Terrapin Side Project The Dark Side

Formerly brewed at Terrapin Beer Company
Style: Foreign Stout
Athens, Georgia USA

Serve in English pint, Snifter, Tulip

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Deep dark black, foamy brown head. Not a huge aroma. Flavor is initially smoky, which caught me a little off guard. Underneath is chocolate, soy sauce, nuttiness, some licorice. A touch of sweet banana and hops on the finish. Interesting beer, pretty nice on a cold winter night.

Pours out an oily dark brown, nearly black, with a thick and fairy persistent beige head. Aroma is strong and smoky with definite tones of roast coffee, unsweetened chocolate and molasses. Lip-smacking, mouth-filling flavor has the typical coffee and unsweet chocolate tones of a good Imperial Stout plus hints of molasses and caramel and even just a shade of hops and a touch of sweetness. Texture is silky smooth and just a little tingly, not quite as thick as most stouts.

22oz bottle, gold foil. Imperial Stout-Belgian Yeast... Awesome. Pours jet black. light brown head. Just the way an Imperial Stout should look. Not an once of light passing through. Aromas of licorice, burnt coffee, lots of roast, vanilla bean, and a touch of nuttiness. Flavor is very sweet, a lot of sugar is left. What that tells me is with proper aging this is gonna grow up to be big and tasty. Finishes with a good amount of roasted flavors. Very roasty with a good amount of fruity esters. There is a definite Belgian yeast character there. Also my !st beer of 2010! Happy New Year.

Not too thick of a pour, rather thin with a little tan head to it. Puts out a malty, roasted chocolate aroma. The flavor does a great job balancing the belgian yeast and its chocolate tones and has an overall roasty, warm mouthfeel.

The body was dark and opaque, and the head was one finger thick and khaki. The looks were typical for and Imperial Stout, but the smell was not very roasty, and was mostly like brown sugar and coffee, with some vanilla, and hazelnut aromas mixed in. The taste was sweet and sticky, and reminded me of black strap molasses the most. There were other flavors hinted at by the smell, but to me they were drowned out by the primary sweetness. The beer felt rich and soft in the mouth, and the aftertaste lingered on. Not sure what about this is exactly Belgian, but I liked the overall result. I wish it was just a tad drier though, so that some of the other flavors could come through.

This one is interesting. The Belgian-style yeast is apparent. There’s a lingering sweetness in the flavor, but the beer isn’t all that sweet until then. The roast is there, but it’s unable to stand out among the sweeter aromas created by the yeast. Could probably use a little age.

Bottle. Poured deep dark brown, almost black and a small tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, fruit, chocolate, coffee, candi sugar. Taste is chocolate, fruit, sweet candied malt and sugar, light yeast, some light hop bitterness. Finish has some tartness, hop bitterness, and more fruit. Body isn’t huge like other imperial stouts, medium body with nice soft carbonation. Overall, a nice hybrid stout.

22oz bomber. Pours very dark brown with brown red highlights and an almost non-existent thin ring of tan foam. The aroma has loads of dark chocolate and espresso. There is also some fruit, light alcohol, slight must, and thick vinous malt. The flavor is chocolate-covered fruit with waves of cakey caramel and a dryness - as if eating dry cocoa powder. The finish is bittersweet with a firm earthy hop bitterness, coffee, and dark chocolate. The mouthfeel is tingly and frothy with a medium-full body. Overall, a smooth, flavorful, big stout. Quite nice.

draft at Taco Mac, Windward. arrived a deep black pour with a thin tan head... some roasted malts, candi sugar and slight coffee notes across the nose... medium to light body with more roasted malts, slight chocolate, Belgian yeast and a nice sweetness... a bit light on the carbonation throughout... the Belgian yeast strain is a nice addition to the style and really changes things up... lighter body, sweeter, and less intense. very drinkable for an Imperial Stout. A very nice Side Project from Terrapin... I would say one of their best.

This one sits almost completely opaque black in the glass with a smallish tan head that recedes fairly quickly to a small collar. The aroma is deeply roasted black malts, cocoa and some light coffee hints. There is also some light fruity esters and maybe some banana sweetness in the background as well. The taste is more of the same with an initial chocolate-covered raisin sweetness on top of the dark roasted malts. The finish is roasted but with the Belgian yeast sweetness keeping this from getting too dry. The mouthfeel is light to medium bodied for an impy stout with good carbonation. The Belgian twist certainly adds to the drinkability but probably keeps the body a little lighter than I would want ideally in this style. Still, it’s an interesting take on the style.