Shiner Prickly Pear Review

A couple of weeks ago, I ran across a review of Shiner Prickly Pear in Draft magazine, and I began composing my usual "Why Can't I Get That Here?" rant. Then the clerk at my local told me, "It's in the Family Reunion pack."

Ahem.

Since I will be experimenting with prickly pears for the next few batches, I was interested in trying it. So, here's my review.

Shiner Prickly Pear
"Brewed with Prickly Pear Fruit with natural flavor added"

Appearance (0-4): Pours up a crystal clear dark amber/red with a thin, off-white head, similar to other Shiner beers, which dissipates quickly. 3 points

Aroma (0-3): Notes of cherry and raspberry aroma. Kinda Kool-Ade-y in a good way. A quick read of the label shows that Citra hops were used.  Hmm. Recipe adjustment coming up. 3 points

Taste (0-10): Thin bodied with good carbonation. A little fruitiness (Crunch Berry) in there. Faint bitterness in the taste that's hard to describe. Maybe it's the Citra used early in the boil? Otherwise, no hop flavor detected.  I wonder if they dry hopped this?  Jimmy Mauric, Shiner's head brewer, will be at Oktoberfest. I wonder if I will be able to talk to him and ask. 7 points

Overall Impression (0-3): I hope this is the next Shiner Black, the new year round beer.  It's good and drinkable. And it's tickled my fancy. 3 points

Total: 16 points