Shock Top End of the World Midnight Wheat

December 21st is today and if the interpretation of Mayan culture by a group of paranoid weirdos with no background in ancient civilizations studies is correct, the world’s going to end. If I walked into a Barnes & Noble right now and walked to the calendar section, I’d probably assume the world was going to end on December 31st, 2013 since that’s when all the calendars end, unless there’s some 15-month calendar in there. But hey, that won’t stop a bunch of people, likely beer companies, from capitalizing on the silliness of it all.

I’d like to put it out there that I don’t hate Shock Top beers. I don’t love them either. A lot of craft beer fans will emphatically deny themselves a macro-brew because it’s, well, not a micro-brew. I just like to drink beer and if it’s good, hooray! I’ll drink a raspberry Shock Top if someone brings a six-pack of it to a party over the summer. I’m not going to seek it out, but if there’s free beer at a party, I’ll drink that free beer.

With that said, this beer wasn’t really worth my time. It wasn’t gross, but it just wasn’t exciting. Firstly, the Shock Top orange slice guy is a pretty rad mascot, and he’s got steampunk glasses on on this label. And the rest of the label is pretty bad-ass with all the dystopian Armageddon-type destruction. Plus, “End of the World Midnight Wheat” is a pretty cool name. And that’s about where it stops.

It had a decent white head that dissipated rather quickly. The beer itself was a rich, brown/amber color. It had a wheat aroma, with a hint of sweet, almost to the point of fruitiness. The aroma seemed a little… off. Can’t place it.

The flavor is that of a bland wheat beer with the tiniest hint of bite at the end. Could be pepper, but it may have just been over-carbonated and the bubbles “bit” my tongue. Imagine a plain ol’ Budweiser, add some wheat flavoring, and then a literal pinch of chili powder.

I don’t know if I’d even grab this out of the communal beer stash at a party. I’d probably reach for a Budweiser over this. It gets 2 stars because of the kick-ass label art, though it should lose that star because that made me picture awesomeness.