Brought to you by:
BrewTools Homebrewing iPhone App

Latest Reviews

Double Dry Hopped pseudoSue
Toppling Goliath
Modus Vivendi
Wild Beer Co.
Spaceman
Brewfist

Recent Articles

Shameless
Craft brewer sellouts become as tone-deaf and underhanded as their new overlords. Great Taste Eve
Check out the burgeoning Madison beer scene the night before the best fest in country. Good Beer Makes Good Conversation
The effects of drinking beer worth talking about. The Beers of Walmart
The largest retailer in the world now has its own line of beers. Our Take on the Lagunitas-Heineken Deal
Fuck Lagunitas. archives »

Beer Reviews

Gumballhead

Other reviews for this beer:
Eddie Glick		read it ›

Three Floyds Brewing Co.
Munster, IN
USA
http://threefloyds.com/

Style: American Wheat

Jill’s Rating:
   (Recommended)


Comments:
Say you’ve heard that Three Floyds is tops according to a major Midwest craft beer web site. Say you like wheat beer. Say you find yourself at Three Floyds one summer evening, and you’re hankering for a hefe just to cool off. OK, so Gumballhead is an American wheat, but that’s also a fine style. You order one and try not to drool in anticipation.

Your beer arrives with a boatload of promise. A gorgeous citrus scent wafts from your glass as you take a sip of beautiful straw colored liquid. Then you get smacked with a boatload of hops you never expected, and you try not to spit it out.

Gumballhead doesn’t suck—it is a decent beer that’s interesting because it’s unlike any other American wheat you’ll taste. Why? Because they stuffed a bunch of Amarillo hops in it. Oh, the hops give it the nice scent and a decent citrus finish, but their constant zing takes away from what I consider to be a mellow beer style, hence the reason it gets three mugs from me instead of four. Every sip is, “Oh, this is pretty hoppy.” Or, “Hmmmm … not bad, but I wish it wasn’t so hoppy.”

However, this seems to be typical of Three Floyds’ offerings. They take a recipe, add hops, add more hops, and then just for good measure, throw in a few extra hops. Is this great craft? Or is this just a gimmick that works for a subset of craft beer fans? Hopefully I’ll be proven wrong, but I would like to see FFF get away from the crutch of hops.

Reviewed by Jill Jaracz on August 22, 2007.

Drinkin’ And Thinkin’

Beer Dorks News

Want to know how healthy the craft beer industry is? As always, look to Portland. Craft pioneer Bridgeport announces sudden closure, adding to a growing list of PDX casualties. Did Anheuser-Busch Chicago offer their shit beer to Cody Parkey before his missed field goal? Because that may explain why he "accidentally" biffed it. Chicago now has the most breweries of any city in the country. Other things Chicago has the most of: murders, mobsters, and Ditkas. Trying to spin it positive, BA releases end of year graphic. Only 5% growth in the craft sector when nearly 1000 new breweries opened? That's a collapse waiting to happen. R.I.P. Tallgrass... another casualty as the regional/national craft beer market continues to get squeezed. Wait... Constellation Brands cut all of the Ballast Point and Funky Buddha sales staff? They merged it with their Corona/Modelo staff?? We're SHOCKED!!! Pizza Beer founder crying about failure of company, blames everyone else. Reminder, the beer tasted like vomit. Try having better ideas or making better products so you're not a failure. It's Bud Light so doesn't really matter, but we expect this beer to be sitting around for awhile. Indiana brewery to open with controversial beer names to "get the conversation going". Translation: taking advantage of serious issues for free publicity. Hundreds of amazing beers in Wisconsin and the Cubs took back the one everyone drinks just because it exists and people have heard of it. How fitting...