Terrapin India Style Brown Ale

Brewed by Terrapin Beer Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Athens, Georgia USA

Bottled 355ml from Bellingers Garage, Grove, Oxon. Dark brown with slight head. A collision is certainly correct with this, the eyes tell you Brown Ale and the tongue tells you sweet hops. For me the whole thing comes over as a bit sugary sweet, there is a fruitiness, plummy, strawberry and just a hint of roastiness. It’s all a bit heavy for me, but acceptable at the same time.

Bottle from Santa. Thanks Santa. Terrapin’s got a thing going on here. Wish I could get some of their regular offerings, but I doubt that’s happening anytime in the next five years. Dark brown pour with little head. Aroma of hops and roast, some citrus and pine. Flavor is hoppy and roasty, pretty good balanced for a hopped up brown ale. Finishes pretty dry with a spice note. Swear I taste rye in this too. Yeah, they’ve got a thing going on here.

No rye? The aromatics on this beer has a fiercely herbal note with a dryness that reminds me solely of rye, maybe I’m wrong. Dark ruby brown, looks to be violet on the edges. Dry hoppy character seems to burrow through to its gentle wildflower finish. Malt base is fresh baked bread, fluffy and sticky.

Bottle. Poured dark brown in color with an average frothy head that was mostly diminishing, but had excellent lacing. The aroma was moderately hoppy with a nice scent of roasted malts. It tasted bitter of hops in the begining and finished with a nice bitter chocolate-coffee flavor that lasted a nice while. Mouthfeel was creamy yet dry with a medium to full body. Overall a nice hoppy twist on a classic brown ale.

Bottle, same graphic but labeled as "Hop Karma Brown IPA". Pours a dark brown hue with ruby red highlights, dissipating tan head but thick sticky lacing on the glass. Nose is mostly rich dark malts-nuts, roast, coffee- with bright citrus hops underneath. Flavor is a solid balance between smooth rich nutty roasty malt and moderate hop bitterness and flavor (orange, citrus, resin), underlying bready malts come back in the slightly sweet finish. Medium body, mild carbonation, silky smooth carbonation. A malt-forward IPA with complex flavors and low abv, well in the session range, good for several servings in one setting for those who like all the flavor without the alcohol strength.

Bottle to pint glass. Pours a dark brown with creamy, short-lived head. Aroma is mild with malts dominant. Medium in body. Since Brown Ales are not my favorite, what hop bitterness is present is very welcome. However, I’d really like to see more assertiveness from the hops. That said, this is not a bad beer.

On draft at the Half Moon, Kennett, PA. The pour was orangey brown, nice frothy head that gave really great continuous lacing all the way down. The aroma was roasty with some citrus and pine hops. The flavor was the same, although I was lett wanting more hops. A decent brew, but it could have been pushed harder. Mouthfeel was full bodied.

12oz bottle. I’d passed this by several times because I’m not a big brown fan. Surprised to see it listed as an ipa. dark brown pour with a thin tan head and slight sheets of lacing. smells of citrus pine hops and chocolate malts. as expected the taste comes off somewhere between a brown and an ipa - with roasted malts and brown sugar losing out to the dank hops for dominance. thin palate. fairly quick light bitter finish.