Abita

One of the beer brands at Papago that we carry that has some loyal fans is Abita. Abita is located close to New Orleans and as of the time I am writing this I don't know what their status is. Hopefully they were undamaged and are all safe. Being a good corporate citizen we are putting two of their beers on tap and donating the entire sales from those beers to the American Red Cross. The beers we are putting on tap are two of their more popular ones, Turbodog and Purple Haze. Turbodog is classified as an English Brown Ale and Purple Haze is a Raspberry Wheat beer.
The Abita Brewing Company is located in Abita Springs, Louisiana. They first began brewing beer in 1986 so that makes them one of the early microbreweries. One of the things that makes Abita unique is that the brewery was located in Abita Springs to take advantage of the nearby spring water, the pure artesian water is not altered in any way before the brewing process. Most breweries use regular city water, treat it with reverse osmosis and then add back in different minerals to get the beer they way they want it.
Turbo Dog is not a light beer, it’s a little bit heavier than Newcastle, for example. It has a deep rich brown color with some red hues. The aroma is malty with notes of toasted biscuits, chocolate, lightly roasted coffee and sweet toffee. The taste is lightly sweet with a rich maltiness to it. There are notes of caramel and toffee in it as well as a bit of chocolate and a light roasted astringency in the finish. This is by far the most flavorful beer that I have had from Abita. This beer is definitely focused on the malt, but there is a nice light bitterness in the finish plus some light hoppy flavor notes that remind me of fresh cut herbs and flowers.
Evaluating fruit flavored beers can be a tricky balancing act. On the one hand, you need to evaluate the underlying base beer to see how well made it is and how well it lets stylistic signature characteristics shine, but at the same time, you need to balance that with the how well the beer succeeds in letting the fruit flavors and aromas come through. The final verdict needs to carefully consider this balance and to reflect not just how fruity the product is, but how good it is as a fruit beer. The base style for Purple Haze is an American Wheat beer. American wheat beers are a different than German Wheat beers in that they are clean and do not have any banana or clove flavor from the yeast. Most but not all American Wheat beers are also usually clear as opposed to the cloudy German Hefeweizen.
Don't let the name Purple Haze fool you. This beer isn't purple, but it is hazy. The color is more of an amber-orange with a very slight pinkish cast if one uses some imagination. Don't expect a big Lindemans Framboise type of raspberry taste either. The beer has a very light raspberry flavor and it makes for a good how summer day thirst quencher. I admire the craftsmanship it takes to achieve such an amazingly delicate balance as this beer achieves. It is a high-wire act that balances the wheat beer elements to perfection, but that introduces just the barest hint of raspberry flavor.
So on your visit to Papago this week stop in and try an Abita brew. You will probably like the beer and it is for a good cause.
Prost, Ron