It's fruit beer season, people! That means a whole lot of delicious bottled up just for some Summer time fun.
Abita's Strawberry Harvest is one of my favorite fruit beers. I stumbled upon it a few years back with an old flame in a New Orleans style New York City restaurant called Mara's Homemade. It just so happened we planned to give up drinking for Lent, and when we saw they had this beer... well, we decided to give up something else so we could try it. Felt a little bad... but it tasted a lotta good.
Ever since, I've waited in eager anticipation to see it on shelves in the store. It's still pretty difficult to find in Northern states, so if you see it, stock up!
If you're looking at food pairings for this beer, I would definitely go down the Cajun road. What can I say? Mara's Homemade was the perfect little spot to stumble upon this treat. It went great with their craw fish and shrimp boils, not to mention the fried green tomatoes.
This is a great light-bodied beer full of flavor. It cuts the spiciness in spicy foods, and it doesn't weigh you down when you eat something fried.
I would drink it all year just because it tastes so great, but if you don't want weighed down by a stout or porter, this is a great choice. It's like candy, but not overly sweet in flavor. It smells amazing, too. The aroma and flavor come from strawberry juice that's added after the filtration process.
Strawberry Harvest is definitely a Spring/Summer beer. This is part of Abita's Harvest Collection. All of these Harvest Collection beers are brewed with Louisiana-grown ingredients.
Fun Facts:
ABV: 4.2%
IBUs: 13
Hops: Vanguard
Malts: Pilsner and Wheat
As always, let me know what you think!
Cheers!
