Terrapin, Please Irradiate Me

Gamma Ray
Wheatwine Ale with Honey
Terrapin Side Project Series #3
11 percent ABV
Ingredients: 50 percent wheat, Munich malt and 700 pounds of Tupelo and Sourwood honeys
Terrapin Brewing Company, Athens, Georgia
22 oz. capped bottle
Sampled: Nov. 20, 2008

Wow. I’m a wheat wine virgin – essentially, it’s a really high-alcohol wheat ale – but with a sniff, this seldom-seen style converted me. The nose comes off very rustic, reminiscent of a saison embellished with honey. The grains pop out amid of a backdrop of passion fruit.

From the honey comes a multitude of other flavors – peach, apricot and grape swirl amid subtle nudges from the alcohol bouquet. The head quickly fizzles to a fingernail of lace that completes the image of a wine.

The volumes of honey required to impact a beer make it cost-prohibitive when brewing anything but mead. As with Bier de Miel and Bieken prove, honey and beer mix without a hitch. We can add Gamma Ray to their ranks among

Gamma Ray finishes with a mild pepperiness for its strength; give credit to the honey for dampening it and gently closing this highly drinkable monster. At 11 percent, however, some pepper creeping into the body is inevitable. Many beers of this strength go off the scale with that spice, but Gamma Ray holds it in check to excellent effect.


In the same breath, I praise and curse Terrapin. Gamma Ray easily trumps every other beer I sampled this year, yet their Side Project policy means I might never taste it again. That’s a rough blow with an ale of this caliber.

But I won’t skip any future Side Project releases.

Rating: 9.5/10