My first thought on cracking open the can of Brew Wicked, the new WKD Blue-flavour beer from Peterhead’s Brew Toon, was, “Boy, that really smells blue”.
And when I poured it out, I thought, boy, that really looks blue too.
Side-by-side with a glass full of the original alcopop it’s trying to mimic the taste of, I certainly had a different sort of taste test ahead of me compared to my usual beer reviews.
With fears of blue teeth, tongue and God knows what else ahead of me, I took my two glasses of alarmingly coloured booze and got to work.
Let’s find out: Is Brew Toon’s Blue Wkd-flavour beer as good as, worse, or better than the original WKD Blue?
Drink 1: Brew Wicked, a WKD Blue beer from Brew Toon in Peterhead
- 6%
- £4.90 per 440ml can on the website, I got mine from Rosemount Market
- Brew Toon, Peterhead
- Style: “Mixed Fruit Sour”
When I first heard Brew Toon were making this WKD Blue-style beer in collaboration with Edinburgh sour beer champions Vault City, I knew I had to give it a shot.
After pouring it out and smelling an overwhelming flavour of fruitiness (and blueness), I checked out the back of the can.
The ingredients include blueberries, raspberries, and good-old fashioned E133, which Wikipedia tells me is “generally considered nontoxic and safe”.
Lovely.
I was honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. It tasted tangy, and had a lovely, slightly creamy consistency.
The only thing that put me off was the crazy colour of it.
I tried closing my eyes even, but I think seeing the unnatural colour must have done something to my brain which made every sip feel a bit… odd.
Not bad, but odd.
I’m a big fan of Brew Toon, and Vault City, for trying out wild new creations and pushing the boundaries of what regular people would call beer.
And this special creation was definitely worth them pushing the boat out, E133 and all.
If you’re after something very much out-there, I’d recommend picking up a can while you can, but for me, the beer was just so wacky that I’m fine having just the one.
Rating: 3.5/5
Drink 2: WKD Blue, WKD
- 4%
- Around £3.20 for a 700ml bottle at supermarkets
- WKD
- Style: Alcopop
What does WKD Blue taste like?
I don’t think any two people would actually answer the same.
It’s apparently “Mixed fruit flavour”, according to the back, and contains barley and caffeine.
But that’s about as much info as you’re going to get from the bottle.
I’ve not had any of this since ill-advised decisions at the RGU student union back when it was open on Schoolhill.
From what little I remember, it’s always been something faintly fizzy and sweet, that’s a one-way ticket to a hell of a headachey hangover.
I poured it out into a glass, because I’m classy like that, and had a sip — pinky out, of course.
Surprisingly, it’s not as bad as you might think at first.
It kind of tastes like drinking the liquid version of an entire bag of Haribo Tangfastics.
But after a few sips, I knew it wasn’t agreeing with me.
I’ll do a lot of things for this beer column, but drinking 700ml of WKD Blue is not one of them.
After half a glass, the rest of this went down the sink, I’m sad to say.
Absolutely no offence intended to the WKD Blue enjoyers out there, but it’s just not my tipple of choice.
Brew Toon did a good job of making whatever on earth WKD Blue is meant to taste like actually taste good — but honestly, these two drinks, they’re really not that similar aside from their insane colours.
Rating: 1/5
Kieran is a former craft beer barman and publishes his beer column every Tuesday online. You can also read his column in the P&J’s Food and Drink magazine, which you can find inside your Press and Journal newspaper every Saturday.
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