Cruz Blanca La Floridita 6Pk

Cruz Blanca La Floridita 6Pk is a fruited wheat ale brewed with hibiscus and passionfruit juice, packaged as a six-pack at 5.0% ABV. Dubbed a "Sparkling Rosé Ale" by the brewery, it has earned a 3.85 average on BeerAdvocate, with drinkers frequently noting its striking resemblance to a light, effervescent rosé wine.

Quick Facts: ABV: 5.0%  |  Origin: Chicago, Illinois  |  Style: Fruited Wheat Beer  |  Brewery: Cruz Blanca Brewery

Production & Heritage

Cruz Blanca Brewery operates out of Chicago's West Loop neighborhood, where head brewer and restaurateur Rick Bayless's team produces a range spanning Mexican-style lagers to barrel-aged releases, all brewed in-house. La Floridita starts with a grain bill of 2-Row malt and raw white wheat, creating a soft, hazy base before liberal additions of hibiscus flowers and passionfruit juice during brewing. The hibiscus delivers the beer's distinctive rosy hue and gentle tartness, while the passionfruit contributes tropical sweetness and aromatic intensity — a combination that positions La Floridita more like a sparkling wine than a traditional wheat beer.

Tasting Notes

Aroma: Passionfruit dominates the nose immediately, followed by floral hibiscus and a faint guava-like tropical ripeness. A subtle wheaty grain note grounds the aromatics beneath the fruit.

Taste: The entry is bright and effervescent, with tart hibiscus and juicy passionfruit hitting at the front of the palate. Mid-palate, the raw white wheat provides a smooth, slightly creamy body that balances the fruit's acidity. At its peak, there is a gentle sweetness reminiscent of rosé wine, though never cloying — the tartness keeps everything in check.

Finish: Clean, dry, and short, with lingering floral hibiscus and a whisper of tropical fruit. The wheat's soft texture carries through to the close, leaving the palate refreshed rather than coated.

How to Drink La Floridita

Serve cold — around 38–42°F — straight from the can or poured into a stemmed tulip glass to showcase the rosé-pink color and enhance the aromatics. Its wine-like character also makes it a surprisingly effective cocktail ingredient: try it in a Berliner Shandy mixed with lemonade for a lighter warm-weather sipper, a Beer Mimosa where La Floridita replaces sparkling wine alongside fresh orange juice, or a Hibiscus Radler blended with grapefruit soda to amplify the citrus-tart profile.

Best For

• Backyard cookouts and summer gatherings where a low-ABV, highly drinkable option stands out
• Introducing wine drinkers to craft beer with a familiar rosé-like profile
• Pairing with Mexican and Latin-inspired meals alongside Cruz Blanca's culinary roots
• Gifting to someone who gravitates toward fruited sours, radlers, or gose-style beers

Frequently Asked Questions

What does La Floridita taste like? La Floridita drinks like a tart, effervescent rosé with prominent passionfruit and hibiscus flavors layered over a soft wheat beer base. The acidity is moderate, and the overall impression is fruity, dry, and highly refreshing at just 5.0% ABV.

How does La Floridita compare to a traditional gose or fruited sour? Unlike most goses, La Floridita uses no added salt or coriander and builds its tartness primarily from hibiscus rather than kettle souring or wild fermentation. The result is gentler in acidity and more wine-like than a typical fruited sour ale.

Is La Floridita good for beginners? Absolutely — its low alcohol content, approachable fruit-forward flavor, and rosé-like drinkability make it an excellent entry point for anyone new to craft beer or transitioning from wine and cider.

Where is La Floridita made? La Floridita is brewed at Cruz Blanca Brewery in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The brewery operates alongside a restaurant and produces all of its beers on-site.

What foods pair well with La Floridita? Fish tacos work well, as the beer's tartness cuts through richness and complements citrus-based salsas. Fresh ceviche mirrors the bright, acidic profile. Grilled shrimp with mango salsa echoes the tropical passionfruit notes. A light goat cheese salad pairs naturally with the hibiscus florality. Fruit-based desserts like passionfruit panna cotta create a seamless flavor bridge.

What sizes does La Floridita come in? La Floridita is available as a six-pack, which is the standard retail format for this expression.

Is La Floridita worth the price? La Floridita positions as a craft-priced fruited wheat ale, sitting in the accessible tier for a specialty small-batch beer from an independent Chicago brewery. Its unique sparkling rosé character and clean ingredient list — real passionfruit juice rather than artificial flavoring — deliver genuine distinctiveness within its price range.

Why La Floridita?

The beer market is flooded with fruited wheat ales and sours, but La Floridita carves out a genuinely different niche by building a sparkling rosé experience from a wheat beer foundation. The use of real passionfruit juice and whole hibiscus — not extracts — gives it an aromatic complexity and natural tartness that synthetic alternatives simply cannot replicate. At 5.0% ABV, it invites repeat pours without fatigue, making it one of the more sessionable fruited ales on the market. For anyone who has wished a glass of rosé came with a little more body and a lot more tropical fruit, this is the beer to reach for.