Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster

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

(bottle) Cloudy, reddish brown body and a small tan head. Aroma is heavy with brown sugar, spice, and fruit. The flavor has pronounced caramel malt and dry hop character. Sweet and bitter, but surprisingly smooth and drinkable even with very noticeable alcohol. It’s warm but doesn’t burn. Medium bodied and softly carbonaceous.

Pours a deep dark ruby red/copper almost brown color with golden ruby edges and a two finger frothy yellowish-beige head that has excellent retention, only very slowly fading into a thin cap and lasting ring that coats the glass with lacing on it’s way down. Nice citrus hop aroma with a large pine presence and a very prominent caramel malt and rye. This rye and caramel malt unfortunately take away from the hops but they’re still there. Earthy bitter and dry hops up front that are immediately countered by the sweet malt and rye backbone. Slightly smokey with a bit of roasty chocolate and caramel as well as some nice alcohol warmth. The bitterness does linger over the thick medium body into a very dry finish but this beer is a bit too malty for it’s own good. It tastes more like a hoppy old ale or barleywine. Very dry piny finish is nice though.

I am really enjoying this brewery. This is a gem of a beer. Nice red pour. SFresh hoppy aroma with notes of caramel malt. Smooth and hoppy.

Vintage 2008 - Dark reddish brown, light tan creamy head. Thick brown sugared pineapple-orange aromas ride soft waves of musty old wool and sherry. Up front aged tropical fruit and citirc hop flavors warm to slight notes of dark turbinado sugar infused iced tea. Full bodied and smooth, soft carbonation, bittersweet finish. More akin to a barley wine at this point. Fresh I’m guessing would truly rock…

A very good East Coast style IPA. I’ve had this fresh, and aged makes a surprisingly good barleywine. Try both!

Pours a clear brownish amber with tan head. Aroma of caramel malts, mild floral hops. Similar taste, boozy hop finish. Would like to re-rate a newer bottle of this however, I think some hop characters have faded from this one. Very good nonetheless.

The initial appearance is quite dark, looking more of like a barleywine than a double ipa. The aroma has some very sweet malts, reminds me a bit of brown sugar. The initial flavor is very heavy on the caramel malts, with some hoppiness thrown in almost as an afterthought. I would personally classify this more as a Barleywine or a Red Ale. There is also some molasses that I get on the aftertaste, mixed in with a bit of spicy hoppiness. Overall, it leaves you with a nice and sweet sensation that is kept in check by the hops but the classification on this site is not correct in my opinion.

bottle 355 ml
Appearance: poured as amber-brown red with large, mid dense foamy crown. Off tanned with sparse lace.
Nose: Ahh, rich sweet brown malts , chocolate sweets with light fresh hop top. Malt presented here very nicely. Good blend. 8-
Flavor/Palate : Full big bodied, bready hint of rye (wood oven baked) bread. Toasty , even earthy in character with rounded feel. Dry alcohol on edges. Very high on top you will find hop scent. It is named as Big Hoppy Monster but even bigger show is malt.