Brewery: Leinenkugel Brewing Company (SABMiller), Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, USA
Brewery Description: “If you’ve ever experienced a Northwood’s sunset, you know its a moment unlike any other. So instead of putting it into words, we captured the Northwood’s finest moment in every batch of our all-new Leinenkugels Sunset Wheat. Brewed with select Wheat and Pale malt, Cluster hops and natural coriander, Sunset Wheat has a soothing taste that will leave you speechless. Silver medal winner of the 2006 Great American Beer Festival and Bronze Winner of the 2006 World Beer Cup in the Herb & Spice category is like your very own sunset in a bottle.”
Brew Style: American Wheat, 4.9% ABV
Recommended Glassware: Shaker, Weizen
The Ugly Truth: Before we get into this beer, for the lack of a better word for it, I’d like to comment on something. I have never attended a beer festival where awards are given and I think for the sake of my own sanity and freedom I shouldn’t. How the hell do some of these beers get the awards that they do? I would love to be the judge for one of these things just so I can insert some measure of reality to the awards. No friggin’ way in God’s Green Field of Hops does this beer deserve a Silver Medal and a Bronze. Great Zues’ Beard, this was a shitty ass wheat beer. It poured with a fairly weak head and a bloody piss yellow color. It had a sour aroma to it, with a bit too much coriander and orange to it. I made the mistake of thinking this beer was an actual wheat/hefeweizen so I put some lemon in it. That was a freakin’ mistake, it made this beer taste worse. It was flat and acidic tasting for the most part, with some rare spots of decent taste and the mouthfeel was way too carbonated. The first one I had tasted alright, but by the time I hit the sixth beer in the pack it tasted like ass to me. The aftertaste wasn’t dry so much as it burned like I was drinking acid. Frankly, reading the brewery description pissed me off even more. I hate it when people try to get you to drink their beer by really telling you nothing about it. So screw Leinenkugel, and do not drink this beer.
Verdict: I was going to give it a 5, but the fact that this bottled urinary tract infection won two awards has pissed me off so its losing one bottlecap for each award. Final call is 3 out of 10 bottlecaps.
I just happened across your review by surfing the internet for a clone homebrewing recipe for Sunset Wheat.
The first 3 sentences of your review pretty much summed up your beer reviewing skills for me. Yeah, the judges at the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup are a bunch of morons. I’ll bet you’d give a Bud Light 8 out of 10 bottlecaps.
First of all, if you check out the Leinenkugel website, they recommend that you drink Sunset Wheat with a slice of orange, not lemon. For you, Big Remy, the orange is the one that’s orange and the lemon is the yellow one. Use the orange one. Putting a lemon in a SW would be like putting the orange in a Corona instead.
Second of all, you say “It was flat and acidic tasting for the most part, with some rare spots of decent taste and the mouthfeel was way too carbonated”. That statement makes absolutely no sense to me at all. When refering to beer, the descriptions “flat” and “way too carbonated” shouldn’t be in the same review let alone the same sentence. Maybe your tongue is too scorched from sucking too hard on your crack pipe that your sense of taste is ruined.
Stepping down off my soapbox, I’d like to say for the rest of the real world that might also happen across this review - in my opinion way too high on the Google list for my liking - Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat really isn’t as bad as this dude says it is. In fact, it’s pretty darn good. I’m not a big wheat beer fan, but this beer is mellow enough on the wheat and has just the right blend of orange, coriander, and hops to make this a great tasting and thirst quenching beer. Not overpowering on the alcohol either so you can drink a couple of these down pretty quick to quench your thirst and not get smashed.
Have a nice day.
You know, this guy was absolutely right on this one since I clearly did fuck-up this review. I won’t hide from it.
First off, I never drink Bud Light and I can assure you it would not get an 8.
I never check the websites or other beer review sties before I drink a beer because I don’t want someone else’s impressions clouding mine. It was billed as a wheat, which to me had always meant adding a wedge of lemon and I was clearly in the wrong on that one.
As for the flat versus carbonated controversy, I perhaps didn’t make myself clear. I used the word “flat” in the sense that to me the flavor didn’t go anywhere, it hit a certain level and never changed or got any better. So again, my fault for using “flat” in an misleading way.
As for the judges at the beer festivals, you seriously can not tell me that you have always agreed with the awards they have given out. I’ve had a number of beers where I whole heartedly agree with what they say, but this one was not one of them. But then again as I have admitted, putting lemon into this wheat beer like I’ve done or been suggested to do for every beer I’ve had that was a wheat was a mistake. If I have the chance to and based on your telling of it, I will definitely give this one another shot and see how it goes. I’m not above correcting my mistakes is someone points them out to me, which you have done. So no need to get all up in arms about it, since if I’m a crackhead you make you make yourself sound like a speed freak.
And as for my writing style, I do realize its rough. I’ve never admitted to being a beer expert which people who have read this from the beginning would know. I attempt to be objective and fail miserably on a somewhat regular basis, though I am trying to improve my ways.
So while I’m sure he didn’t mean it, I thank Jeff for the unintentional constructive criticism.
Also if you check other website, it got just about the same rating as I gave using the 5 point scale most use with my rating being only slightly lower. It’s average was:
RateBeer.com 2.9/5
BeerAdvocate.com: 3.3/5 Low score a 1.6
So I’m evidently not the only one who didn’t like it.
Personally, I think most people enjoy Remy’s reviews because they are fun to read. Sure we don’t always (maybe not even often) agree, but that is not necessarily the point. I use the review to find new beers that I can sample and form my own opinion on. For instance… not a big fan of Schlitz. But, to each his own.
Yeah, I mean I don’t think anyone should take my reviews as Word and Law. I’m heavily biased.
Is it just me, or does it seem really fucking stupid to sell a Hefe that they want you to put orange in, and not put it _ON THE FUCKING BOTTLE_?
LOL at the mental image of Remy drinking ANY Bud product.
Thanks Remy for not slamming me too hard in rebuttal - LOL - after I fired the round downrange I thought I might have been a little too harsh on you. You passed the test though, I like your style and now I think I’ll check out your reviews periodically.
I agree, there should be a reference to the orange somewhere on the bottle. Who the hell goes to a beer website to see how you are supposed to drink the beer anyways.
Try one on tap - Applebees just started carrying it (where I live anyway), and on the tap handle (BTW, one of the coolest tap handles I’ve seen) it has a piece of orange on it.
FWIW, I didn’t think it was nearly as good out of the bottle as it was on tap, which I suppose could be said about any beer, and I think you’ll agree.
I’m not going to lie, it took some restraint not to fire back
But then I remembered that my opinion can at times be less than accurate and thats all the beer review is, my opinion. I’m not above admitting that I can be wrong (except for my views about the Wikipedia, but that is another story). I haven’t had a chance to grab the beer again but I’ll give it another shot.
I think this is good beer in that you don’t get too smashed after three or four of them, and the orange flavor is very refreshing. As for the lemon orange controversy, I think I would ask the guy at the beer store and he will usually be right on.
I still plan on giving this one another chance, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
I was actually surprised to see that some people don’t enjoy this beer. I will admit that on my first taste I turned the bottle around and looked at it with a weird face, but after the first beer was down, I really did want another one. I think if Linies stops making this beer…I will stop drinking.
Ok, I actually had this beer the other day and I absolutely loved it.
Hugebob, I’m glad that you enjoyed the beer. I’ll freely admit that I think I may have been wrong about it. I don’t know if I want to pick up another six pack of it, but if I have the chance to grab a single I’m going to.
Colin…I got nothing for you since I think some of your beer tastes are suspect to begin with
And can I say, I think this one review has drawn more people to my beer reviews than any other one I have done.
Gotta admit that I found this review through Google.
I went to a meeting last week where this was the beer that was proffered. Tough job, I know. Sitting outside on a summer afternoon in North Carolina, an ice cold ANYTHING will go down quickly. These did, and I have to admit being pleasantly surprised by the flavor. Enough to look for a clone recipe and thusly land here.
Remy’s opinion is his own and is certainly a unique one. Were he to spit out a mouthful of LHW off my deck, I’d simply tell him to go to the garage and look in the fridge for something he liked better. After all, you don’t marry a beer when you drink it, and if you don’t like one try another one.
Thanks Charles.
Frankly I find it scary that people end up finding my beer reviews when doing a Google search for this beer. I really shouldn’t be ranked that high.
I’m still waiting for the chance to come along to try it again. I have this feeling that I may like it better the second time around and maybe I was too hasty the first time. This was definitely not one of my better reviews.
We think the original review hit it the nail on the head. This beer is garbage. I say “we” speaking for 12 friends and micro brewers.
OH ho, someone backing me up finally? The need to give the beer another try grow stronger. I’ll only try it again if I can find a single, not buying another 6 pack of that stuff.
They carry the beer on tap in many of the larger chain restaurants. I can’t remember which ones, but think of places like Fridays and Chilis.
Yeah, I have a kid coming in 2 weeks. When do you think I’m supposed to be going to a Friday’s?
make that my second kid, so even worse.
I happend to really enjoy this beer. I thought it had the right amount of spice and only a slight hint of orange. Now I did add an orange slice each time I poured a new one(the picture of the glass with an orange slice clued me into how they recommended it be served). I’d give this beer 7/10. I like my drinks a little more potent… but for what it was worth - I would definately buy again.
This beer is definitely my new favorite. Rivaling closely with Hoogarden (a belgian white ale served with a lemon slice) and Blue Moon (a belgian style white ale which, for those of you who don’t know…is also served with an orange slice). The trick is the coriander (cilantro seed). If you like coriander spice than you will most definitely like this beer. Don’t even bother trying it if you like Bud, Bud light, icehouse, etc. Your taste buds won’t be able to handle all of the flavor. This beer is pure heaven!
Glad you liked it. Not for me, especially for a white. I have to disagree about Hoegaarden, it is far far better.
So I had Sunset Wheat again this weekend. Some friends came over and brought a six pack with them.
While it was not as bad as I remember it being when I first had, I still didn’t like it alot. Which makes me feel bad because I don’t want my friend thinking he did something wrong. Beer brought in friendship is always appreciated.
That being said, I still think this tastes like a wheat beer mixed with, as one review put it, Fruity Peebles. Way way too sweet for my tastes. I honestly don’t understand how people think this beer is good.
I had the complete opposite reaction. I had it at a local BBQ place (on tap) and really, really liked. After a while of searching, I was able to snag a six pack and after drinking it, I didn’t much care for it. It was _much_ fruitier than I remembered it being. Maybe it is a difference between the bottles and the one served on tap.
Maybe, but good to finally see you thinking straight.
I lived in Germany for four years. NEVER ONCE did any bar EVER bring me a Hefe-Weizen with a lemon or any other fruit in it!!!!!! VERY FEW are brewed with lemon in them, and still NOT SERVED with additional lemon. I’ll admit Sunset wheat with the orange it DOES improve a lousy American wheat beer. If I have to drink an American wheat, this would be the one. I too stumbled across the review while looking for a clone recipe for Sunset wheat… and still NO F’ing FRUIT IN BEER!!!!!!!!!!!
It must be an American thing then, since I have yet to be in a bar that HASN”T brought me a Hefe-weizen without a lemon in it. Not saying its right or wrong, but that’s have I’ve always had it served to me.
This beer should be easy to clone. Brew up an Amercian Wheat beer and add Fruity Peebles in as an adjunct. Should come out exactly the same.
This shit tastes like Fruitloops…… Orange, isn’t it fruity enough already. If you give it anymore fruit you would have to put an upside down triangle on the bottle with a rainbow.
Lisa
Thank god, another like minded individual who isn’t fooled.
Awright - I grabbed some to bring to a party Friday night. It’s definitely more fruity than I was anticipating even with reading the countless reviews and opinions on this one. BUT - I really didn’t think it was that bad. It had it’s own flavor, although I think the fruit really overwhelmed the hint of dryness I like in a wheat beer. So on that scale, it failed. But over the course of the night I had 5 of them along with a lot of different types of food, and found myself reaching for one of these instead of the Sam Winter Lager.
If you go into it expecting a standard wheat, you’ll be sorely disappointed. If you go into it expecting an easy to drink beer with some flavor, you’ll probably be good with it. Meaning, it has 100x more taste than any American lager swill.
True, but it still tastes like someone dumped Fruity Pebbles into the brewing vat as an adjunct.
Better than rice
True, but not by much.
I’m from Oklahoma and we don’t have this stuff on tap anywhere.I tried it in Little Rock,AR.It had a blue moon type label so it wasn’t Leinen.I loved this beer for some reason and my favorite beers are IPA and Paulaner Salvator so go figure.Anyway,I couldn’t find this beer anywhere and I just stumbled upon it today at a liquor store i’d never visited.It’s still really good.I really love this shit and i’m a huge beer snob.I don’t know why I like it so much?
I can understand why it has an appeal to some people. I, and many others, just find it way way too sweet.
I tried this beer and I have got to say, it tasted like fruity pebbles and I loved it!
I am always interested, for those that like this beer, was it in bottle or draft?
Don’t encourage people to drink this Colin.
saw this on tap at the sports depot in allston, home of the “we don’t have guinness on tap, is murphy’s okay”?
Gods, seriously?
yeah, i was dumbfounded. i just mumbled “whatever”, i think.
It was in a bottle when I drank it and I loved the sweet taste to it!