Songbird Wheat is a 4.5% wheat ale from Brewery Songbird, based in Chiba, Japan. It started out as part of the summer line up in 2015 as an English summer ale, and got promoted to their regular line up in 2016 as a wheat ale. It’s brewed with the addition of coriander seeds to make it classified as a happoshu. At the time of writing, Songbird Wheat can be found in both bottles and on tap.
Lovely balance of wheat and yeast flavours.
Songbird Wheat Aroma and Taste
Songbird Wheat poured out a hazy light straw colour with a decent amount of fluffy wheat head on top, that lasted throughout drinking, imparting rings around the side of the glass when I stopped to write notes. All in all, it took about six gulps to drink it, and another six to drink the second one. It had a strong wheaty aroma to it, along with hints of bread too. Some banana and prickly coriander were present once it had warmed up somewhat too. There wasn’t much of a hop presence to it, with slight floral and citrus hints to it.
It’s drinking Songbird Wheat when you notice how good it is. While the flavour didn’t deviate much from the aroma, besides a more pronounced bitterness coming through as it warmed up, the balance of flavours were perfect and long lasting. Songbird Wheat was dry and crisp but didn’t dry out the mouth too much. Just enough to get you drinking more. There was a subtle bubblegum quality to it in the aftertaste before fading away. I could happily drink more of this on a summer’s day too as it was not cloying in any way.
Songbird Wheat The Bottom Line
Sometimes you don’t want a pilsner or an IPA. Sometimes all you want is something refreshingly tasty and with Songbird Wheat that is what you get.
Where to Buy Songbird Wheat
Songbird Wheat can be bought online at the following places:
