Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat
This brew pours into my pint glass a golden color with fair clarity. A white head developed but rather quickly diminished into a thin, but long lasting skim. The aroma of the beer was no surprise, cherries, actually smelled like maraschino cherries; the smell was dominating and powerful, but pleasant. There were no real strong malt or hop aromas. The flavor is a little bit of graininess and wheat taste and a lot of cherry. The hop bitterness combined with any acidity from the cherries gives the beer a nice balance. By the smell I expected an overlysweet brew, but found something more balanced than I expected. No real hop flavor to speak of, but that was expected. The carbonation was moderate, body was medium-full, and had a nice smoothness. Overall I thought this beer was great. The handful of times I've entered the fruit beer realm I often left unsatisfied, but this one is a keeper. The aroma is wonderful, especially if you like maraschino cherries (which I do). The flavor was much more balanced and beer-like than I expected with the powerful cherry aroma. The beer was also quite smooth and finished with just about the perfect amount of tartness.