I promised in Episode 166 that I’d review this beer with a bit more detail than my usual quick spiel on the show, so allow me to present:

End of the World Midnight Wheat! An ale brewed with “midnight wheat, chocolate malt, chili and spice” from Shock Top (aka Anheuser-Busch)

First and foremost a special thanks to James K. for providing the bottle for this review!

Look – The beer mostly looks good, however, there is one glaring issue and that is sediment. You can probably see some floating in suspension in the photo. I know there are ways to pour a beer to keep the sediment in the bottle and out of the glass, but I don’t mind a bit of sediment in my beer. The instructions on the bottle itself advocate the “pour most, swirl, then pour rest” method which would introduce sediment so I feel justified to comment on it. Again, I don’t mind a bit of sediment, but this is too much, it’s especially too much when I know it’s being produced at an Anheuser-Busch facility, which has brewing down a science and thus I can only assume this much sediment is intentional rather than accidental. Other than that it’s a nice copper hue with a snowy white head that never gets past maybe ½ a finger and dissipates quickly thereafter. No real tracing on the glass to speak of.

Smell – The smell is very mild, far milder than I expect from this style. If I really breathe deep I can get a bit of banana and some spicy notes, but not much else.

Taste – I’m looking at the last few sips of this and still don’t have much to say. It tastes like a standard, if a bit lacking, wheat beer with maybe a bit of cinnamon (which might be the spice the bottle is promoting). I will readily admit that I don’t think I have the palate to notice any of the tastes specific to midnight wheat nor chocolate malt, but unless those are milder version that a typical hefeweizen I don’t feel like they’re contributing a lot. None of the flavors are off or bad, they’re just not really there in the first place.

Feel – Crisper and drier than I’d have thought. I guess the I keep trying to compare this beer to a dunkelweizen, but it just isn’t. It’s more like a spiced wheat beer, but even still I tend to expect something a bit creamier and smoother than crisp like this. Not a knock against it, but not really a positive either, it just is.

Drinkability – Unexpectedly drinkable for how dark a beer is it. Goes down very easy, and at a respectable, but not ridiculous, ABV of 6.0% you could kick back a few of these on a chilly day and feel alright about it.

look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

C- / 2.33

Serving type: 12 oz. bottle

Reviewed on: 24 April 2013 5pm MDT