Terrapin Big Daddy Vlady's Russian Imperial Stout

Just another ho-hum Friday that was picked up by knowing an American craft beer was coming along soon. Big Daddy Vlady’s Russian Imperial Stout by Terrapin Brewing Company.

A Russian imperial stout (RIS), Big Daddy Vlady comes up a bit short for me. Licorice, chocolate, and a touch of roasted malts. I like my RIS to have dark fruits and hints of chocolate. The body was thin too.

Big Daddy Vlady is an average RIS that has a few teaks to be made in order to be to the style that I am looking for. Enjoy!

Aroma: 7 (25%), Taste: 7 (25%), Look: 9 (15%), Drinkability: 6 (35%), Overall: 7.0

Useless Fact: The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public libraries.

Terrapin Indiana Krunkles

Nothing better than having an American craft beer stun the pants right off of you. You know those beers: the ones that you get because you are curious, don’t know what to expect, and don’t know if you are going to get much. But hell, it is worth the try.

American craft beer number 232 of 365 did exactly that for me.

On a recent trip to the south-east I picked up a bottle of Indiana Krunkles by Terrapin Brewing Company is an American IPA that is part of Terrapin’s Side Project series of beers.

Indiana Krunkles has a bunch of hops, citrus and pine, to begin which gives way to complexities that weren’t expected. Yeast, wheat, banana, clove, sweet malt, and more all play a tune on the old nostrils. The same carries through to the taste. Making this a very exciting and sense arousing beer. There is a bit of extra sweetness that shows and leaves a light stickiness on the lips. Not enough to detract but possibly enough to annoy some.

I am very glad I tasted this beer and sorry that I don’t have another. If this is the craftsmanship that Terrapin displays in all their Side Project beers, I wish I lived within their distribution. Enjoy!

Aroma: 10 (25%), Taste: 9 (25%), Look: 9 (15%), Drinkability: 8 (35%), Overall: 8.9

Useless Fact: President Grover Cleveland was a draft dodger. He hired someone to enter the service in his place, for which he was ridiculed by his political opponent, James G. Blaine. It was soon discovered, however, that Blaine had done the same thing himself.

Terrapin Monk's Revenge

Terrapin Brewing Company make’s numerous beers with Monk’s Revenge turning out to be beer number 227. Monk’s Revenge is a Belgian IPA that has plenty on the Belgian side but not too much in terms of hops. Maybe I should clarify: I expect Belgian IPAs to have Belgian yeast notes but mainly an American IPA otherwise, which means plenty of nice American hops.

Monk’s Revenge is still a solid beer that I have had on several occasions and I would have again, I am just not sure if the style agrees completely with me even when the backbone is American laced. I will keep at the style in hopes of finding that special beer that changes my view. Enjoy!

Aroma: 8 (25%), Taste: 8 (25%), Look: 9 (15%), Drinkability: 8 (35%), Overall: 8.2

Useless Fact: The American Bible Association has published almost a billion Bibles since it was founded in 1816.

Terrapin TomFoolery

At the tour of Terrapin Brewing Company a taster glass comes with eight tickets each for a four ounce pour. The price: $10. Not a bad deal when you think about it: 32 ounces of beer (2 pints) and the souvenir pint glass.

I had some rye pale ale, Hopsecutioner, and TomFoolery. TomFoolery turns out to be the beer I chose for beer number 219.

TomFoolery is part of the Side Project of beers they release. It is a saison that they added some dark malts to for a special surprise. It is an average to above average offering as I feel the dark malts hide some of the saison features. Easy to drink and something I would have again but there are other saisons much better out there. Enjoy!

Useless Fact: For every 50 miles driven in an automobile, a person has a one-in-a-million chance of being killed in a motoring accident.

Terrapin Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout

When I have an American craft beer with coffee in it, I usually try to make sure that beer is on a Friday or Saturday in case there is enough caffeine to play games with me sleeping that night. So Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout has sat in the cellar for a short period.

It’s looks like they changed the label since my first go around with this beer: it now include W-n-B. A quick bit of research shows me that this is an alias for Wake-n-Bake, sort of like a super hero. I like super heroes, so that lands a good impression on me.

W-n-B is brewed by Terrapin Brewing Company out of Athens, Georgia. I have had the pleasure of having about 10 different flavors from Terrapin and, on the whole, I have been pleased with their offerings.

Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout pours with a rich, brown foam. The aroma and taste are close with coffee, chocolate, dark malts, etc that all intermingle to give a great backbone that it enhanced with a zealous helping of local coffee. I would say the coffee might be a bit over done as it dose seem to mask a lot of the beer itself, still I find it quit tasty. Enjoy!

Aroma: 8, Taste: 8, Look: 8, Drinkability: 8, Overall: 8.0

Useless Fact: A full seven percent of the entire Irish barley crop goes to the production of Guinness beer.

Last night we tasted six American craft beers from Terrapin. It was a good array of beers from their regular series (SunRay Wheat Beer 6/10, Hopsecutioner 8/10, and India Brown Ale 7/10), their "Monster Beer Tour" series (Big Hoppy Monster 8/10 and Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout 8/10), and their "Side Project" series (Volume 9 – Dark Side 7/10).

I not going to go over each beer seperately as you can read the reviews but I would have to say that Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout was both Rich’s and my favorite beer out of the group. The monster beer tour series beers seemed to have more flavor, more aroma, and more complexity than the regular beers. I don’t know if it is a long winter of drinking big beers that made the regulars not live up to expectations.

Still all the beers were above average and had their good points. I will be looking forward to more time spent with a Terrapin. Enjoy!

Thursday is the usual night that Rich and I get together to work on the site in an official capacity; of course that capacity is in American craft beer. Tonight we will be doing a Terrapin Brewing horizontal. I have five different flavors up for grabs, four of which are centered on hops. If we finish those in a timely fashion, I believe I have a side project that could be brought into the fray or a home brew. More on the beers tomorrow. Enjoy!