Hippy Holidays Gingerbread Wheat
Three Heads Brewing

I was SO excited to see this as a single during my latest visit to The Beer & Beverage Shoppe on Roseville Road, off of the Fruitville Pike! I had a VERY spicy Christmas & week between then and NYD, but this one came into my possession a little late for that adventure. No matter. I am currently mulling over the mulling of several beers, including BFM's La Dragonne, which I have in abeyance.

From the Bottle: "23 IBUs". I also got a kick out of the label art which depicted a nutcracker pressing down on a hop cone. My approved pic, BTW.

I began by Pop!ping the cap off of the bottle & starting a C-Line pour into the awaiting glass. I was a tad startled by the immediate uprush of dense, foamy, rocky, light-tan head that slowly settled into two-plus fingers, but leaving great lacing as it fell. Color was initially Coppery-Brown (SRM = > 17, < 22) with NE-quality clarity, but when I noticed some sediment on the punt, I agitated what remained in the bottle & also poured that, giving the beer a slight cloudiness. 1) It was a "Wheat"-based beer, so some cloudiness is not out of the question & 2) if it were spices that had flocculated out, they deserved inclusion. Nose was oddly spicy, like a combination of the tanginess normally imparted by wheat combined with notes of clove, cinnamon, allspice & ginger. Hmm. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste had some banana esters going with the clove, kind of hefeweizen-like, but definitely heavy on the spices. It was the sort of thing that really revs my engine when it happens in a hefeweizen, but there are very few commercial examples. Heavy on the spice, light on the banana & in this case, with a tang from the wheat. Mmm. Finish was dry, especially from the inclusion of the spices. This was quite good cold, but I wonder how it might fare mulled/warmed. Hmm. A possibility for another day. YMMV.

you have to like this sort of thing, its not for everyone, but this is a cool spiced ale, it works in the few weeks between thanksgiving and christmas, and is robustly flavored. chestnut colored and positively packed with festive spices, ginger heavy in the nose but also clove and nutmeg come out, a little sweetness from the wheat too is obvious. when i taste it, it seems balanced but overdosed, like one element doesnt really rise above the other, its sort of the classic mulling spice mix, but it really takes over, its almost all there is to this, especially as it warms. some darker malts to this lend some sweetness, toffee and honey there in the middle, a baked sort of warmth, a pie crust thing even, works really well with the spices, but i taste it too long after each sip, and way too long after the whole beer, and it ends up as a one and done for me. in need of some scaling back on the spices, this would be a nice holiday drinker at half this spice intensity. fuller bodied and heavy after a bit, decidedly wintery, but not one of my overall favorites from these guys...

12 oz bottle from the Wall of Beer (Clemson, SC). Served in December 2018.

Pours with a clear mahogany colored body but the bottom of the bottle retained a good bit of sediment. The creamy, bone-colored head is short but durable. Limited lacing.
The aroma is a bit unappealing with rather dank gingerbread notes.
The spicy flavor largely follows but brings some improvement.
Medium body and carbonation.

12 ounce bottle poured into a tulip glass.

L---Opaque, medium brown color. Big, fluffy off-white head with a mild pour. Good retention. Very nice lacing.

S---Ginger, obviously is predominant. Other malty aromas mix nicely with hoppiness.

T---Ginger is the main flavor. Other baking spice notes are in the background. Nothing to say that it's a wheat beer.

F---It actually feels like a wheat beer. It's fairly light & airy.

O---I don't know where the demand for spiced wheat beer is going to come from, so it may not be a success, but it's still a good beer. It definitely has a holiday feel/taste to it.

Had on tap at the brewery. The spices in this beer are not overwhelming at all. Ginger is the predominant spice with a hint of molasses but this is a wheat beer first-and-foremost.