This Is My Blood: Long Ireland Raspberry Wheat

I was gifted this beer from Hannah and Sam when they had me over to chill on their porch and talk about Sleuth. And since Sam already helped me out with one of these beer blog posts, I'm determined to do right by this other beer. I am humbled that they saw a strange beer in another part of the country and thought that it would be a good pick for a PoYB Daily Beer (and even if it was just some beer in the back of the garage fridge, consider me still humbled).

Okay, so, we're taking this seriously. Let's start with the brewery. Long Ireland Beer Company. It took me a minute to find the brewery online, but only because I was stupidly typing in "long island." "Long Ireland," we can assume, is a play on words, New Yorkers who appreciate their ancestors' Irish heritage whether it's real or not (I don't mean to baselessly question, but there are too many Northeast Philly Fake Irish Idiots to think that New York isn't populated with them too).

I appreciate that their website is decidedly lo-fi. The "About Us" section basically reads "This brewery was created by two guys who like beer—enjoy." This is refreshing. Some beer folk take themselves way too serious. That doesn't seem to be the case here. I feel bad that their annual Halloween party was cancelled.

Probably the only thing disappointing about the presentation, or "mise en place" if you will, is the name of this beer. All the other beers brewed by Long Ireland have Irish-themed names—Celtic Ale, Balor IPA, Hooligan Irish Stout, um... Mos Def Mosaic IPA... but even that has a cool name, even if it's a non-Irish outlier. This wheat ale with raspberry is just called "Raspberry Wheat." Boring. 

But how does it taste? That's probably more important. Everything else is just window dressing. We've already had a few wheat ales this year. If you'll recall, wheat isn't necessarily a rare ingredient in beers; wheat replaces barley in all kinds of beers, most prominently hefeweizens. But "American Wheat Ales" differ from hefeweizens in their lack of banana/clove flavors, and the insertion of those classic American hops. 

Another totally American move is adding fruit flavors to a beer. Most likely, a raspberry syrup was added after fermentation, the syrup itself giving the beer a tart taste (wheat ales are not really supposed to be tart on their own).

But this is all information that I was entering the day with. These were the expectations for the beer. This is what I expected. I did not expect to dislike this beer. Unfortunately, I messed up. I did not like this beer, and that's most likely my own fault.

Pouring the beers in medium-wide beer flutes, the foam was insane. This was a beer that has been in my fridge for over a week, so it wasn't warm. Wheat beers have decent head, but not this much. After five minutes, and diagonal pouring, the foam still was dissipating. That was the first tip-off that something was wrong.

Second, it just tasted... off. This is maybe the fifth time it's happened this year to me, when a beer has tasted weird in such a way. There are beer styles that I don't like, and of course brands of beers that I dislike more than other brands, but at this point I know the difference between beers I don't like and beers that are wrong.

To speak specifically about this wheat, it had a musty aftertaste, like mothballs. That's the best way I can describe it. It was a shame because the front taste was a pleasant raspberry, but then the mustiness hit and lingered. Why?

This is probably my fault. You see, when I got home from Mount Airy, I accidentally left this beer in my car overnight. It wasn't a cool night. The beer sat in a warm car for almost 24 hours. I can't find any specific rule that says that beers get fucked up if they are stored cold, then hot, then cold—maybe this is urban legend—but I choose to blame it on that anyway.

It's always disappointing when a beer tasting experience goes wrong, but let it go to show you—we need to treat our beers with respect, or else they are going to let you down. Oh well.

NOTES

BEER: Long Ireland Raspberry Wheat

GENRE: American Wheat

ABV: 5.5%

BREWED BY: Long Ireland Beer Company

LOCATION: Riverhead, New York

PURCHASED AT: a gift

PAIRED WITH: Leftovers (I made a buffalo chicken melt) 

GRADE: 1 puke out of 5, with an asterisk

BEER COUNT: 358