Running Nowhere

Track Town Honey Orange Wheat Ale

On our drive back from a ski vacation at Winter Park, we got a tip about a can’t-miss liquor store in the suburbs of Denver. We took a detour around 470 and popped into Tipsy’s Liquor World (can there be a better name for a liquor store?) at 10:00 am and got back in the car with $250 worth of single bottles not found in Missouri or Kansas. Thanks for the tip, Randy!

The first of these “Colorado beers” that we cracked open is actually an Oregon beer. Track Town Honey Orange Wheat Ale is brewed by Rogue under the Eugene City Brewery label and features a worn track cleat on the painted bottle. Our first impressions were lackluster, and it didn’t really improve from there. I am guessing this beer is made for summer guzzling and general refreshment, because I don’t see much else it has going for it.

The slightly cloudy, but bright yellow-gold ale had hints of lemon and orange aroma when first poured. Whiffs of malt followed. I was expecting a sweet or semi-sweet taste with plenty of citrus flavor. What I actually tasted was much more subtle. Wheat maltiness, some citrus flavor with a faint, barely detectable touch of honey in its light, fizzy body. It is not a very sweet beer. Much more tart and tangy.

Overall, the Honey Orange Wheat Ale is nothing to write home about, or drive home with from two states away. It is a refreshing, crisp, tart wheat beer and not much else. But my guess is, that’s all it is made to be.