Terrapin Side Project 90 Shelling Scotch Ale

Brewed by Terrapin Beer Company
Style: Scotch Ale
Athens, Georgia USA

Experienced on tap in a nonic glass. The beer pours the expected deep to dark brown, with a small just off-white head. The nose was weak, giving barely a hint of English character malt, a touch of caramel, and surprisingly, hops. The palate was certainly not "magnificently malty." Instead, I got only a weak to perhaps medium note of malt, along with some backend hop bitterness that is about as far out of the perameters of the style as you can get. I appreciate creativity and not be a slave to style guidelines, but this was a little ridiculous. Overall, a disappointment.

Appearance is a dark brown with a tan head. Aroma is somewhat roasted malt. Taste is slightly sweet malt with a light but noticeable hop presence. Slightly bitter in the finish, but not overly so. Flavorful, but also rather drinkable.

Sampled on draft this beer poured a dark caramel-brown color with a large khaki head. The aroma was sweet, fruity and roasty. The flavor was bitter, tangy, dryish and roasty with light fruity hops and noted hot alcohol. The finish was long, roasty and fruity with again alcohol showing through. Decent.

Pours a surprisingly clear mahogany. There’s a ton of malt in this one. The smell is like sticking your nose into a vat of specialty malts. The flavor is rich without being grainy or cloying, but it is a little sticky.

22 oz bottle. Dark cola, just clear at the edges, with a bone head. Nose is grass, peat and dark berries. Creamy medium body with muted but prickly carb. Taste is malt, toasted grains and grape with a dry scotchy finish.

Courtesy of TampaBrew. Pours clear deep amber with thin tan head. The aroma is a mix of thick musty earthiness and dark grape candy followed by a thin layer of boysenberry. The taste is similar with a thick tasty sweet malts and earthiness combination to go along with sweet dark fruity notes of grapes and prunes. It thins out into the finish with notes of sweet malts re-surging to the surface. Good stuff. Might be the most enjoyable Side Project for me to date.

The 22 oz. bomber was typical of the side project series, and the beer poured out dark brown in color, and formed a decent sized head. The smell was hoppier and less malty than I expected, but it was a nice and pleasant aroma. The taste is where the beer seemed to come into a bit of an issue. The problem was not the flavors, which were a pleasing mix of earthy hops and peaty malt, but the problem was the thin body diluting the overall experience. There was none of the silky softness I anticipated. Instead this drank more like a darker IPA. I liked it as a one time deal, but probably not good enough to make me crave it again.

Bomber thanks to jrob21. Pours a deep ruby hue with a medium white head. The aroma is very nice; rich fruity malts, toasted notes and nutty aspects. The flavor was great as well; rich and massive malt flavors, caramel, tons of fruits, dark cherry and sweeter berries, nutty flavors as well. It is put together quite well. I enjoyed this brew a lot.