It's a big beer in a big, 650-ml bottle.

Russell Brewing's latest brew is a limited-production wheat wine ale called Truth Serum - another clever name from the Surrey company's marketing department.

The beer is surprisingly light and drinkable, despite the 10-per-cent-alcohol jolt it gives to those who drink it.

"We'd never made a wheat wine ale like this," said Jack Bensley, head brewer at Russell, "and I've never had another one made in Canada - it's more of an American thing, this style of beer. I wanted to know more about how to make this kind of beer and we decided to go for it."

Just 240 cases of Truth Serum will be shipped this week to local liquor stores, including Central City, Big Ridge and Dublin Crossing.

"We're planning on brewing more, but this is it for now," Bensley said.

Truth Serum is brewed with 50 per cent Canadian wheat malt and a blend of imported pilsner and Munich malts. It's also "aggressively hopped," Bensley said, with French Strisselsplat and American Columbus hops, creating a slight tang and blackcurrent flavours.

It's a labour-intensive beer to make. "It takes pretty much a full day just to make a very small batch of this beer," Bensley said.

"And then it has to condition for several weeks." Truth Serum is not the most potent craft beer ever made at the Russell brewery in Newton.

Last year, the company bottled Rick August Russian Imperial Stout, a 10.8-per-cent-alcohol beer that won the grand prize in the 2011 Golden Stag Home Brewing Contest. The single-batch beer was brewed according to the exact home-brew recipe of contest winner Rick August, a Saskatchewan resident.

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