Estranged Brew Review: Leinenkugel’s Lemon Berry Shandy

Will you accept Leinie’s challenge? Photo by J. St. O

Quaffable in question

Fine print:

• Jacob Leinenkugel Brewery Co., Chippewa Falls, WI
• Weiss beer “with blackberry juice and natural flavors” (namely, lemonade)
• 1 pint (16 fl. oz.)
• 4.2% ABV
• Tag line: “A Crisp and Refreshing Shandy Style Beer Perfect for Any Occasion”

With a name like “Leinenkugel,” it’s gotta be good. It sounds like those crotch-muscle exercises. You know, the ones that help you “keep that shit tight,” as my wife’s obstetrician preaches to her while winking at me.

Now, the Leinenkugel product Lemon Berry Shandy? That’s a whole nother thing.

But… is the shandy dandy?

First sniff:

• Lemonade-y aroma
• Beery aroma (beerroma?)
• Fruity aroma

First swaller:

• All the above descriptors translated into something about aromas versus flavors
• Hint of blackberries.Hint: not Four Loko-type flavoring levels (i.e., terrible)

Subsequent drinking:

• I crushed the goddamned can on my forehead and flexed out on my grandfather’s bridge club.
• What do you think I did? I  drank it and moved on like a rolling stone, only with less H.
• I said “less.”

Unlike Lime-A-Rita, no bellyache and no sour belly.

Verdict

Crisp? Yes, like a freshly pressed pair of Land’s End chinos. Refreshing? Indeed, like pounding some PF Chang’s and punching a young, bechino’d man’s face for cutting in line to the shitter.

Lemon Berry Shandy has the right amount of alcohol. Mostly for getting regally hammered without failing field sobriety tests. Your breath will smell as the bloom of a rose, even though you’ve eaten nothing but rancid take-out curries for days and you have taken to sitting in the dark. Wait. What?

The flavors seem balanced; the slight bitter aftertaste seems like a feature of the flavor profile, and not a poor attempt to mask beer made with cheap ingredients.

Drink up.

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