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.
Leinenkugel’s sales numbers are surging. Sure, that’s mostly related to the fact the company made its flagship Summer Shandy available year-round. But it’s also because the long-running brewery — under the stewardship of Molson Coors — is continually expanding its tap offerings. That includes bringing back old favorites like Sunset Wheat or trying new things like a chocolate dunkel or, this summer’s latest varietal: Juicy Peach.
Juicy Peach is an effort to jump on two trends at once. Peach is the fruit flavor of 2023, consuming everything from hard tea varieties to an entire Simply Spiked mix pack. Sours are the trendy beer style of … well, probably about five years ago, if we’re being honest.
But the divisive brews have persisted long enough to be accepted, or at least tolerated, across the country. And that’s what Leinenkugel’s needed to hear in order to fill its kettles with fruit and hope the final product doesn’t taste like bile.
This sweet and tart session sour is meant to walk a fine line between the two. A light(ish) beer that intermingles fruit flavor while scraping the surface of a sour beer before being sucked into the acidic depths of the brew. That’s a difficult balance to pull off. Let’s see if Leinenkugel’s is up for the challenge.