Deadman Creek Cranberry Wheat Ale
Yukon Brewing

 

 

The appearance was a nice slightly hazy golden color that didn’t have any head or lacing. The smell had a faint combined cranberry and wheat with no expected grainy kick that I sometimes get in these types of beers. The taste was pretty much the same. On the palate, this one sat fairly light and sessionable. There’s no kick from the wheat or tang from the cranberry. Overall, I would say this would be a solid Summer choice.

Twist off bottle, this was poured into a pint glass.
The appearance was a hazy red color with a bubbly white head that trailed off immediately. There wasn't any lacing.
The smell had some light sweet wheat, light lemon and then just a bit of tart cranberry.
The taste was basically the same through sweet to a dry bitter and tartness in the lemon and cranberry. Dry finish.
The mouthfeel was about a light on the body with a crisp sessionable feel. Semi-dry yet somewhat refreshing - if that makes sense - ?
Overall, weird beer, did I have it too late? If I had it again, I'd have it fresh and most likely in the Summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance- Pours an amber colour with a 1/2 finger of bubbly white head.

Smell- wheat, grass, lemon, hint of cranberry

Taste- Wheat and grass with tartness from the cranberries.

Mouthfeel- Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Has a dry finish.

Overall- A crisp and refreshing wheat beer by Yukon. Plays it safe on the cranberry content, but they could probably add a bit more for extra flavour.

From notes quite a while back
A - Very hazy golden orannge, finger of head held at thin cover
S - Tart cranberry, bready, touch of grass
T - Starts with a tart bitter cranberry tang, quickly fades to bready and toasty malt, some light herbs and grass
M - Fairly light with prickly carbonation, finishes dry with a slight metallic feel
O – a decent enough offering, had this as part of their mixer dozen, although I don’t think I would go out of my way to buy a 6 pack relative to some of their other brews

It may be brewed with cranberries but this beer is peach. Though bright in colour, the hazy nature of its complexion is such that it doesn't emit many highlights, although odd angles against the light may reveal a faint rosy tint. By and large, however, Deadman Creek is blurred enough that it could be used to hide a body (given the total lack of suds, there's no threat of anything washing up against the glass).

The aroma doesn't provide much to get happy about, especially for a fruit beer. The scent of cranberry - assuming one can place it at all - is disappointingly vague. While faint but pleasant florals and a dash of fruity tartness work their way through once the beer starts losing its chill, the bouquet centers predominantly around bready-sweet pale malts.

Brewing fruit beers the honest way - with real fruit and adding no syrups or artificial flavours - is a very noble way of going about it. From a practical perspective, however, those kinds of offerings rarely offer the same level of flavour as the artificial ones. Again, the cranberry character is ostensibly absent. Like it did in the aroma, a trace of fruity tartness is eventually noted but it's so brief as to be inconsequential.

Calling Deadman Creek a fruit beer may be false pretenses, but no one's claiming it's bad. In fact, its light body, clean malt, spritzy bubbles and carefree quaffability make it an ideal candidate for wide appeal (with the non-beer geek crowd, that is). Once one get's over any anticipations of cranberry, the 'wheat ale' aspect of the beer is not half-bad, albeit in a plain-ish, workaday kind of way.

There's nothing wrong with Deadman Creek provided you're easily pleased and preferably a casual beer drinker. Also, don't expect a fruit beer in the sense of something colourful, fruity and sweet - this is a pale ale more than anything else. Yukon Brewing doesn't put their name to bad beer and while this be my least favourite brand in their lineup, I'm sure there's plenty of (mainstream) drinkers that would disagree.

Swirl poured into a glass mug. Poured a hazy apricot with a thin white head that soon diminished to a ring.

Bready with musty fruit in the aroma. A very pleasant taste that it hard to pin down. No sign of cranberries. An interesting somewhat tart finish. There is some complexity here but it is hard to say what from.

Medium body and carbonation. Very refreshing. More od a wheat than a fruit beer bu as such is is pretty good.

Deadman's Creek Cranberry Wheat Ale
I wasn't sure if this was just a rebranded Grizzly Cran-Wheat or if it was an actual formula change. I have had the Grizzly previously and believe this is still the same product.

341mL Bottle poured into Sam Adam's 'Perfect' Pint glass.

A- Hazy, warm and sunny yellow. Good head that leaves a nice creamy lace. Decent bubble (although the pint glass has etchings to create bubbles). Looks like it should, an unfiltered wheat ale.

S- Definitely a wheat ale. Bready, tangy. Hard to find a distinct cranberry note.

T- No in-your-face cranberry but a tart-tanginess on the finish. I was hoping for more of a fruit flavour to it. As a fruit beer, I'm dissapointed but as an unfiltered wheat beer it is delicious.

M- After a few sips the cran fruit began to present itself leaving just a hint of sweetness on the lips. A nice long tart finish accompanies this brew.

D- Would make a great summer beer, but also has the potential to make a nice winter sipper. I really enjoy this. I was hoping to get a nice fruit-forward cranberry beer, but instead got an excellent wheat ale. Definitely something I'll pick up again should the mood strike for a nice cloudy beer.

My ratings are based on the notion of it being a flavoured beer and not just a wheat ale. Had I judged this based on it being a wheat ale, the taste and smell would be at least 4s.

Appearance - cloudy unfiltered wheat beer, gold to light brown colour, lots of carbonation, thick head

Smell - Hoppy and wheaty

Taste - Wheaty

Very disappointed as I didn't taste any cranberries. It tasted like a wheat beer. Just average nothing special. Not recommended as there are better wheat beers out there.

341ml bottle poured into pint glass dec29 2009

A a very cloudy dark peachy color with a finger of head that has average retention and leaves a few rings of lace

S faint yeast, wheat and some berry not necessarily cranberry

T again wheat and berry but with a little honey, better then expected and fairly unique

M a little bitter with a creamy feel from the bubbles

D I'm thinking this would make a great patio beer with some heat, but even on this cold winter night I have few complaints

I love the bear on the label even better then the dog on lead dog's label. but all pictures aside the beer inside this brewers bottle have yet to disappoint me.

341ml bottle. Somewhat creepy abstract aboriginal art on the label.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium golden amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, tightly foamy, and barely bubbly off-white head, which leaves a decent array of random coral reef lace around the glass as things genially recede.

It smells of gritty, grainy wheat malt, some further bready caramel notes, a middling tart red fruitiness, stale lemon juice, and mild weedy, grassy hops. The taste is more softly toasted grainy and wheaty malt, ethereal lemon pepper, a very brief, and generally difficult to detect, tart cranberry, um, 'sweetness', and middling sour, leafy hops.

The carbonation is soft and mostly ineffectual, the body a more than adequate medium weight for the style, smooth beyond anything infused with cranberries should be, and pleasantly structured. It finishes just off-dry, crisp, and lingering in its hollow fruitiness.

While not the headiest of fruit beers out there, the cranberries providing a bit of soft-shoe through the mash in rubber boots sort of performance, this is still enjoyable in its sturdy base wheat beer goodness, and all things considered, a nice choice for a hot and sunny mid-summer patio quaff.