Yesterday I reviewed 21st Amendment’s IPA, and today it’s their watermelon beer getting the treatment: Hell or High Watermelon Wheat. (Told you it was punny.)

I’ve tried this beer several times on tap: at the Oregon Brewers Festival in past years and more recently at The Abbey Pub here in Bend. Every time I’ve tried it, I honestly don’t see what the big deal is; the way I’ve heard people talk about it, I always expect watermelon flavor on a par with a Jolly Rancher candy. But it’s always a very mellow, earthy, hard-to-detect presence in my experience.

But I’d never done a formal tasting and review so it was, er, high time to do so.

Their Watermelon Wheat is 4.9% alcohol by volume (according to the can) and is, in their words:

The definition of summer in a pint glass. This unique, American-style wheat beer, is brewed with 400 lbs. of fresh pressed watermelon in each batch. Light turbid, straw color, with the taste and essence of fresh watermelon.

Appearance: Very clear burnt-yellow color, with a fizzy thin head that fell quickly.

Smell: Mild, sweetish, toasty wheat notes, slightly sourish and very light fruit aromas.

Taste: Crisp, mellow with mild earthy watermelon flavors—very understated. Nice American-style wheat going on, clean and toasted.

Mouthfeel: Light-bodied with a bit of a crisp bite behind it.

Overall: It’s decent, a competent wheat beer—though again I’m underwhelmed by the watermelon aspect. Perfect beer to be canned as it’s light, accessible, and drinkable—good for summer, as promised.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B-. On RateBeer, it scores 2.83 out of 5 and is in their 29th percentile.