Earlier this year I wrote a story about Owl’s Brew cocktail mixers. The company had sent me a few bottles of its tea-based mixers that I took to a party. Suggested alcohol to mix with them included tequila, vodka, and beer. The beer mix, something we tried a few days later, was actually pretty tasty — and I’m typically pretty down in most “beer cocktails.”
Remembering that experience, I was excited to try the company’s newest offering: Radlers. Essentially a canned version, to some extent, of what you can do with the cocktail mixer and your own beer, the company is now selling a line of Radlers ranging from Wicked Watermelon, a wheat beer with white tea and fruit juices to Short and Stout, a stout with chai tea, pineapple juice, and coconut water that will be available seasonally October-March.
I have a handful of these of hand, but decided to kick off my sampling with Wicked Watermelon. Clocking in at just 3.8%, this is a beer made for summer. Literally. It’s written on the can.
“We imagined people imbibing our summer breeze of a beverage. We thought of outdoor concerts…day on boats… and all those winery hours when all you want is to sip some sunshine.”
Yeah, what they said.
Wicked Watermelon is a wheat beer brewed with spices and blended with white tea, fruit juices, and agave nectar. On the nose, it smells just like your standard wheat beer. So much so, in fact, that I wasn’t convinced that that once I took a sip I’d be able to detect any watermelon.
I was wrong. While the nose is nothing but wheat beer, the flavor is all watermelon. It’s hard to describe how the tea comes into play here, but it kind of works as the perfect mediator between the beer and the juice to give this one an amazing fruity flavor. You feel like you’re drinking a lightly carbonated fruit-based tea rather than a beer, and in a way you are, and it’s oh so delicious.
While I get watermelon on the finish, I think this tastes more along the lines of a nondescript fruit punch that a watermelon-based drink. It’s tart, but not mouth puckeringly so, in fact it ’s somewhat thirst quenching in that regard.
If you happen to be lucky enough to run into these at a local store, I definitely recommend grabbing a 6-pack or case for your next picnic, BBQ, or beach trip.
Brewery: Owl’s Brew
City: Stevens Point, WI
Style: Radler
ABV: 3.8%
Availability: Limited, 12 oz. cans