Magic Hats Goes Wacko for Summer (A Review)

The folks at Magic Hat in Burlington, VT are up to their zany tricks again; going up to, over and quite off the wall. Magic Hat is introducing two new beers for the summer season — The first, their new summer seasonal, is called “Wacko”. And the second is their summertime Odd Notion beer (which will only be available in limited quantities as part of the Magic Hat Summer Scene Variety 12-Pack), which is a sultry Belgian Blonde.

Many thanks to the good folks in the press room at Magic Hat for sending along some samples of each of the beers for review. So far I’ve only had the opportunity to put back a bottle of the Wacko Summer Ale and haven’t gotten to the Odd Notion yet (so look for another quick write up when I do) but the Wacko is quite… interesting.

It’s definitely one of the prettiest beers I’ve ever had. Magic Hat colored the beer with beet juice — not beet sugar like a lot of Belgian ales use, actual beet juice — and the resulting brew is a gorgeous, almost pure pink beer with just the slightest fringe of small white head. The aroma and the taste are both very sweet and malty with almost no hop presence to speak of. While the beet juice was supposed to be used to merely color the beer, I think some of it definitely permeates the taste of Wacko too. While that’s appealing to some, I’m no beet fan so I was put off more by this beer than I would otherwise have been. I think if I hadn’t known ahead of time that the beer was made with beets, I might have enjoyed it a bit more, but the thought of beets was too ingrained in my psyche to let it go. Oh well.

While I wasn’t Wacko’s biggest fan, my girlfriend really enjoyed the half a glass I poured for her. So, at the risk of sterotyping a bit, I think Wacko may be more a “beer for the ladies” than anything else. But isn’t that what summertime is all about? I for one am much more excited for the Odd Notion, as that sounds a lot more up my ally. Look for Wacko in 6 and 12 packs, and as a part of the new Magic Hat Summer Scene Variety packs (along with the Summertime Odd Notion) from April 1st to August 1st. And look for my review of the Odd Notion coming right up.

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