French Toast Hef

French Toast Hef by Garage Brewing Co. was evaluated as a BJCP 2021 Spice/Herb/Vegetable (30A) category with an underlying style of American Wheat (1D).

The beer pours a hazy deep gold with a large, persistent, poofy, ivory-colored head. There is a moderate grainy and bready aroma with medium maple notes and hints of cinnamon and vanilla phenolics. The flavor echoes the maple and cinnamon/vanilla character sitting on top of a wheat bread grainy base, and adds some confectioners sugar sweetness — maybe some added lactose? There is a low-level peach fruitiness. Also, the phenolics in the flavor are fairly complex but complementary, including the cinnamon, and adding medium vanilla and moderate black pepper. There is a bit of a hop herbal note that works well with the other flavor additives in this beer. The finish has lingering maple or fenugreek notes and a medium-low hop bittering that helps to balance the sweetness nicely. This is a very different yet very interesting beer where all the component parts play well together. Definitely a breakfast beer, serve this with simple over-easy eggs, crispy hash browns, dry-fried thin ham and maple-candied bacon.