Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster

Brewed by Terrapin Beer Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Athens, Georgia USA

Quick review, as I’m being rushed. What a nice dark amber-brown color beneath the oddly almost yellowish light brown colored head... Mmmm: yummy hop-malt flavor. Greatly thick and sticky lacing. A thin, but awesome mouth feel and palate. Delicious hop presence, but lightly malty. Delicious, I say!

Tasted from twelve ounce bottle. Pours dark amber, almost brown, with a red tinted off-white head that is thin, but the lace lasts. The aroma is a biscuity malt with alcohol heat and hops as an afterthought. There is also somewhat of a cherry pie sweetness. The same pie crust flavor comes through on the front palate with sweetness and fruitiness on the middle. The back of the palate is where the hops kick in with a bitter finish. On the palate, this beer is average with a medium full body. The finish is medium with hops bitterness. I think that many would say that this beer is over the hill, in bottle for too long, with the hops really faded and taking a back seat. I enjoy the beer, but it is missing that hops kick that I expected given the name.

Bottle courtesey of juiceisloose - thanks! Pours a dark red with yellow/tan head. Aroma is malt, molasses and a little caramel. Flavor is a nice sweet red malt profile mixed with a strong, bitter IPA profile. Good if compated against BP TB, Ninkasi’s, or BR DR. Not so good compared to other IIPAs.

Small tan head with decent head retention, thin lacing. Lightly hazy amber/red brew. BIG, juicey hop nose, citrus, piney, nicely resiny and fruity, a touch biscuity also. Gourgeously fresh! Medium body, oily and just a tad sticky. Large malts and large hops on the palate but man are they well balanced, resiny hops, piney, citrusy, dirty, lovely. Malts back the hops up very well, mildly sweet caramel malts hiding in this hop laden brew. Finish is fruity and hop juicey and lingers lovingly.

Deep, rusty red in the glass, with a thin beige head. Looks quite decent in the snifter. Aroma suggests toasted malts, smooth caramel, and buttery richness to go along with the solid, resinous character. Really excited to try this, as I have liked spicy reds in the past. Flavor initially reflects the nose, but soon moves toward a very peculiar (and fairly unpleasant) vegetable/algae-like quality. This tempers a bit as it warms, and only appears in the slightly bitter finish, but still presents a major obstacle for me. Bad bottle? Did not seem ’infected’ by normal standards, but it is always a possibility. Perhaps it is simply my taste-buds (as this brew looks to be rated fairly highly by most others), but this just isn’t doing it for me. I am quite curious to learn what hops or particular aspect of the brewing process has lead to this peculiarity for me in the end result. I am glad to have been able to try it; but overall, someone needs to clean this turtle’s pond. 8-)

Pours a deep red with a light tan head aroma of sweet malts caramel taste of sweet malt and hop little citrus a lot of flavor medium bodied a hard core beer with a hop malt finish its a big beer can’t say that enough definitely worth a try a different ipa kind of a hybrid red ale/ipa with a punch

A: The pour is a hazy, dark amber color with a thin layer of off-white foam. S: The nose has some nice notes of grapefruit with a slight pine to it. There’s quite a bit of caramel, toffee, and brown sugar, however. T: The same grapefruit character is present with a bit more in terms of bitter pine than the nose had to offer. The sweetness of a red ale is there as well, with plenty of caramel and brown sugar. M: The body is medium with a moderate level of carbonation. D: This beer seemed to be conflicted as to whether it wanted to be hoppy or malty. I prefer my reds with more bitterness, so this missed the mark a bit.

The label noted that this was a contract brew through flying dog. Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a hazy dark orange-brown color with a large brown head that lingered and produced good lacing. The aroma was harshly hoppy with notes of brown sugar, pineapple, cocoa and nut - a nicely complex and interesting blend. The flavor was malty and toasty with solid notes of cocoa, nut, pine, grapefruit and brown sugar. A surprisingly short finish. Fairly full bodied. Nice.