Game Day Beer Review: Kona Brewing Longboard Island American Pale Lager

Poured from a bottle at the home office. Longboard Island Lager was a lemon-tinged, yellow color with a fluffy, two fingered head of pure white bubbles.

The beer' smell was rather vague. We detected some some slight breadiness in it, but that was about all.

On tasting, the beer didn't reveal much, either.  It was a relatively straight forward lager, with the only surprise being some slight citrus (lemon) that we picked up.  There was decent carbonation and while the beer was easy drinking, we didn't find much to write home about.   It's definitely a beginner's craft beer -- not our favorite, but better than a Bud. B-

Game Day Beer Review: Kona Brewing Wailua Pale Wheat Ale

(5.40% ABV) Poured into a tall wheat beer glass from the bottle, Wailua Wheat is an orange-infused, off-yellow color.  The beer is very well carbonated, and poured with almost no head.  It's slightly hazy, but not really in a wheat beer kind of way, if that makes sense. Wailua Wheat smells of bread, and vaguely of ripe tropical fruits.

This is an easy drinking beer. The fruit taste hits you upfront more than anything, but I would categorize it as a somewhat artificial fruit taste. The beer is tingly on the tongue, and ultra light. It would be very easy to drink in the heat of Hawaii, while sitting on the beach.  There's virtually no aftertaste to Wailua Wheat.

I don't know that I would drink this if I was looking to drink a wheat beer; it's not really typical of the style. This beer definitely falls into the lawn mower category, and is likely to appeal more to the novice craft beer drinker or new convert than the hardened veteran. 

I'd drink it to cleanse my palate on a hot summer day, but I wouldn't go out of my way to seek it out.  B-