During winter, beer stores are brimming with barley wines—intensely flavored, super strong, and sometimes barrel-aged ales—but barley wine’s younger cousin, wheat wine, is a bit tougher to find. A wheat wine ale is kind of like a barley wine, only brewers use a massive amount of wheat malt. The result is typically lighter and less sweet than barley wine, but with just as much of an alcohol kick.
As a style, wheat wine is still gaining traction among craft brewers. Magic Hat’s Graupel wheat wine is part of their Humdinger Series, a collection of smaller batch, limited releases. Maybe I’ve been watching too many Disney movies, but “Graupel” sounds like the name you’d give a villainous creature who lives deep inside a forbidden forest. I’m happy to report there’s nothing villainous about this beer, except maybe its high ABV.
Graupel pours a deep orange that borders on red. The nose is dominated by sour notes and strong orange zest, followed by a bit of alcohol. The more you dig your nose into it, the more fragrant the beer becomes, until you’re sniffing a bouquet of oranges soaked in whiskey. It’s a good indication of what’s to come.