Judge’s Review: 90 Rating – Cotton Candy by Garage Brewing Co.

Hefeweizen / Weissbier | Seasonal | USA

By Nelson Crowle

Judges Rating: 90
Aroma: 22
Appearance: 5
Flavor: 37
Mouthfeel: 8
Overall Impression: 18

Cotton Candy by Garage Brewing Co. is a crossover of styles with the base beer evaluated as as a Weissbier, Style 10A per the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. However, this beer was flavored with sugars and possibly fruit, so it ended up tasting more like a fruity pastry hefeweizen.  
The beer pours with a large head of small (but not mousse-like) beige bubbles with a slight pink tint. The beer is hazy gold, again with a pinkish tinge. A good sniff shows quite a bit of bread dough and grainy notes as expected for the wheat, along with a moderate sugary nose and light notes of raspberry and blueberry. Taking a sip, I’m hit with a big wall of cake frosting and cotton candy, with a bit of sweet raspberry mid-palate, followed by a substantial grainy, freshly cooked bread note. For the next few sips, my mouth is acclimated to the huge sweetness so more bready notes and pastry-like character shows up, with lingering white cake frosting and light blueberry and raspberry. Medium body and fairly high carbonation are present, as expected from a hefeweizen.
This beer may shock you with its sweetness on the first sip, but give it another sip and you’ll see the complexity that hides behind that sweetness. This is probably not a beer to match up with food, it would be like dumping a cup of sugar on any dish. Instead, enjoy this beer after dinner as a sweet dessert beverage, sip it slowly and revel in the sweetness.