Ding Points: 68.50
Pour: 70.00, Nose: 60.00, Palate: 70.00, Mouth: 70.00, Global: 70.00
Tasting Notes:
Here we go with Side Project #18 from Terrapin, a ‘peanut butter beer’. The usual, 22 oz, gold-foiled presentation for the Side Project series. The whole series can be viewed on Terrapin’s web site, here.
Nuts!
The beer pours an attractive, dark, chocolate brown pour with a nice looking mocha colored head that is about two fingers high. Retention and lace are not great, but I suppose adequate.
The pour
For all of the fanfare of peanuts and chocolate, the nose is disappointingly neutral.
The tastes are interesting. Essentially this beer is a very light, very drinkable, slightly chocolatey porter. There is no powdery bakers chocolate notes as in some chocolate beer, rather it’s a very simple and gentle milk chocolate feel. The chocolate is definitely there, but it is fairly reserved. The peanut element on the other hand, is largely absent. I get a hint in the finish and the aftertaste, but it’s nothing to speak of.
Side Project 18
The beer is so subtle, that it reminds me a lot of an English beer. It has elements of a traditional English Mild (color, light body and general neutrality), and an English Porter (creamy mouthfeel and tastes that are not overwhelming). I bet this will leave many American drinkers that are anticipating liquid peanut butter cups, cold.
Contains Peanuts – but you wouldn’t know from the taste
As it warms the chocolate builds but the nutty element never truly cuts in for me. Not much sweetness here either, which is a good thing I feel. The chocolate in no way large, but it is the bigger factor when compared to any peanut character that one might be looking for.
I bet that some people will be disappointed by the subtlety of this beer. This is not a liquid chocolate and peanut butter extravaganza as the label suggests, and I am quite pleased by that!
Other: 6.7% ABV. American Porter.
The text that some of these breweries put on their bottles just makes me laugh sometimes. “A river of self-indulgent righteousness.” And then they get pissy when people call them out for self-hyping an underwhelming product. Let the beer speak for itself.
Yep, daft isn’t it? You are 100% right about their own hype, too. This is NOT a liquid Reese’s cup, which is what you would expect if you read Terrapin’s description. Ironically, because it *isn’t* the embodiment of the Terrapin description, that’s the reason I thought it was OK.