Skunksworth's Barleyslime: Mike's Mike-arita Strawberry

Budweiser and their owners AB-InBev LOVES to trash craft breweries and their dedication to actually trying to perfect the perfect beer, yet buys up the breweries they were trash talking in the first place.

The most recent shot fired by the folks over at the Budweiser piss factory was a statement that "Nobody cheers for the guy who brings a watermelon wheat beer" in a recent advertising campaign. The funny thing though.. Budweiser's Bud (Light) Lime branch of beers produces an overly obnoxious and faux fruity series of beers called RITAs (Right in the Ass?). RITAs are supposed to be faux margaritas in a tiny 237mL can form that come in a wide variety of fruity flavours. They have Lime-a-Rita, Straw-ber-rita, Mango-rita and now Cran-brrr-rita. All of these malt beverages are sugary beverages with concentrated faux fruit syrup to give it that "delicious fruit taste". In the end, it's disappointment, acid reflux, possibly a sugar induced hangover.. and vibrant puke.

Check out my review of Bud (Light) Lime Straw-ber-rita from last year.

Well today, I'm reviewing Mike's Mike-arita Strawberry, which is the newest competitor to Bud Lime's -RITA line of products. I don't usually review non-malt based coolers, but Mike's Hard has a special place in my heart - I still miss their Mike's Hard Orange that I loved back when I was 18 and didn't like the taste of beer. Mike's Mike-arita comes in a few other flavours as well, but today I'll concentrate on the Strawberry version.

Appearance: Pours an almost neon bright red, almost like as if you went to a fair, got a sugarful slushie and it melted down. This is very fizzy/carbonated, close no no head on top, but it's as carbonated as you would expect from an adult soda.. because this is exactly what it is.

Aroma: Aromas of corn syrup, strawberry extract, vodka, scents of a few ingredients reminiscent to what mom puts into her world famous slush (grenadine?). The strawberry has a bit of a more natural aroma than the Bud Lime Straw-ber-rita does, but that's not much to be said as this smells like an extract that would be used to flavour suckers for children.

Taste: Cucumber? What the hell? I noticed cucumber right at the beginning.. that can't be right! Okay, now it has a bit of a salty bite, followed by the faux strawberries. Slightly sour. Not as sweet as I would expect coming from a Mikes Hard Lemonade product. The strawberry flavour, like the aroma is reminiscent to what you would expect in childrens candy. Leaves a thick syrupy film on my tongue long after the margarita cooler is finished.

Overall Thoughts: I actually prefer this over Bud Lime's Straw-ber-rita, but this isn't something I'll be trying again. I would prefer to see a more natural malt or vodka based cooler using fresh fruits rather than corn syrup and lots of extract. PS - the company that owns Mikes Hard Lemonade also owns Vancouver's Stanley Park Brewing. That's something I just learned today.. huh.

473mL and 5.0% ABV