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Triple Vanilla Hefeweizen by Garage Brewing Co. is being judged according to the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines, Category 30A - Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer.
I am presented with a cloudy dark golden straw beer that has a two-inch, rocky off-white head perched atop. Huge vanilla aroma emanates from underneath the thick head, and it has a medium-sweet character to it. Light bread and dough malt are close behind the vanilla nose. I take a big sip and discover vanilla cake batter, though not nearly as sweet, and with a restraining hop bitterness underneath.
The head persists several minutes and, upon consumption, leaves behind classic lacing around the glass. Back to the aroma, hops remain hidden with the malt gaining ground on the sweet vanilla. There is some graininess to the malt on subsequent sniffs and an overall clean aroma. The flavor is well-balanced between the malt and sweet vanilla, and the graininess helps keep the sweetness at bay, alongside the hop bitterness. The beer finishes dry and has some lingering vanilla cake character. The body is medium-light with moderate carbonation, no warmth, no creaminess and no astringency. A carbonic bite persists.
Overall, this is a well-made beer, but with hefeweizen in the name versus wheat ale, I expected that to be the base beer character, and this had none of the traditional hefeweizen yeast character.