Terrapin Gamma Ray

Happy Memorial Day, all.

Today was a non leisurely day of leisure for Pope Crisco. Having the day off, all that was planned was some light shopping, and some grilled with a few beers thrown in the mix, but thanks to a sticking door knob that is the gateway to my dogs’ relief of bodily woes, the first half became a day that was filled with errands and toil. 

This toil that was ultimately compounded by lethargy thanks to a lunch filled with yummy, fatty artisanal sausages and a sampling of a home brewed wheat beer that I bottled a week ago  that seems to have a healthy ABV.  

While the issue with the door was not resolved, I did manage to free it from a state of constraint so that the hounds’ anxiety, and the pressure of their bladders, could be alleviated.  

Tired, and needing a change of scenery from the kitchen that I often spend my time in, and the living room filled with the sounds of Sex and the City and a sleeping wife, I decided to take advantage of a patio set that we purchased early today, and have a few more beers and a pipe while watching my neighborhood.

By the time I finished my pipe and my first beer my wife had awoken, and joined me on the patio. We talked, and decided to enjoy another adult beverage. I brought her a Terrapin Hopsecutioner (previously reviewed on YouTube by myself) and a Terrapin Gamma Ray, a beer I have been jonesing to try, for moi.

The Gammy Ray, part of the “Monster Beer Tour,” is sold as a wheat wine ale, brewed with an “obscene amount of locally produced honey” from Savannah, GA.

On the initial pour there is not much head, but what is there lasts, and the carbonation is respectable.  The body is nice light, orangeish amber that is slightly opaque from sediment. A ring of sediment on the bottom of the empty bottle suggests some level of bottle conditioning.

The nose is banana and clove, that carries onto the first mouthful, however not as strongly as the smell might suggest. With the nice medium flavor, lack of bitterness, and a warmth brought on the honey, the sweetness is well balanced, poised in between being malt forward and cloyingly syrupy.  The sensation of this beer going down is quite full, as if to tell your mouth to “get out of the way, real beer is coming through!”

This beer is not one I would drink often, but in moderation I can find very enjoyable.

Prost!