Michelob Ultra Pomegranate Raspberry

First Brewed: After 2002
Brewery Location: St. Louis, Missouri, United States
ABV: 4.0%

History & Availability: Owned by Anheuser-Busch (which is in turn owned by Anheuser-Busch-InBev), Michelob is (as I'm sure you all know) one of the more successful macro pale lagers in the United States. Michelob Light was introduced in 1978, and in response to the growing low-carb fad, Michelob Ultra was introduced in 2002. And that brings us to the fruity versions of Michelob Ultra, including (in addition to this one) Lime Cactus, Tuscan Orange Grapefruit, and Dragon Fruit Peach. Availability should be only slightly lower than Michelob itself; which is to say, almost everywhere.

Appearance: Bright canary yellow, with a fizzy head that nevertheless has more staying power than Coors Light did (although only slightly). Carbonation is medium, leading to slight activity on the surface. The beer is crystal clear and almost seems to glow. This is, surprisingly, a much nicer-looking beer than the other light beers this week. The one problem I have with it is the presentation - who the hell sells beer in clear bottles? Honestly?

Smell: They are not joking around. This beer smells like a full-on raspberry farm, and the pomegranate follows close behind. There's absolutely no beer smell masked behind this; if I had to guess, Michelob Ultra standard edition probably smells a lot like other light beers, which is to say, has no inherent smell at all - so it's no surprise that the fruit smells completely overpower any beer smell.

Taste: Well I'll be damned. This ain't a good beer, but it ain't half bad neither. The taste is not exactly what I was expecting; from the smell I was under the impression that I'd be drinking straight-up raspberry juice. Instead it's this weird dry sour wheat taste. Not really much fruitiness to it, but it's definitely sour rather than bitter so it's unlike any other beer I've had before.

Mouthfeel: Dry and clean are the words of the day here. Removing half the carbs from this beer has really made it lighter than air. Activity is fizzy at worst, nothing too overly bubbly.

Drinkability: Much like the other light beers, drinkability is pretty damn good. Even moreso since this beer actually has nothing in it, as opposed to just purporting to have nothing in it.

Overall verdict: C+, and since I came in expecting this beer to be a D-, it's one of the most pleasant surprises I've had in my entire rating career.