Sam Adams Cherry Wheat
By John on January 28, 2007 @ 10 PM (13 Comments)
This beer is bad. How bad? I poured 4 of the 6 bottles down the sink. A single tear was shed because I hate to see any beer go to waste, but this was undrinkable bad. Too hoppy, too much cherry – it was almost medicinal. Yes – almost like that cherry robitussin you had to choke down as a kid. I think any kind of fruity beer should have a hint of fruit, not an overpowering taste of fruit. Don’t waste your money on a six pack or a single. Sam Adams can make some good beer, this just isn’t one of them.
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I think you are completely wrong with this review. It is a great tasting beer, I found only a hint of cherry flavour, definately not overpowering as you stated. I am a fan of wheat beers and tried this one for the first time. Enjoyed it a lot.
I think you either love this beer or you hate it. I had always said it tastes like children’s tylenol. Totally medicinal. Artificial cherry flavor. I hate it.
Those who say this beer is medicinal tasting and artificial are the same anoying snobs that are wine tasters who get more pleasure out of giving their unwanted and over exadurated opinions on the fine nuances of wines. This is a great tasting beer for an ocasional breakaway from the classic beer flavor. Suck it up ,sissy!
No wine snobs here Jason – we’ll man up to any number of lambics, strawberry beers, blueberry beers and any other fruited beers that are done right. A hint of cherry – good. A cherry mouth rape – bad!
this is the best beer in the world for breakfast!
waking up in the morning cooking eggs and bacon drinking a sam adams cherry wheat, nothing is better ! advice: only drink 4-6 before noon and switch.
Great Beer, only wish it was avail. in Canada. 8%m zowwee!!
After seeing all the comments on this beer I thought I would try it again so I got a single. The overpowering aroma was of a jar of cherries I used to put in vodka collins when I was courting the Lovely Mrs. Beer Love in the early 70’s. It had way too many hops for a wheat beer. It started pretty bad and as it warmed it got pretty nasty. If this was the only beer in the world I wouldn’t stop drinking but would drink a whole lot less. I love the comment from Bruce, saturated fats, cholesterol and nitrates in the AM work for me too but I would probably just have 4-6 red beers and then maybe a nap before switching. Everything’s better with bacon.
IMO this is by far the best beer sam adams has to offer. I don’t think it’s too overbearing or medicinal at all. It has a nice hint of cherry and I like the hops. You want nasty, try the blackberry witbier. SA blackberry witbier is one of the worst beers I’ve ever tasted, along with magic hat#9. One of the best fruit/wheat beers out there is Ithaca Beer Co. apricot wheat.
I absolutely love this beer. I’m stunned by the review. My brother introduced me to it over the holidays and I drank a whole six pack. I do think it has just the right touch of cherry and no unpleasent flavors on top.
I do admit to being pretty picky about beer, though. And I’ll agree it gets nasty when it gets warm.
I agree that this one is a pretty lame attempt by Sam Adams. I love their Boston Lager so trying the Cherry Wheat was a natural move, but this is underwhelming. It’s not balanced, the cherry flavor is all in the nose and not on the palate, medium bodied like the lager, but quickly dissipates and isn’t pleasant at all.
I wouldn’t rate it a 0, more like a 3. There are plenty of nasty, watery, flat, boring beers out there to fill up the 0 column.
Where are all the Belgian reviews?
It really depends on what you’re pairing the beer with whether it’s overpoweringly sweet. It has the distinctive flavor of benzaldehyde and that’s the only flavor note, i think they added a bit too much cherry flavor and ought to have soured the beer with Brett like a lambic and added more bittering hops. It makes a good drink on its own, but mixing it with salty tostadas +avocado is a bad idea, and eating it with fresh berries makes both the berries and the beer taste like a packet of aspartame. I could take it or leave it.
Not a big fan of cherry flavors except in of course cherries, but the reviewer who said the blackberry witbier was nasty needs his or her head examined. Most “fruit” beers ARE nasty, however the blackberry witbier isn’t one of them. Normally I’m a stout or porter guy, but I usually try Sam’s brewmaster packs as released, and the summer selection this year had two standouts the Blackberry and the Summer.
I’m not a huge fan of fruit beers or lambecs but I like this one. I cooled it way down and sat on the front porch on a hot summer day and tried it. I didn’t find the cherry to be overpowering at all. I could smell it and slightly taste it but not enough for it to be cloying. I had a couple and bought another six a few weeks later. My girlfriend, who is not a beer lover, liked this one enough to drink one also.