A Pint Half Full

Purchased from:
Gift but I've seen it at Whole Foods around here

ABV%:
5%

Type:
Wheat Ale

Color:
Straw yellow with a bit of cloudiness, barely existent, soapy, thin head

Aroma:
Ginger, lemons, with a wheat backbone.  Pretty fruity and light in the nose, fizzy

Taste:
Surprising tang and sourness from the lemon with a hint of the ginger and clove in the background.  Hardly any hop flavor to speak of.  I actually puckered at the taste.

Overall:
Wow.  What to say.  I expected alot from this.  My experience with white ales was Allagash White, Hoegaarden, and I loved both.  When drinking a white ale or other wheat beer, I expect a smoothness, a bit of citrus blended with spice, and overall a refreshing experience.  Perhaps my expectations were too high with this one because even though I got some of the things I expected, it was all destroyed by this sourness that dominated the flavor.

When I first poured the drink, it seemed thin based on the head and color.  I saw there was some leftover stuff at the bottom and kept pouring.  What came out was this deeper yellow stuff.  I have no idea what it was - maybe lemon/ginger residue that had settled out?  Anyway this made the first sip horrible as the sourness just blew me away.  I puckered and ended up with this bitter taste in the back of my mouth that I felt like washing away with water.  The over-carbonation helped in that it diluted this flavor a bit to make the drink bearable.  To make things worse, as the beer warmed, the beer became something like a lemon juice.

I'm really confused at what Kiuchi Brewing is going for here.  I get they are incorporating different flavors (as seen in their Red Rice Ale) in to their beer but it just fails here.  The balance is off and screws with the taste.  Behind it all there is a decent beer there, I think, but I couldn't get over the hump.

2/5