Strawberry Wheat
Highlander Beer

i love strawberries in beer, especially wild beers and saisons, but i think its an underutilized fruit, so i was pumped to try this one, especially since these guys have really upped their game in recent years. im dubious of the color, no pinkness or fruit coloring at all it doesnt seem, if they used whole fruit, they didnt use enough to make this look like anything other than a normal unfiltered wheat beer. pale yellow, pretty hazy, nice carbonation and in inch high white head, airy. the nose on this is sweet, really almost candied, and it makes the fruit seem not fully natural to me, like strawberry flavored soda or something, theres not a whole lot else going on aside from the strawberry, less earthy wheat character than anticipated. the flavor brings more of the wheat into the fold, almost hits like a strawberry scone, a fruited baked good, but the fruit again is a little overly forward, fragrant, and almost perfume-like in here, and it rides along on a lot of residual sugar, which for me really limits drinkability. i wish this was fermented drier, and that the berry was scaled down just a bit, but presents at a little unnatural at this dosage, not sure how this was actually made or what kind of strawberry or product they used. the body is medium but it feels heavier with the sweet, carbonation is fine, but i cant drink more than one of these. i had higher hopes for this overall...

 

Poured from a can into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a very hazy light orange juice like color with a tiny fizzy white head. The head fades rather fast leaving a trace of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma is massive of a wheat bread smell mixed with a good showing of strawberry sweetness. Along with these aromas comes a little bit of hay and a touch of lemon and candied sugar. Overall the aroma is very inviting.
Taste – The taste begins with a wheat bready taste and a good hit of strawberry as was detected in the nose. As the taste advances the strawberry gets even stronger and sweeter with some of the candied tastes hitting the taste-buds, producing an almost strawberry hard candy like taste. With more graininess coming to the tongue toward the end, along with a touch of grass. One is left with a rather sweet strawberry wheat bread taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel- The body of the brew is on the slightly more chewy side for a fruit brew of only 5 % with a carbonation level that is rather low. While normally I would have liked a higher carbonation and thinner body, the feel was pretty decent overall as it did the wheat bread flavors quite nicely.
Overall – This was a rather nice sweet wheat brew overall. Great for a late summer/fall day.