Second Cousin (Strawberry)
Refined Fool Brewing Co.

650 mL bottle from the brewery; dated Jun 23 2017 and served slightly chilled. This is one of several fruit-infused variants of their 'My Cousin Knows the Drummer' hefe.

Pours a turbid, muddy yellow-amber colour, fitted with an inch-thick crown of smooth, soapy white head. It proceeds to die off over the next several minutes, leaving behind a thin collar and foamy cap, accompanied by a modest swath of lace. The aroma is similar to that of the base hefe: bready wheat, grainy pale malts, ripe banana and red apples, with very subtle suggestions of lemon peel and strawberry. Rather yeasty on the nose, with a touch of clove spice.

A good effort; the strawberry notes are very slight, which means the differences between this one and 'My Cousin' are fairly minimal. The flavour starts off with bready pale wheat malt sweetness, while hints of apple, citrus zest and banana follow closely in tow. Suggestions of strawberry become noticeable around the midpoint, blending in pretty seamlessly with the wheat. Light clove spiciness and yeastiness linger on into the aftertaste, but only momentarily. Medium-light body, with moderate carbonation levels and a soft, mildly frothy texture that feels smooth, ample and satisfying. Like any proper hefe, this one can be knocked back effortlessly.

Final Grade: 3.8, a B+. Strawberry Second Cousin is a pretty damn fine weissbier. I will point out that the strawberry flavour is quite muted - to the point where if they hadn't mentioned it on the label, I might have missed it entirely. However, the underlying hefeweizen is tasty as-is, and I'm not much of a 'fruit beer guy' anyway, so I don't consider this to be much of an issue. Better than the original cherry variant IMO, although your mileage may vary (the cherry seemed to stand out and clash, whereas I feel the strawberry just kind of blends in with everything else). Hope to see the blackberry and apricot variants bottled in the near future.