My original text seems close, but the I cannot now understand my original 3.5 rating: This tastes like a very mediocre pale ale. Copper - amber color is nice. Light head. Bitterish hoppy aroma -lacking much malt. Flavor also lacks malt - there’s barely enough there to keep it balanced. Its more bitter than hoppy tasting. Good tasting and drinkable but not outstanding. A recent controlled bottle sampling confirms my impressions from various draft instances over the last couple of years. My palate hasn’t changed, and this drop in evaluation isn’t due to its pseudo-mass-market appeal, which I never allow to influence my subjective impression. However, this beer really sucks! The initial aroma is slightly orangey, which seems to come a little from the toasty malts and also from the small bite of aroma hops. The flavor however, is highly unbalanced. The malt is highly lacking, with a very thin mouthfeel. The hops are just awful as they stand out as the main flavor component. I’m guessing Northern Brewer (which I don’t care much for in the first place). The hop flavor and bitterness overwhelm with a woody, mushroomy wet-tennis shoe bite that makes this damn near undrinkable. How this beer, among so many others, has gained such wide appeal is utterly beyond me. Its not the light mouthfeel that gets me, its the horrendous hop related flavors.

Having a re-rate of this...wow. I used to really like this beer. Now, it’s a dull gold, totally vapid excuse for a wheat. There is nothing going on here, and it had its ass kicked in a flight that included wheats from Sam Adams and Weinhard’s.