Sweet Orange Lager (Harvest Series)
Abita Brewing Co.

 

 

Better than some of the other Abita flavored beers.

 

 

 

Looks pale yellow orange - unfiltered? Aroma is orange baby aspirin makes you expect the worst. Taste is artificial orange with not enough lager taste. It is refreshing but as you work through it it gets a bit too much. Decent mouthfeel not too thin.

 

 

12 oz bottle.
Hazy light amber body with a fine head and decent lacing.
Fruity aroma dominated by artificial orange candy.
Flavor: more natural orange flavor (still somewhat artificial) with light bread. Mildly bitter overall.
Feel: medium-light body.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Orange Lager! It's been over a month since my last Abita review as a part of the eradication of the Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody. I must take corrective action.

From the bottle: "Louisiana sweet oranges have a rich flavor and zest that naturally compliments the pilsner and wheat malts in this smooth brew. The oranges are added in the brewhouse to give the beer a sun-kissed citrus aroma and flavor. All our Harvest Series brews are made with the finest Louisiana-grown ingredients."

"Sun-kissed" (Sunkist), eh? That was what my parents used to say of my freckled-face as a small child when my classmates would tease me. I showed them, though, seeking out a very cute redheaded classmate who became my first girl friend. We were wee ones & quickly became the talk of the school. To this day, I have an unabashed affinity for gingers.

I Pop!ped the cap & debated my pour into the awaiting glass. The beer included wheat malt, which meant that there may be some cloudiness, but on the other hand, the clarity visible in the bottle left me reluctant. I went with a gentle pour, in this case. My decision worked out stunningly, resulting in the lightest of haze in this Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5) beer & I will be watching to see if it clarifies, perhaps due to a chill haze. A vigorous, in-glass swirl briefly raised two-plus fingers of foamy, rocky, eggshell-white head before falling back to wisps. Nose was of sweet orange, all right, and I was reminded of those jelly/gummy orange slices from when I was a kid! Mmmm. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, not watery, per se, but not much beyond it, either. The taste, while definitely of orange, was not as sweet as the nose had led me to expect. In my case, I consider this to be a good thing since I am not a fan of sweet anything. The malts gave it a slight tartness to help keep the sweetness in check. Finish was semi-sweet, still redolent with oranges and would really work well on a hot, humid summer's day. The haze never abated, so the presence of the wheat malt probably accounted for it.