Who doesn't love a beer related portmanteau? O'Fallon Brewery found an obvious winner when they combined wheat and peach to make Wheach! First canned last year and now back for a second summer, Wheach is fun to say and if you're a fan of fruit beers it's also fun to drink. 

From the O'Fallon site:

"Imagine our smooth, clean wheat beer with a touch of peach and you get the idea behind O’Fallon Wheach, our peach wheat beer. Refreshing and crisp, it’s perfect for warm summer weather."

The CAN reads:

"The Riverfront Times’ Best Beer in St. Louis, 2007"

Here we go...

Pour - bright yellow with a very thin, white head.  Lacing is essentially non-existent and only a few lone bubbles cling to the side of the glass.    

Aroma - peaches, a little sweet wheat, peaches, some dry crackers, peaches, and more peaches.  

Taste - wow, this is really fruity.  It’s no surprise that the peach prevails, but there’s more than “a touch” in the can.  Thankfully it has a very fresh peach flavor, not the syrupy canned version of peach many of us had to endure in our grade school cafeterias.  The mouthfeel is dry throughout with some powdery tartness near the finish.  The fresh peach experience is reinforced by the absence of any heavy, overly sweet aftertaste.  If this isn’t made with real fruit then the folks at O’Fallon have me completely fooled.

Overall - these cans recently showed up in my local market in no less than 12 packs, and since I’m not the biggest fruit beer fan  I really thought I was taking one for the CraftCans team when I offered to buy a dozen to write a review.  As it turns out it Wheach is one of the best fruit beers I’ve tried, and I’m glad I have more in the chiller.  A great summer beer and a must-try if you like fruit beers.  And peaches.

Peach + Wheat = Wheach      

Note - like Schlafly’s Summer Lager, O’Fallon Wheach is brewed and canned under contract by Stevens Point Brewing in Wisconsin. It is their first canned offering, and here’s hoping more of their beers find their way into our favorite containers (may we suggest their German Alt Sticke It To the Man would be the next best candidate?)   

Founded in 2000 by Tony and Fran Caradonna, the O’Fallon brewery was recently sold to a former Anheuser-Busch marketing executive. We’re pleased to hear the new owner has kept both the head and assistant brewers on staff, giving us hope that O’Fallon will stay the craft beer course for many years to come.