Sam Adams clearly copying MolsonCoors Blue Moon Extra doing a high abv wheat beer in 19 oz tall cans. Cant say Im shocked by that. Even one upping them by making it 9% abv as opposed to Blue Moon's Extra 8%.
Lemme take a wild guess without even tasting it plus taking into consideration my old reviews of Sams' Cherry Wheat...... It's an alcoholic cherry-flavored cough drop, riiiight? Because if'n the original Sams Cherry Wheat was a cherry-flavored cough drop, then this just can't be anything but a souped-up version of the same brew....."but it'll getcha drunk"!!
I see one online store is selling it for $ 2:79 and another has it for $3.25. That seems pretty cheap for a 19 oz can of 9% beer with real “Michigan Cherries.” I’ve never had the regular SA Cherry Wheat, but I’d probably pick one of these up at a gas station if I saw it. I wish that SA would sell Boston Lager in the 19 oz cans, I’d definitely buy that.
See the post from @blueshawk69. I haven't tried the imperial version, but the regular version is exactly as he describes. My recollection is that it's one of those beers where the cough drop flavor becomes more pronounced as you go along and the beer warms. And I agree with you. That seems like a surprisingly good price for a beer made with real Michigan cherries. Of course there's no telling just how many cherries were used per batch.
Sam Adams Cherry Wheat was so bad on first try that I had to create a profile here just to talk about it. That was over 20 years ago and I still haven’t gotten the cherry cough drop flavor out of my mouth.
There’s no mention of Cherry juice or natural flavors that Jess posted on the SA website, they just list Michigan Cherries and Honey under “special touches.” So you’re right, it’s probably one cherry per barrel with a bunch of cough syrup flavoring and juice added. I was at the beer shop last week and saw Russian River’s Funky Foeder for $6.99 for a 1/2 liter bottle. I asked the guy at the store if it really was seven bucks a bottle, that seems really inexpensive to me, they charge $.50 more for Pliny the Elder, but FF gets 6-12 months in oak and also has Cherries. https://www.russianriverbrewing.com/brew/funky-foeder-cherry/
I just had some and its exactly what I thought. Just a more boozy version of the Cherry Wheat. I like Cherry Wheat on a hot summer day but I would never buy this stronger version again. Maybe Im missing something but I dont really see the point of these high abv "wheat beers" and I think they are pointless and taste awful. Maybe someone can point me to a high abv wheat beer thats actually worthwhile. I mean when you go to the section of your liquor store that has the 19.2 oz craft beer stovepipe cans and its mostly just hazy/ipas, a wheat beer does stand out if its there Ill give you that. I also got a Victory Golden Monkey 19.2 oz can which again stood out amongst the mass of hazy ipas there. Not buying any of that Goose Island Tropical Beer Hug or New Belgium Juice Force crap. That stuff is everywhere.
