Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
I’ve made my appreciation for SweetWater’s beers clear here in the past. As a reliable, but inexpensive, regional option from my graduate school days in Nashville, it was a tidy $2.50 pour at a few different happy hours across Music City. And though drinking SweetWater Blue earned mockery from my father to this very day (it’s beer and blueberries, what’s not to like???) the brand has retained a place inside the happier recesses of my brain.
SweetWater 420 helped kick off a love of hoppy beers, even if it took some time to get over the bitterness. Now the brewery has a new round of heavy pale ales that promise an easier sip. SweetWater Gummies are double IPAs that promise big fruit flavors and a potent kick at 9.5 percent ABV. These year-round offerings suggest low bitterness despite the style from which they’re birthed, a nearly crushable flavorful beer that’s more than capable of knocking you on your ass.
Did SweetWater walk that tightrope successfully? Or is Gummies just a clever marketing ploy? Let’s find out.