Some beer names answer a question before you can ask it, and some, like this one, exist purely to make you say "wait, what?" out loud in a taproom. Adroit Theory Brewing Company has spent years perfecting Margarita-inspired sours, and this latest crowler takes that base and floods it with the sweet familiarity of watermelon, poured a vivid, glowing red that looks fantastic in direct sunlight.
Then comes the twist. A dash of habaneros gets added to the mix, just enough to give the whole thing a little zing without tipping over into an actual dare. Adroit Theory calls it the cocktail you never knew you needed, and it's hard to disagree when the result splits the difference between a beach day and a mild act of bravery.
Purcellville's most theatrically named brewery has never been shy about pushing fruited sours into strange, wonderful territory, and this one fits right into that tradition. It's a beer engineered for a hot afternoon, built to be sweet first and then remind you, gently, that it has teeth.
Available now as a crowler pour, this is a limited-run release, the kind of thing that shows up, gets talked about, and then vanishes until Adroit Theory feels like revisiting it. If watermelon and heat sound like an odd pairing, that's rather the point, and by all accounts it works.
Grab it while it's around, and maybe keep a glass of water nearby. Just in case the watermelon decides to do more than crawl.