Online Exclusive: Tea Flavored Beer

Tea-time for brewers? Coors Light Iced T is a blend of ice tea flavors, citrus flavors and Coors Light, topping off at four percent ABV. It’s being launched in Canada this season, but could roll out in the U.S. later this year, depending on consumer response. The blended beverage appears to be targeting the same sweet spot enjoyed by Leinenkugel Shandy (Miller Coors) and Michelob Ultra 19th Hole Light Tea and Lemonade (Anheuser Busch/INBEV). Craft brewers have experimented with tea flavors as well, such as the limited release Sah’tea (Dogfish Head Brewery, Wilmington, DE) in 2009 and Sierra Nevada Peach Pit Ale, a beer brewed with peach tea, in 2010 (Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA). This month, The Milwaukee Brewing Co. collaborates with tea importer Rishi Tea on a new blueberry rooibos and hibiscus tea infusion, added to one of their flagship ales, for a summery seasonal called Weekend at Louie’s.