Terrapin's Hopsecutioner

Terrapin's newest addition to their year-round selection of brews: Hopsecutioner IPA. It gives new meaning to "killer" IPA... get it? Executioner? Never mind.

This beer is rumored to be one of the most expensive beers that Terrapin makes. Hops tend to be quite expensive and the mix of 6 kinds of hops including Warrior, Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe, Amarillo, and dry hop finish of Cascade certainly make that rumor believable. Aside from the hops this beer has a hefty backbone of malt and it makes the finish less bitter and more sweet and floral. At least that's my best guess while drinking my first glass ever. With that said it does ring in at 78 IBU's so it's still a potent IPA for those who like the hop.

The beer is a nice dark amber color and is quite viscous which makes for a nice mouth feel. This isn't a chugging beer. Congrats to Terrapin on their new brew. I'll be sure to partake often.

Hopsecutioner

Finally... Beer!

Never mind the scary looking thing on the bottom left, it's just a beet trying to steal a taste.

So I've been going a little overboard on the squirrels and I've been ignoring the obvious: beer. The title of the blog is Squirrels & Beer after all, and I do drink gallons of the stuff each week...

My first beer blog is about Terrapin's latest "Side Project" beer called Gamma Ray. Terrapin is by far my favorite local brewery out of Athens. Sweetwater gets lots of fame and larger distribution, but Terrapin has bigger balls! Take this beer for example: Terrapin has been brewing a series of what they call "Side Project" beers. These are limited release, hand bottled, one-time, small batch brews. Once they're gone, they're gone. This one is aptly named Gamma Ray because this stuff shoots right through your system at 11% abv (alcohol by volume). Other beers with that high an alcohol percentage are big, heavy brews that take a while to get through. Surprisingly though, while no sissy light beer, it is quite drinkable and quickly sneaks up on you! It is a wheat wine style which I had never heard of. If you've ever had a barley wine style beer, this one is similar in body but has the soft amber color and taste of a wheat beer. Oh, and they added 700 lbs of tupelo and sourwood honey from the Savannah Bee Company to the tank so it's got a nice, but not overpowering sweet honey flavor. It has all the usual wheat beer flavors coming through; banana and citrus are the most prominent that my palate detects... and of course the honey. So if you're looking for a nice sipping beer go by your nearest liquor store and grab a bottle or 2. This one will not dissappoint!