Leinenkugel’s has a special place in my heart. The pride of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, was one of the first macrobreweries to trick me into thinking l was drinking a microbrew.
The Miller subsidiary — now a part of the MolsonCoors portfolio — felt exciting and new when I first saw it on tap handles and store shelves in Nashville in 2006. More importantly, the flavors were interesting — lemonade shandy! Berry wheat! — and the beer itself was inexpensive. Not cheap, mind you, but on par with Miller Lite and Coors Light and all the rest of the gas station beers within arm’s reach while seeming a little bit fancier.
Sunset Wheat was the jewel in that crown. So when I felt particularly proud of myself or crappy or just needed some kind of respite, I’d dig down deep for the fanciest looking beer I could afford. $6.99 for a six pack.
This does not sound like a big deal, but my research assistant stipend in grad school paid $425 monthly. A sixer of Leinie’s was nearly two percent of my net income that month. My default at this point had been beers like American — the only beer with a blinding spinal headache in every can — which could be purchased in western Pennsylvania for $6 per case or, when feeling especially fancy, Laser.
So, Sunset Wheat was important. It was exotic (enough) that it remained a special occasion beer at home. But it was also on tap at most basic bars and sold at the supermarket so it wasn’t hard to find. This was my college drinking sweet spot, and Leinie’s was grooving fastballs down the middle.
Then it went away. Taken off shelves. Retired in 2020 long after I’d moved on to fancier beers. And, like the Choco Taco two years later, I stood shameful in regret, knowing this was at least partially my fault. I hadn’t had a Sunset Wheat in years — maybe a decade.
So when Leinenkugel’s announced it was making a 2022 comeback, I cleared off a space for Sunset Wheat in the Beverage of the Week annals. Will it taste as good as it used to? Or is my brain simply broken by the dopamine of nostalgia?
Turns out, it’s a little of both.