Hop Hound Amber Wheat is the new spring seasonal from Michelob, one of the latest in their 4-beer wheat lineup. It’s the second of the two promotional beers I received last week, and is billed as an "unfiltered American amber wheat ale" and by the name alone, you’d expect the emphasis to be on the hops.

(At risk of spoiling the review, the emphasis is not on the hops, but rather on the "amber ale" nature of the brew.)

Appearance: Hazy honey-amber in color; off-white head fell quickly to a skiff of foam.

Smell: Caramel-roast amber notes, with a bit of banana-clove wheat aromas. (What I think of as "weisse".)

Taste: First notes remind me of raw honey—not necessarily sweet but definitely the flavor. Then a bit of "weisse" character (fruity, estery wheat) and some of the caramel amber notes. No real hops here.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light and a bit bubbly; lively on the tongue.

Overall: Interesting honey character, but the name is misleading—much more German weisse influence than any (American) hop thing. Decent, otherwise.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of C+. On RateBeer… it doesn’t appear there yet, which is very surprising.