Rhuby Social
Upstreet Craft Brewing

Tallboy from the LCBO; dated Mar 24 2022 and served slightly chilled. Always pumped to see new stuff from PEI available locally, but I saved this for a few weeks because I thought it'd make a good choice for another milestone review (#2875).

Pours foggy and translucent, its body a pale golden-amber colour and capped with one finger of tight, creamy white head. Within three minutes, it has faded to a dense collar and filmy cap, leaving a narrow ring of lacing behind - looks like a wheat beer to me, and smells like one too. The backdrop is bready; the rhubarb comes through nicely, while the strawberry and floral hibiscus notes are subtler. Kind of tart & sweet, but not juicy, with maybe a hint of earthy spiciness.

Tastes bready, wheaty, and lightly tart at the forefront, with authentic strawberry flavours close behind. The rhubarb also comes through nicely by mid-sip, followed by more of an earthy, spicy, slightly herbal/woodsy note on the back end - probably the hibiscus and coriander. Hints of strawberry, rhubarb and hibiscus persist briefly into the aftertaste before fading to off-dry. Light-medium in body, with firm carbonation that prickles and rolls across the palate, contributing to a velvety-smooth, highly satisfying mouthfeel. Balanced flavours and superb drinkability.

Final Grade: 3.98, a B+. Rhuby Social impressed me - Upstreet's marketing copy calls this a witbier, but I don't much care for non-traditional wits, and it's listed as a fruit beer here, so that's what I've graded it as. It's a mediocre wit, but a pretty solid strawberry/rhubarb beer - the wheat backbone doesn't skimp, and the coriander/hibiscus are complementary ingredients, adding further depth to what might be an otherwise mundane, fruity pale wheat ale. I'd buy this again, and would encourage any beer geek with an affinity for strawberry/rhubarb to seek this out and try it.

473 ml can serve cold into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for around $3.50 CDN. Canned March 24, 2022.

Appearance - Orange and amber hued, with a finger of loose light foam on top that dissipates in a minute. No lacing to speak of. Pretty hazy with lots of visible carbonation.

Smell - Fairly sweet, strawberries and wheat most prominent. There is something a little lemon-like to give an indication of just a bit of tartness. Nose is pretty muted.

Taste - Initially sweet some strawberry additives and wheat beer, then a hint of tartness comes through. Can't identify it as rhubarb. Some spices at the end and then a touch mineral water. Flavor doesn't stay on the palate long.

Mouthfeel - Light but gassy, lots of carbonation. Pretty dry finish too.

Overall - Pretty decent fruit beer, interesting crossover with wheat beer and a good summer patio beer. With that said, lacking a bit on depth of flavor and rhubarb presence even for a beer geared to being lighter in general. Glad to have tried and wouldn't turn down a freebee, but probably wouldn't buy again.

Pours a nice gold colour with a pink tinge to it, the brewery calls it rhuby. I get a bit of strawberry on the nose. The taste also has the berry and some tartness, either from the rhubarb or the wit beer base. No matter why, this proves to be a nice summer quencher
June 12 2022

 

 

Hazy and veiled golden color with faint activity. Weak 1 finger head that lives only a minute. A swirl reveals the head again with a pinkish hue. Flavors of rhubarb, strawberries, salt, coriander, wheat, and floral hops. Slick and oily light to medium bodied, with a moderate crisp. Light to medium strength finish, pleasant fruitiness, a bit spicy and bready. Slightly sour. The texture is a bit thin, yet the freshness is pretty good. Cross Witbier and fruit beer. Overall very good quality craft.

 

 

 

Hazy pinkish straw colour with a decent head. Fruity nose. Sweet and tart over witbier background. Lighter body, goes down quickly. Very tasty.

500 ml bottle picked up at Rockhead in Halifax

A: Hazy and straw-coloured with a slight pink tinge. Head dissipates quickly. I guess it looks like it should, but I can't say it's the most appealing.
S: Sweet cooked strawberries, biscuit.
T: Wheat, lemon, strawberry. I'm not sure I pick up the rhubarb. More of a witbier than a fruit beer. I do taste the strawberry, but it's a secondary flavour.
F: Crisp.

500ml bottle, thanks again to my colleague Mark for bringing this one back from the Island for me.

This beer pours a hazy, yet bright medium apricot yellow colour, with two fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and a bit creamy dirty white head, which leaves some coral reef profile lace around the glass as things slowly sink out of sight.

It smells of bready and biscuity wheat malt, a touch of caramel sweetness, sort of vegetal rhubarb, some very faint berry fruitiness, weak earthy spices, and a bit of leafy and floral green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy wheat malt, wan caramel candies, green strawberries, a generic vegetal astringency, subtly spice yeast, a hint of aged lemon peel, and more tame weedy and leafy hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly understated in its quotidian frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and actually quite smooth, with a nice creaminess slowly arising as things warm up a little. It finishes off-dry, the wheaten cereal malt wondering what happened to its party-pooping fruit and veggie friends.

Overall, this is a well-rendered witbier, with the guest ingredients showing up, doing their sweet and tart thing, and then buggering off as quickly as they came. No big deal, as at least one doesn't get smacked over the head with an overdose of non-beer inanity. Good stuff.

 

Serving Type: 500 mL Bottle

A- Pours a hazy honey/deep golden with a 1 finger white head with fairly poor retention. Whisks away to a thin fizzy ring.

S- Sweetness from the strawberry and a semi-bitter note from the rhubarb. Light caramel malt in the background.

T- Unlike a lot of fruity beers, the fruit definitely takes a backseat on the flavour, which is a refreshing change. Malty upfront followed by the sweetness of the strawberries, balanced by the bitterness of the rhubarb. Seems to be a bit of a lemon peel-like tinge to the whole flavour.

M- Solid medium body and a low-moderate but steady carbonation. The carbonation gives the body a nice smooth feel.

O- Overall, Rhuby Social has been one of the better Fruit beers I've had in recent memory. Sure, the fruitiness is great, but too much of it and a beer can seem like a desert. When the fruitiness takes a backseat and merely acts as a flavour enhancer rather than a primary flavour, a beer becomes much more tolerable and even sessionable. Kudos to Upstreet! Another great brew from these guys.

A nice refreshing (subtly) fruit-flavoured Belgian wit. 500ml bottle poured a deep lemon with some slight haze. I picked up the strawberry and rhubarb notes, along with citrus peel, some sweet banana bread and spice. Fruit isn't all up in your face or artificial-tasting, like some other N. Amer. beers in this category. Enjoyed it on a nice warm summer day watching the Olympics.