A Homecoming - Abita Wheat

Prior to moving to Lafayette 8 years ago (amazing that it has been 8 years), Margaret and I lived in Mandeville, LA. Mandeville is a bedroom community located about an hour north of New Orleans. Part of that hour journey is over the Causeway bridge, a 24 mile structure that spans Lake Pontchartrain, and has the distinction of being the longest bridge over water in the world.

Mandeville is also close to most iconic craft brewery in all of Louisiana, the Abita Brewery, located in Abita Springs. So close in fact that it was less than 5 miles from our Mandeville house. Being that close you would think that we were frequent visitors to their brewery and brew pub. That would be incorrect.  I am ashamed to say that in the 3 years that we lived there, we only went to the brew pub one time. Since we were childless and both worked downtown in New Orleans, we really just slept in Mandeville as most of our lives were on the south shore of the lake.

Now that does not mean that I am not intimately familiar with the Abita beers. I have tried the majority of their beers and their Turbo Dog is among my favorites. I recently picked up one of their seasonal beers that I had not tried before, the Abita Wheat.

Appearance: The wheat was a straw yellow color with 3 fingers of fluffy white head. Lots of carbonation was noted through the clear appearance. Some good lacing was noted also.

Smell: Even from a foot away I was able to pick up a yeasty bread aroma from this beer. Not much else was distinguishable close up.

Taste/Mouthfeel: As the color would suggest, the mouthfeel was light and bubbly. This beer had a crisp, refreshing taste with a dry finish. Not much in the way of wheat flavor was noticeable. It tasted like a pilsner, but with slightly more complex flavor, but not much more.

Overall: This beer had some good qualities like a good drinkability, but really left me wanting more from the flavor. The wheat name had me thinking a certain thing, and the flavor was not it. Not a favorite of the Abita beers, and not likely to try this one again. For more info on this beer, please see http://abita.com/brews/our_brews/wheat

We frequently go back to the Mandeville area to see family. My brother and his family live in nearby Covington, but we have not been back to the brewery and brew pub. I will have Margaret put it on our list.

Cheers!