Beerathon
Off Color Brewing

 

well made, nice drinker for after a workout or something. Mimics a sports drink.

Pours a cloudy golden color. Thick, frothy, bubbly white head forms on the beer, then quickly dissipates leaving no residual head. Aroma has notes of watermelon, salt, some light malty notes and a touch of sweetness. Feel is light, crisp, bright, and easy drinking. The overall presentation is quite refreshing. It's a relatively simple, small beer, but it's perfect for the warm weather.

16 fl oz. can, no apparent date. Acquired the 6 (six!) pack of tall boys from the local Jewel-Osco. Label calls this one "Extra Fancy Light Beer with Watermelon and Salt". Listed here as a light lager, but to me, it sounds more like a gose-ish style. Very specific 2.62% abv listed, let's see what we've got.

Poured to Brasserie D'achouffe stemware.
A: Pours a decent gold colored body, looks like any other sort of type of beer, slightly hazy / murky, with some flecks of sediment visible. Large foamy head of about two fingers in height; long lasting & staying.
S: Aroma is bubbly & tart, with notes of authentic watermelon / cantaloupe / melon fleshiness.. reminiscent of prickly pear, cactus, or aloe.
T: Taste follows, lightly salty and gose-ish, but maybe not quite all the way there. Slightly yeasty / bacterial in the finish. I can definitely taste the crisp Oktoberfest sort of flavors of the Vienna malt, I can notice the smooth creaminess the flaked oats lends to the body of the beer. Watermelon puree is lightly tart / vegetal.
F: I'm not entirely sure how I should rate this one for feel, since it does feel heftier / more full-bodied than you would expect for a beer under 3% abv, although I suppose I could see it as a good thing. Then again, I'm not sure if it's worth the 80 calories listed on the can. Intrigued to try more low abv beers from Off Color, they are one of my favorite breweries!

Off Color Beerathon -----4/5.

 

I really like trying all the new beers being released in OCB's low-cal line, twelve by my count (depending on where you set the upper range for ABV.) The Low-Cal Line (as I like to call it) offers a great variety of styles from Stoutling to table beers like Beerathon or, its Belgian daddy, Beer for Lightweights. The Lo-Cal Line is getting more specific in how it varies its process (such as sparging.) The calorie counts and analytics listed on the label are getting more specific, too. I'm also developing the sneaking suspicion that the Low-Cal Line is OCB being thrifty and continuing the Small Beer Anchor tradition of using the second wort run-off... before feeding the spent malt to pigs.

So while I give great Overall points for OCB's Low-Cal Line, what is most important to me is The Line seems to make lunch better. For example today when I only had a simple cheese taco. I'll save the balance of the can for a snack in late afternoon. I'm starting to get used to the more demure Lite Tastes and Smells, but not enough to give a constructive critique of Beerathon. It certainly Looks clear like a lager, albeit with no foam. Curiously, it Feels bubbly enough.

3/20/23 On the first day of Spring, I had the second can of the 4-pack I just bought from The Mousetrap. It, too, also made lunch better. An lunch needed salt, so Beerathon made the experience complete.