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43

21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon Wheat

21st Amendment Brewery
San Francisco, CA, United States of America


Vital Statistics

Release: Summer Seasonal
ABV: 4.9%
Bitterness: 17 IBU

From the brewer

Hell or High Watermelon Wheat is our summer seasonal beer available from April through September in six pack cans and on draft. We start by brewing a classic American wheat beer, which undergoes a traditional secondary fermentation using fresh watermelon. A straw-colored, refreshing beer with a kiss of watermelon aroma and flavor.

Average Scores

Overall: 43 (logged 10 times)
Can: 44 (logged 7 times)
Draft: 42 (logged 3 times)

Who's been drinking this

This is fine. Wheat, slight bitterness, some watermelon, which doesn't seem bad or fake. I don't mind it. Pretty good for a -230 prediction . . .
Tasted very off, like wet, sugary hay. Checked the bottom of the can which listed a date more than three years ago. Noooooope.
Can at Work
I could taste watermelon this time, but it still wasn't overt. I got more yeasty funk and banana than anything else. Still, worked well with the sunshine.
The first face I made trying this beer was pure confusion. You sip on it, and it seems normal. Carbonation, weight from malts, check. And then right when you expect some flavor from the hops or malts to kick in... Watermelon!!! And that's it. It's not a wheat beer with watermelon, it tastes like watermelon. That's it. Interesting science experiment, and the watermelon flavor is clean and crisp and fresh, so marks for that. In a way the "Meh" is a bit unfair, this is an extremely well done fruity beer - it's clean, balanced, with a nice flavor that isn't overpowering. It's more fair to say something like: "Chance I'll buy this again: 40-50/100, but rating vs. what this beer is meant to be: 90/100".
Can at Home
Funky, unpleasant smell. Fortunately, the beer tastes much better, although I could barely taste watermelon, and the finish has a somewhat metallic dryness that doesn't completely go away poured into a glass.
Has uric qualities to the smell-- tastes way better than it smells. Watermelon taste is like that of a watermelon Jolly Rancher. Leaves mouth dry feeling.
Just like dropping a watermelon flavored Jolly Rancher in a weak beer.