The Swill: Wild Blue Blueberry Lager
The Still: Blue Dawg Brewing
Baldwinsville, New York
http://www.anheuser-busch.com/Press/wildblue.html
The Drill: Lager flavored with blueberry juice, 12oz bottle, 8.0% ABV
The Spill: Wine cooler, anyone? Wild Blue tastes just like one. A barely detectable wheaty mouthfeel is really the only thing that reminds the drinker that he's not holding a bottle of Bartles & Jaymes. Granted, its bold blueberry flavor is sure to satisfy those who want to avoid beer flavor altogether, but the brew's foundation is nonexistent and without backbone. If you took away the blueberry flavor, you'd end up with nothing better than Budweiser, and lo and behold, a little research uncovers the fact that the Blue Dawg Brewery is in fact a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch.
Says Bill: I found this brew in May of 2008, when Holly and I celebrated our anniversary in Idyllwild. Little did I know that it was just the beginning of a big retail campaign, and I now I see the stuff everywhere. I didn't plan to finish the rest after the first bottle, so I offered one to the proprietor of the bed and breakfast we stayed at. As we were leaving, the bottle fell and broke on his porch. He apologized, and I told him it was no big deal. I gave him a second bottle and told him I wasn't planning on drinking it, anyway. He stood over the purple stain on the porch, shrugged his shoulders and mused, "Smells nice..."
Refill?: None for me, but maybe one for my friend Violet Beauregard: 0.5 taps out of 5.