Play Video

Factoid

Aprikat Wheat Ale beer-geek facts:

• Original Gravity: 12 degrees
• Alcohol by volume: 5.0%
• Hops: Cluster
• Bitterness: 12 IBU

The first apricot beer we tried was Pyramid Breweries’ Apricot Ale. It was a hot summer day and we were at a pub somewhere in Montana. We remember thinking, “Wow, we've got to try something like this ourselves.”

It took about six months to craft Aprikat Wheat Ale as it's sold today. Maybe longer. You'd notice that Aprikat isn't similar to the Pyramid beverage if you had them back to back. Aprikat is fruitier, more apricoty.

We've marketed it as a "beer cooler" because initially there was some hesitation to it being a fruit beer. But it's gained enough recognition at this point that we'll probably drop the "cooler" part from the label. It's actually a wheat beer.

We had an idea of what we wanted it to taste like when we set out to make it, and to that end we went and tested myriad different beers before we found the one we wanted. Some would be too malty or not malty enough, too hoppy or not hoppy enough. It took a long time to get that balance. We wanted something that was fairly fruity but still had a beery finish to it. In the end, Aprikat turned out exactly how we wanted it to. It's a North American twist on fruit beer.

Is it good for you because it has apricot juice in it? Well, let's say yes. We'll go with yes.