If you’ve ever talked with Quest‘s Don Richardson, you know he’s got quite the number of brewing notches on his belt. During the past couple of decades, he’s honed his skills at a number of breweries across the country, including Athens, GA’s Terrapin. Some of the equipment currently used by Quest even came from Terrapin. So it should come as no surprise that the two breweries would collaborate on a beer eventually.
Terrapin Beer Co.
Athens, GA
Liquid Bliss Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter
6.7% ABV
There are few combinations in this world I find more perfect than chocolate and peanut butter. The combination of sweet and savory is a perfect blend, in my opinion, whether it’s in cakes or candy or whatever. Chocolate and peanut butter do it for me every time.
So of course I was excited when Terrapin announced Liquid Bliss, the 18th entry in its one-off Side Project series. Using a porter base, peanut butter, boiled peanuts and cocoa nibs are added with a variety of malts and U.S. Goldings hops. All signs pointed to it being a rich, creamy chocolate and peanut butter bomb, which, of course, was a great prospect.
But reviews of the beer tempered my expectations. While some were surprised by it and others trashed it, the consensus was it fell into the “Not what I was expecting” category. That was applicable to my take on it, but that’s not a bad thing.
The pour is very deep brown with just a little bit of light coming through the top of the glass. The head was about two fingers deep and really frothy, but it settled quickly. Mild lacing and weak alcohol legs.
The chocolate sweetness is the most noticeable part of the nose. It’s more like cocoa powder than a creamy chocolate smell, but it is pretty rich. There is definitely that roasted peanut butter smell. It’s sweet and just hinted at. Not overpowering, which was a nice surprise.
There’s a bit of bitterness on the front of the tongue coupled with slight carbonation throughout the mouth. The mouthfeel is very smooth and rich. The chocolate is heavy in the middle of the mouth with an almost chocolate milk smoothness and richness. On the back, you definitely get the peanut butter as well. Like the nose, it’s there and the flavor is nice, but it’s not crazy strong. With each sip, the peanut butter becomes stronger and more noticeable. It’s kind of that lingering creaminess you get from eating a spoon of PB.
Like a lot of people, I expected a richer, more flavorful beer. But what Liquid Bliss ended up being was a more nuanced approach. I was a disappointed at first but had done a 180 by the time I finished the bottle. In the end, I’m glad it wasn’t the blast of sweetness I was expecting, as it forced you to search out and analyze the flavors within a little more.
I spent the past weekend in Atlanta to celebrate my birthday, which just so happened to coincide with the kickoff of Atlanta Beer Week. My wife, our friend Josh and myself spent two days traversing the metro area checking out different events and trying new and different brews.
One beer I was determined to try before heading back home was Social Potion, a collaboration between New Holland and Athens, GA’s own Terrapin. To celebrate New Holland’s launch in the Peach State, the Michigan-based brewery teamed up with the folks at Terrapin to create a 7% weizenbock brewed with Michigan wheat, black currants and pink peppercorns. And to add another special touch, the beer was being poured only in Georgia during ABW and in Michigan.
It took about three days to track the beer down, but we eventually found it at Roux on Canton, a small Cajun-influenced bar and restaurant near Josh’s house in Roswell. It was certainly worth the effort to track down.
As expected with a weizenbock, Social Potion pours a hazy, murky dirty-water brown. There were two good fingers worth of a billowy head on top and they stuck around for a while. The lacing and alcohol were both really nice.
The wheat was the strongest note on the nose. Behind that were the sweet dark flavors of the currants and just a very slight pepper note as well. All the ingredients are all there in the aroma.
On the front of the tongue was just a very slight tart bitterness followed with a good bite of carbonation across the palate. It’s tingly with a rich and very smooth mouthfeel from the wheat. On the back was a rich flavor of toffee and a rich tart and sticky sweetness from the currants. The peppercorns pop up again on the finish and linger a bit on the back of the throat. A really great beer all around.
This was the last beer I had on my trip to Atlanta and was a great note to end the weekend on. I’m glad folks in Atlanta get to try all the great beers from New Holland, and any time someone teams up with Terrapin, the results are pretty great.
