Terrapin Beer Company was founded in 2002 by Brian “Spike” Buckowski and John Cochran in Athens, Georgia. Early on, during their stint at Atlanta Brewing Company (now known as Red Brick Brewing), Spike and John both decided that Athens needed a craft beer scene.  They set out to createthat in a big way. Terrapin bottled its first beer in 2002, the Rye Pale Ale, and it went on to win the gold medal in the American Pale Ale category at Great American Beer Festival. During the early days, before capital and investors bought into the idea, they contracted out with Frederick Brewing Company (now known as Flying Dog Brewery) to brew and bottle their beer at the Maryland site. Now, some 13 years later, Terrapin is a force in the craft beer scene – putting out medal winning beers, especially their infamous stout variations. Anyways, on to the review.

Terrapin Beer Company – Mosaic Red Rye IPA (21st AMD Day, best by 6/15/2015)

Appearance: half finger of off white head, clear – no murkiness at all, rust or dark copper in color, nice carbonation level and bubbles continued to be active throughout the tasting, also left a nice lacing on the glass as it was consumed

Aroma: early on the nose was full of pineapple, grapefruit, tropical fruit, pear, deep jammy notes, apple. Then after about 5 minutes in the rye came through and stole the show from a smell and taste standpoint

Mouthfeel: medium to full body on this one, a smooth ale, tons of rye malt and grassy notes that coated the mouth for the entire review

Taste: the taste was all about the rye, not overly bitter, a smooth almost syrupy taste that coated the palate, maybe some slight tropical fruit coming through from the Mosaic hops – but definitely not enough to overpower the strong rye malt

Finish: overall a very clean finish, lingering rye notes are the only thing I could taste at this point, and that definitely stole the show over the mosaic hops, this was kind of a let down for me but this was one of the better rye beers I’ve had

Personal Recommendations of Food/Cheese Pairings: spicy pork tacos, turkey enchilada casserole, jerk chicken, goat cheese, asiago, amish blue

Overall: 8.5/10

Overall this was a decent beer. I am not the biggest Rye beer fan, but I wanted to review this one because I saw the Mosaic on the label. My buddy turned me on to the Mosaic hop variety, and boy am I glad he did. This hop brings such unique characteristics to a beer, especially a big double IPA. However, for this beer, the rye malt overpowered everything, even the aroma as the beer warmed up. That was a bit of a bummer for me, but on the bright side it was definitely a interesting combination of malt and hops for the taste buds. Coming in at 6.2%, this is a nice beer to get you in the Spring spirit. I am definitely tagging this one as a must have when the cornhole boards come out.

Cheers!