Hawaiian Crunch
Sons of Kent Brewing Company

473 mL can from Maud's Variety; packaged Jul 14 2022 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a hazy, translucent pinkish-apricot colour, generating one finger of smooth, foamy white head that collapses within two minutes or so. A tight collar of froth is the only remnant of note, with no cap and little in the way of lace - looks like blended fruit juice. Wheaty, bready malts on the nose, with orange, pineapple, guava and passion fruit coming through clearly enough; hints of woodsy, herbal hibiscus, milk sugar sweetness and vanilla are somewhat subtler.

It's a palatable fruit sour, though the 'sour' aspects definitely take a back seat to the fruit punch-iness. Guava, passion fruit and pineapple at first, with the orange coming on strong by mid-sip; these flavours are backed by a wheaty, bready malt backbone. Hibiscus and subtle lactose sweetness join near the back end, with suggestions of vanilla; more orange and tropical fruitiness dissipates into the aftertaste. Light in body, with assertive carbonation that lends some prickliness to this brew's otherwise smooth, juicy mouthfeel. Easy to toss back, and pretty thirst-quenching.

Final Grade:3.8, a B+. Hawaiian Crunch isn't as sweet or sugary as the product its label mimics, which is absolutely for the best. With five different fruit ingredients, as well as hibiscus and vanilla, it's an interesting exercise to let this roll around on your tongue and see if you can discern them all. Not being real big on fruit punch in general, I don't see myself revisiting this too often - I'd say it's average if taken as a sour, and solid if considered as a fruit beer.