Shock Top End of the World Midnight Wheat:
So let me ask this: How do you know it’s the end of the world?  Simple.  Shock Top makes a good beer.  Ouch. Sorry, that was harsh for a beer brand that I really don’t have much interest in but when I saw this, I said “Self, it’s a free beer, try it.”  The beer was a free beer  (which is the best kind of beer) as a result of the brew master tour at the Budweiser Brewery and I have to say that I came away impressed by what I found at the brewery and in this beer.  The beer pours a dark amber color with a thin but stark white head that leaves some lacing on the glass but nothing spectacular and a nose of a wheat and cocoa notes.  The beers initial taste reminds one of chocolate malt-o-meal but less sweet while that dreaded wheat taste shows up mid sip and stays through to the back end.  The aftertaste is interestingly warm and spicy that is similar to a spiced mole sauce and it grows as you drink the beer, giving one a warming sensation on the back of the throat. I will admit that this beer surprised me and in a room of 10 other individuals I was the only one drinking a beer that didn’t bear the mark of Budweiser on it’s label.  This little fact garnered me a soap box for 20 or so seconds of salesmanship to get them to try it on their own.  Alas, I wasn’t successful but then again, you can’t sway Budweiser drinkers very often.  So if you find one (or two), grab it and enjoy, I think you’ll be surprised by what you find.