Details:
Style: Wheat Beer
IBU: 35
ABV: 5.6%
Description: An American wheat ale brewed with white wheat and dry-hopped with hand-selected hops from the Yakima Valley. Bright and refreshing with a lemony finish.
Memory:
By default, the first post on Sip. Scribble. requires going all the way back to the beer that first brought me into the world of craft beer. 3 Floyds Gumballhead.
My first foray into Gumballhead happened at a craft beer bar on the southside of Indianapolis. I was in college, and like pretty much every other poor, inexperienced college kid, my beer choices up to that point had been limited. Looking back, I certainly recall drinking more vodka Red Bulls – sorry heart – and my typical beer of choice was whatever was available inside a friend’s fridge. By my senior year of college, I’d begun to branch out slightly. I remember drinking Blue Moon and Goose Island 312 – I unknowingly referred to 312 as 3-12 until a scruffy bartender finally laughed and corrected my pronunciation. In my eyes, both beers were approachable and, more importantly, they both seemed cooler than holding a can of Bud Light. But when you frequent a craft beer bar enough to become a regular, you feel like you at least have to try something that’s considered more craft beer than big beer. Especially when you live in Indiana and 3 Floyds has god-like status amongst beer drinkers.
I drank a lot of Gumballhead at that bar. Largely because at the time, I was dating a waitress who worked there and I’d often get half price or even free bottles. I’m aware now that practice was most likely illegal. But at the time, I was a college kid on a budget and I wasn’t going to turn down free bottles of Gumballhead.
Eventually, that bar would introduce me to other favorites, including Alpha King – another 3 Floyds mainstay – as well as Founders Breakfast Stout and Duvel, my first adventure into Belgian beers. But those beers are for other posts.
Aroma:
A favorite thing about this beer that brought me back time and time again was the blend of hop notes alongside traditional witbier/wheat ale characteristics. This being a 3 Floyds beer, the big hop notes of pineapple, citrus, and pine were certainly there. But in addition to the hops, you also had slight lemony and caramel-like aromas.
Taste:
Gumballhead’s hop-forward taste brings with it flavors of lemon, pineapple, citrus, and – maybe more prevalent than anything else – grapefruit. The grapefruit notes really hit your taste buds first, followed by some lemon and more tropical flavors like pineapple and mango. This is followed by notes of caramel from the wheat and then an incredibly clean finish, especially for a beer from a brewery like 3 Floyds that’s known for making “hop bombs” that often leave a lingering bitterness at the back of the tongue. This beer doesn’t have that same lingering effect.
Thoughts:
The combination of flavors are well-balanced and no flavor really overpowers the next. There is certainly a grapefruit-forward taste, but it blends well into the other hop notes and is then balanced out by the caramel and bread-like notes from the wheat. There’s bitterness, but it’s not unpleasant and it fades into a sweeter, lemony taste prior to finishing clean without any lingering, unpleasant off-flavors.
This is a great entry-level beer for anyone looking to explore craft beer but who’s not sure where to begin.
Sip. Scribble. 