Magic Hat Wacko

Brewed by Magic Hat Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
South Burlington, Vermont USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Art of Beer ’04: Odd looking pinkish whitish yellow with big white head. Very earthy beat aroma. Actually does taste like beats with a bit of sweet spice. Not my thing.

UPDATED: APR 11, 2004 An Experimental Elixir, only available on tap at the brewery. Made with beets (not beet sugar). Beets=beats=Kerouac. Cute. Pours light pinkish-orange, totally clear, enormous everlasting fluffy head...not quite like anything else (lambic,fruit beer etc) that I've ever seen, so points for that. Very pleasant nose, by turns hoppy (piney), caramel-malty with a touch of biscuit, and cooked beets in maple syrup. In the mouth, very much a pale ale base with a strong spicy/vegetable character that opens out quite a bit as it warms. Towards the end a pronounced peppery/bitter tang develops that at first shows hints of unpleasant metal but fairly quickly dries out and becomes oddly, pleasantly sour-fruity. This is a tough one to get hold of; its overall quite good with a fairly full body for a pale ale, but the vegetable/fruit character might be just a bit too weird and not well coordinated with the piney hops and caramel. Interesting and above average for sure, though I doubt they'll bottle it.

Update...after going through the growler, it's apparent that this is just a bit too thin to support the heavy vegetable character and metallic bitterness. It's just ok.