, then an awful aftertaste.
Harsh, astringent, chemical, lemon Pledge. Just weird.
Ok carbonation, but nothing can redeem the awful aftertaste it has.
Like sucking on lemon peels soaked in vodka, which would probably taste better.

Not sure how old this is, it was the last sixer shoved in the back of a beer cooler, wouldn't be surprised if it was from '14.
Might make a decent mixer with Steigl Grapefruit Radler... edit: nope.

Slightly hazy orange body, good carbonation, yellow-tinged frothy head. Smell is bright, crisp lemon spritz with mild maltiness behind it, quite refreshing. The flavor drops down a sewer grate, producing an initial burst of favorable lemon juice but quickly turning to sour malt, an almost iron-metallic note behind it. Lemon juice-soaked sourbread is how I would describe this. It forces me to make a face and stare into the glass- 'Did I really taste that?!'. Yes, sadly, I did. Body is fluid with good carbonation.
Tuck your ballsack and buy a Mike's Hard Lemonade instead. Any shame you might feel is still better than this tastes.