Today I would like to talk about two high alcohol and hard-to-find beer styles, the barleywine and the wheatwine.  These are some of the strongest and most intense beer styles.  They boast flavors ranging from jammy fruit to resiny hops to mocha chocolate.  The complexity is usually unmatched in most other beer styles and they are challenging to the palate.  This style gets better with age, like wine, and can be cellared for many years.   There are two versions, American and English.  The American versions are usually much more hopped and bitter, packed with high alpha oil hops.  The English versions are more balanced between the malt and hops, but massive amounts of each are used.

Wheatwines are similar to barleywines but instead of barley malts, wheat malts are used.  This style is fairly new to the world of beer and very rare.  I was lucky to procure Terrapin’s “Gamma Ray”, a powerful wheatwine brewed with honey.  I will now do a real-time sampling, which will also be a first because I have never had this style of beer before.   If you are in the Gainesville area, it is now offered at my store on Archer road. 

Terrapin is a great little brewery out of Athens, Georgia.  They have a wonderful line of extreme beers such as “Monk’s Revenge” a Belgian style IPA, “Rye Squared” a rye imperial pale ale, “Hopsecutioner” a delicious double IPA, “Hop Karma” an Indian brown ale, and “Wake-N-Bake” a coffee imperial oatmeal stout. 

Gamma Ray is a hefty 10.8 ABV.  The colorful label illustrates a neon green lightning bolt brandishing, superhero turtle with Geordi La Forge looking glasses.  There is a plug for the Savannah Bee Company stating the honey used in the brew was produced locally from there.

Appearance – I am using my smaller Maudite goblet for this one.  It almost looks like thin honey as I watch it cascade out of the bottle.  The head quickly fizzes to nothing.  Holding it to the light produces an awesome burnt orange glow.

Smell – Whoa, I can smell the aroma before I put it to my nose.  Flowery honey is prevalent (think mead).  I notice a hint of orange blossom, banana, and some bready malts.

Taste – A fluffy fruit and wheat combination hits first.  Honey sneaks in second leaving a sweetness on my lips.  The finish falls flat a little but goes down smooth despite the high alcohol with a pleasant carbonation.  The honey is coating my lips like a sugary chap stick.  It seems to separate from the brew as I roll it over my tongue, a very interesting sensation. 

Well I am happy to say this is my very first wheatwine and I definitely enjoyed it.  I would suggest this to any mead lover.  Some barleywines located at a handful of ABCs include Sierra Nevada “Big Foot”, which is at the store on 34^th street in Gainesville.  Also, Avery Brewing Company “Hog Heaven”,   Lagunitas “Olde Gnarly Wine” and Flying Dog Brewery “Horn Dog”, an English style one.

Beer blogger Adam Shugan lives for beer in Gainesville, Florida