Magic Hat G-Thing!
When I received a care package from Magic Hat last week, I knew that I was going to at least really enjoy one of the bottles. And I was right, the brewery’s Heart of Darkness was just as tasty as it was when I had the opportunity to check it out last year.
The other sample in the promotional box was a bottle of G-thing!, a ginger spiced ale. Now, I’m not entirely sure if it’s a stigma of having first had ginger in a Dogfish Head Pangaea (which I wasn’t overly fond of), but every beer that incorporates the root that I’ve had since always seems to remind me of that first experience.
Magic Hat’s G-Thing! comes at the use of ginger (in this case ginger juice) a bit differently. I’ve had pale ales, stouts and porters that utilize the additive and I think this particular beer is also loosely based on a porter, but it comes across a little on the weak side. It doesn’t quite remind of gingerbread as some brews have in the past — I think that’s the goal here, but the beer doesn’t quite make it in the end.
Appearance
G-Thing! pours like a light bodied porter. It’s got a dark, cola brown color with a decent cap of beige foam.
Aroma
The smell is dominated by ginger and a blend of spices (mostly cinnamon) with a subtle dark malt (light roast, bread) character in the background.
Taste
The ginger juice arrives first, but not too strongly as it fades smoothly to a cinnamon and spice middle before the beer finally rests with a bit of bready malts trailing late in the finish. There’s a moderate amount of sweetness and a slightly prickly carbonation. The flavors as described by the promo sheet are all there, but don’t quite come together as I had hoped.The beer drinks easy enough at 5.7% ABV.
Overall
G-Thing! isn’t a bad beer, it’s just a bit muddled. I think my own expectations and personal preferences would like this brew to be fuller bodied and a bit more robust to help balance out some of the ginger and spice. I think with more of a porterish character the beer would, for me at least, be spot on. That said, I’d rather have a glass of the brewery’s Heart of Darkness this time of year.
Rating: 3.25/5
This is a review of a promotional sample from the brewery.
