552. Red Brick Hoplanta IPA

Our first beer from Red Brick Brewing Company in Atlanta, GA. We grabbed this and a couple of other IPAs to get our drink on down here in Florida. We’d tell you more, but you’ve already heard about the others. Plus, it’s called vacation for a reason.

Described on the label as “hoppier than a bullfrog with a stubbed toe,” Hoplanta pours a clear copper with a fair amount of orange and a profuse off-white head that hangs around while offering a fair amount of lacing. The nose is bread, caramel, and a touch of butter on the malt-side, with small amounts of bitterness and a touch of pine on the hop-side. Flavors start with creamy caramel and toast that segues into hop bitterness in the middle; there is more bread crust heading into the finish and some lingering, clean bitterness along with a slight grassiness. The citrus described on the website appears to be incognito, although there might be hints of the pine remaining in the aftertaste—not so much in the body, though. The body is medium and chewy, with a creamy, well-rounded carbonation that sits well on the tongue. A decent beer—we could make an evening of it if this was the best offered, but there is a lot better out there. It could be that this six-pack is a bit past its prime, but even with a punchier hop presence in the flavor and aroma, this beer still tastes like a career AAA player. Love the label, and we do wish it was better, but the beer is only average. Still, out rowing around on a rowboat, it does hit the spot.

From the Red Brick website: “An American IPA. Citrusy, piney, hop aromas and flavor. Full bodied.”

ABV: 6.7%
IBU: 50
Malts: 2-row, Vienna, and Caramel
Hops: Bravo and Cascade

(12/28/2012)

426. Left Hand/Terrapin Oxymoron

Ah, the collaboration: creating excitement and giddiness in beer nerds coast to coast. And who doesn’t love the collabo? While I could go with the all-purpose bad guy (that would be Nazis), I’m tempted to create a more appropriate nemesis for the blog. The Amish seem a good choice, what with their hatred of technology and all (although they do love bicycles, so that does give them some bonus points), but that also seems more like beating up your little brother—far too easy. So we’ll just call my search for a new nemesis the latest of my long line of failed contests. You got an idea for an appropriate nemesis besides, well, apathy? Here’s to letting me know. Previous beers from Left Hand include 400 Pound Monkey, Fade to Black and Milk Stout, while our previous beers from Terrapin include Hopsecutioner IPA, Wake ’N’ Bake (which was a bonus beer), and Rye Pale Ale.

Oxymoron pours an orange-ish caramel with a creamy eggshell head that reduces to a thin covering after a minute or so; the nose is a creamy caramel breadiness with a touch of hop spiciness and resin rounding out the aroma. As it warms, a more prevalent lager graininess emerges. Flavors begin with caramel before shifting to an accentuated creamy lager-esque character in the front; the middle has sweetness and a decent amount of bitterness, but less specific hop flavor—there is again some spiciness and resin that almost coalesces into evergreen, but not quite. There is some tacky biscuit dryness that returns in the finish, and a pleasant lingering bitterness that has a bit of the traditional lager bite to it. Oxymoron has a medium to medium heavy body with a chewy clean mouthfeel that is also slightly sticky; the carbonation is medium with some dryness from the hops as well as some creaminess on the back of the mouth. An interesting beer, but one that strikes us a bit too much between styles—it’s not quite an IPA, but not really a lager either. While we laud the experimentation—and the collaboration—the beer is more one-hit wonder than longstanding fan favorite.

From the bottle: “Sometime around midnight in a city nobody can agree on, the idea for Left Hand and Terrapin to brew a collaboration beer was born. Oxymoron is the third in a series of one-time releases between our two breweries. A combination of contradictions embodied in liquid form, Oxymoron is an American-style IPA brewed with three German malts, six German hop varieties, and a lager yeast strain. Obnoxious yet reserved, elevated yet modest, it's the embodiment of blending two brewing philosophies together in order to achieve singularity. Consider it an expression of cruel kindness.”

ABV: 7.2%
IBU: 65
Style: Teutonic India Pale Ale
Malts: Weyermann Pale Ale, Munich I, & CaraAmber
Hops: Magnum, Northern Brewer, Perle, Tradition, Spalter Select, & Hersbrucker
Dry Hops: Tradition, Spalter Select, & Hersbrucker

(11/15/2010)

188. Terrapin Hopsecutioner IPA

Our second beer from Terrapin Brewing (well, our third, if you count the Wake ’N’ Bake from two days ago, but we’ll let that go); our last one was their Rye Pale Ale, which was delicious.

Hopsecutioner has a fruity malt nose along with some herbal, grassy, and slightly astringent (almost medicinal) hop aromas; it is a brilliantly clear shiny penny copper with a light white head that laces the glass marginally. Starting dry, biscuity and spicy, Hopsecutioner moves into only a slightly bitter middle, although there is good hop flavor—spicy, resiny, piney, and a wee bit of hop warmth, specifically in the chest as the bitterness runs its course—before finishing with some lingering bitterness and more spiciness. There is some malt to balance the hops, but it ends clean and rather unobtrusive, specifically when compared to the hop bitterness. Medium-bodied with a decent carbonation bite (even without much of a head to it), and, as noted previously, some astringency via the hoppiness, although nothing that really detracts from the beer—it is more the product of the heavier hop load used in the beer. Overall, an interesting beer, but not quite as brutally hoppy as the picture on the label (which is very TMNT) or the description (see below—this was the most aggressive description of hoppiness for a beer since Darren’s failed proclamation about the Stone 13th Anniversary) led us to believe—we were hoping to lose our collective heads over this one, and merely got some good hop burn. Delicious and tasty as an IPA, but not quite the dark hooded hop master we hoped to tame our wild hop hearts...

From the bottle: “Hear ye, hear ye... All hopheads shall herewith rejoice! Terrapin hath recruited ye olde HOPSECUTIONER to execute the exact hop profile for this killer IPA. You may lose your hopheads over this one!”

ABV: 7.3%
IBU: 78
OG: 16.3° P
FG: 3.0° P

(1/4/2010)

60. Terrapin Rye Pale Ale

From Terrapin Brewing in Athens, GA comes this Rye Pale Ale. We’ve got no clever stories for this one besides the fact that this is a rye beer and a damn good one.

Terrapin Rye Pale Ale has a hoppy nose with fruit and citrus aromas; its rich amber color is offset by the white head that, while minimal, does hang around. There is a slight malty front before moving into the hop bitterness and rye spiciness of the middle. Terrapin Rye closes with the reassertion of hop bitterness, ending pretty crisp. Medium-bodied, Terrapin Rye has a smooth, rich, and clean mouthfeel with medium levels of carbonation. Overall, a refreshing and enjoyable rye beer; the rye spiciness is a welcome addition to the pale ale form. While there still is a bit of difficulty separating the hops and the rye in terms of describing flavors within the beer, this one seem easier to sort out than some of the rye IPAs we’ve had—the rye shines through a bit more in the middle of this one.

From Terrapin’s website: “By using an exact amount of rye, a grain seldom found in other micro brewed beers, the Rye Pale Ale acquires its signature taste. Made with five varieties of hops and a generous amount of specialty malts, it offers a complex flavor and aroma that is both aggressive and well balanced – a rare find among beers.

The Terrapin Rye Pale Ale was released in Athens, GA in April of 2002 at the Classic City Brew Fest. Six months later this beer which was sold only in Athens was awarded the American Pale Ale Gold Medal at the 2002 Great American Beer Festival, the most prestigious competition in North America. We hope you will agree with our peers in the brewing industry that this is truly one of the best pale ales in the country.”

ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 35
OG: 13.3° P
Malt: 2-Row Pale, Munich, Malted Rye, Victory Malt, Honey Malt
Hops: Magnum, Fuggle, East Kent Golding, Amarillo (Dry Hop)

(8/29/2009)