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.
Fruit Punch IIPA: A-
The beer pours a golden amber with a half-inch head that simmers down to a fine ring before sticking around. It smells halfway between bitter hops and tropical fruits — orange and a little bit of guava especially. The first sip is … yep, that’s a fruit punch beer. The hops are especially muted for a double India pale ale. The fruit is front and center, dominant from the first sip to the burp that clears your esophagus soon after.
The sweetness is especially strange for an IIPA that clocks in at 9.5 percent ABV. This feels like SweetWater Blue after a few months in the gym and a handful of nandrolone cycles. It’s still a sipper, not because it’s bitter or boozy-strong, but because it’s powerfully flavorful and sweet. It’s not a sugar overload, but it’s also not something you’d pound — which is good, because, hooo buddy, that alcohol content.
It may be an acquired taste, but it’s a smart move. In a world where seltzers have cut into the market share and the heavier Voodoo Ranger is the country’s top-selling craft(ish) beer, Gummies is straddling the line between the two. I could put down four of these in a couple hours and then time travel my way to bed. That has its own certain appeal.
Tropical IIPA: B-
Tropical IIPA starts off a little more bitter up front before citrus currents wipe that away. The bitter isn’t really hoppy; more like a strong lager. And, again, despite the high alcohol content you never really feel like you’re drinking something that clocks in at 19 proof.
This feels more taxing than the Fruit Punch was to drink. It’s a little heavier up front and the finish rings a little hollow compared to the full flavor of SweetWater’s other gummy offering. It’s still a lot less hoppy than you’d expect from a IIPA, but it remains a drinkable pale ale that bring a lot to the table to bring in folks who may have dismissed SweetWater’s other beers as leaning too hard into bitterness.
Would I drink it instead of a Hamm's?
This a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink SweetWater Gummies over a cold can of Hamm’s?
Yeah, I’d love to drink four of these — or maybe just two of the 19.2 ounce cans — while watching college football and fall asleep on my couch. But there’s gonna be a fatigue that sets in with a beer this fruity, even if the sweetness isn’t overbearing. And while I can’t get a proper calorie count on these, I assume it’s dense, so that’s a minor concern as well.
But hey, the Fruit Punch rules. Go with that.
