Kona Brewing Wailua Wheat Ale

OK, here we go...my first beer review. I had this a couple of weeks back, in the middle of the 98 degrees with 50% humidity NC summer. So obviously, I was looking for something refreshing. The first thing I go for and look forward to when summer rolls around is wheat beer. To me, there is nothing better than an unfiltered, wheaty tasting beer that you can almost chew. They have such a fresh but still complex flavor.

Maggie and I had previously tried Kona Brewing’s Longboard Lager and really liked it, so I kept eyeing the Wailua Wheat everytime I went down the beer aisle (going down the beer aisle with me is like going into Blockbuster without knowing what you want – I don’t recommend it). When I went by it the last time I noticed something I hadn’t seen before – that it was brewed with passion fruit. SOLD!!! A lot of guys don’t like “fruity” beers b/c they think it is unmanly or something. But trust me, this beer can be called whatever it wants and I will drink it, this stuff is good. You may not want many of them, but they are truly unique and absolutely refreshing.

The aroma is one of the best I have had in a long time. It has really strong floral hints with a little bit of fruity/citrusy to it (if I remember correctly). The taste is exactly what it sounds like, which is a wheat beer with passion fruit in it. It has the fresh, crispness of a wheat beer with the added bonus of the passion fruitiness (if you have never tasted a passion fruit flavor it will be hard for you to understand the true flavor). If you look at the label you will feel like you are there when you taste it. It has a waterfall in Hawaii with lush greenery and a woman in the water. OK, so maybe you won’t feel like you’re there with the lady, but you can imagine what being in that water would be like. Anyways, the point is that this beer tastes like a tropical Hawaiian beer.

My Dad always insists that we rate things on a 1-10 scale, whether it’s movies or whatever else. So that is how I will rate the beers I review. So without further adieu……………………………………………………………………………………………….. I give the Kona Brewing Wailua Wheat a 7.4.

Cheers!

-Grayson