What we’re drinking: Cali Squeeze Blood Orange
ABV: 5.0%
Who Brews It: Firestone Walker Brewing Company
Where you can find it: Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits
Expected Price: $11.99 for a 6 pack of 12 oz. cans
Modern craft beers experiment a lot with fruit flavors, especially citrus. Orange, tangerine, grapefruit, even pomelos; all these citrus fruits make frequent appearances in IPAs. Still, juicy IPAs aren’t the only types of beer that emphasize fruit in their flavor profile. Mexican lagers like Corona are frequently paired with lime, and Blue Moon is a widely available wheat ale that is served alongside an orange slice.
Like Blue Moon, Cali Squeeze Blood Orange is a wheat ale that emphasizes orange flavor. However, Blue Moon is a witbier, while Cali Squeeze Blood Orange is a hefeweizen. What’s the difference? Practically speaking, not too much. In terms of taste, the witbier are close cousins, if not brothers. Witbier contains orange peel and coriander in the grain bill, which gives it a more pronounced spice on tasting. The hefeweizen has a much more neutral taste, though more traditional German brews will have a subtle banana aroma and taste.
The astute among you may have already guessed that Cali Squeeze Blood Orange does not taste of bananas; rather, it emphasizes blood oranges. What is a blood orange? It is a natural orange mutation that sports crimson flesh. Oranges that are genetically predisposed to express anthocyanins are left out to ripen over chilly nights. This causes the orange’s flesh to darken and become a dark red. A blood orange differs from a standard orange by having a more berry-esque taste and subduing the classic citrus tang. For Cali Squeeze, the blood oranges are added to a neutral hefeweizen without pronounced cloves. Firestone Walker, the brewers of Cali Squeeze Blood Orange, has committed to sourcing and squeezing each blood orange in California (where they are headquartered), and no flavor extracts are used.
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