Amsterdam Pomegranate Wheat

Brewed by Amsterdam Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Toronto, Canada

500 mL bottle. 4.5%. Coppery in colour, and in the right light you can catch a hint of purple. No head. Very strong aroma of pomegranate juice - not too sweet, though. And there’s too much pomegranate in the flavour - no balance at all. Not too sweet, but there is no bitterness or tang either. Not my thing.

500ml bottle from the LCBO. Pours nicely, with a nice head and deep copper colour. Aroma is very pleasant, and I actually paused to inhale a bit longer. The first taste however is dissapointing, starting with a harsh medicinal taste, then following with a fruity sweetness. It likely would be better had I chilled it more.

[1379-20080523] Tap. Light fruity cherry cough syrup aroma. Clear, light brown orange body with a long-lasting creamy off-white head. Flavour is mostly fruity sweet pomegranate with notes of apricot and wheat. Medium body has a bit of a tang. Refreshing, good to try.
(@ C’est What; Toronto, ON)

Bottle-Deep but transparent amber pour unleashes a thin white and fizzy head. The aroma is fruity, pomegranate, maybe some raspberry or mixed berries, but this is really only pomegranate, and it is pleasant. The flavour is pretty sweet pomegranates and other mixed fruit, similar to the aroma. I’m really only getting one thing here, and that is sugar coated pomegranate. This might do well with some ice cubes in it as a patio sipper, but strictly as a beer, it doesn’t work as well as I would like cause it is just too sweet.

500mL bottle from the LCBO. Pours a decent looking clear amber with a small mauve head. Aroma is, well, pomegranate’s, and that’s really it, maybe some other really sweet fruits, smells ok. Flavour is all sweet pomegranate, maybe some blackberry, with an unpleasant dry wheatyness aspect that really feels weird on the palate. Way too much carbonation, I had to swirl it around in my weizen glass constantly to try to kill some of the excessive effervesence. Not really very good, drinkable for a few minutes before it just gets kind of annoying. If not for the wheat I’d have assumed this was bad pomegranate pop. Just really boring and unneccessary, trying to capitalize on the whole pomegranate craze of the moment.

Draught sample at C’est What Spring 2008 Festival of Small Breweries. Orange with a small white head and lots (I mean LOTS) of little bubbles. Aroma has a hell of a lot of pomegranate, but more like pomegranate candy than the real thing. Body is thin, but crisp from the bubbles. Flavour of fruit candy - no, gum - damn, it tastes like Juicy Fruit! I sort of enjoyed this in a small sample, but more than that would be way too much for me, it’s just too frickin’ sweet.

Draught at C’est What. Pours a clear bubbly orange with an average size semi-lasting creamy white head. Aroma is big-time pomegranate, a little sugary sweet, maybe a tad artificial. It doesn’t smell like beer it’s all sugary fruit. Flavour of grain, light hops, light fruit and a finish that I found a little iffy, not sure why. It’s much more balanced then the aroma but it’s still a touch too sweet for my liking. Average bodied. Not bad, like I said, the aroma is too much, too much pomegranate and too fake but the flavour’s decent.

Light orange with a nose of citrus and peach, candyish flavour that almost reminded me of an alcopop. It’s refreshing and somewhat fitting for the style, but hard to drink more than a sample.