Here at Let’s Get a Taste we all have our individual relationships with variety. Some of us love to enjoy the same set of time-tested brews over and over again. Others prefer to search high and low for new styles and new permutations of current styles. I’m judging neither – I would say I fall somewhere in the middle.
My girlfriend Marta might be the beer-drinker I know who most desires variety. She has exactly one beer that she drinks on a regular basis (Browar Witnitsca’s Black Boss Baltic Porter, which is really fucking good); beyond that she can be trusted to go for the weirdest beer on the menu (in other words, the one she’s least likely to see again). Ginger Rye Ale, Marta? Don’t mind if I do! Smoked-salmon Stout, Marta? Yes, please! Sulfur and Vinegar Lager? Why not!*
Most of the time her love of variety leads to a bad end. Sometimes, though, she gets it right. This weekend, after whipping up some panko-encrusted tilapia with a fennel-sea salt rub, Marta settled into a 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon Wheat. It was the kind of beer that I would make fun of her for buying. In fact…I already had.
But I was wrong to do so. 21st Amendment (great name for a brewery) gets it totally right. The watermelon lingers just far enough in the back for you to say, ‘oh yeah, there it is…’ but not so conspicuous that you think you’re drinking fermented watermelon juice.** It does exactly what a fruit beer should: make you taste the fruit while never forgetting that you’re drinking beer.
Next time someone cuts up and orange or lemon and tosses it into a hefewiezen, I’m going to glare at them, pull out a watermelon, cut it, and throw that in instead.
*I made all those up.
**Is it possible to ferment watermelon juice? That seems like fermenting regular water.
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