Review Date 3/11/2013
Try?
Re-buy?
For March of 2013, Georgia’s Taco Mac chain is featuring beers from the local Terrapin brewery as their beers of the month. That means they’ll be in good supply all month long, and if you happen to stop by to try one on a Thursday evening, you’ll get a free pint glass with your Terrapin beer.
Two brand new beers are on tap from Terrapin, Tree Hugger Ale (in the German Alt style), and the beer under discussion currently, Full of Balarney Irish Stout. I’m sipping the latter out on the patio on a 68-degree Georgia Sunday afternoon at the Canton Taco Mac; I’ll be back Thursday night to get a Tree Hugger and the Full of Balarney pint glass.
Full of Balarney nitro stout is obviously offered up in honor of the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. This is a draft only beer and won’t be bottled, and that’s for the better. The beer features a nitrogen pour that gives it a smooth creaminess and massive head of tightly packed foam. The beer has a fairly moderate 5.2% alcohol content by volume, and runs $6.75 for a pint.
My mug of Terrapin Full of Balarney Irish Stout arrived a jet black color with a towering head of tightly packed foam and an alluring dark malty nose. Taking a sip, the beer was so very smooth and creamy it was hard to stop drinking the stuff, and I found myself taking pulls without even thinking about it. It was that good. Packed with lots of chocolate and a wonderful roasty bitterness, a bit of coffee, a barely perceptible threshold level of sourness and a dry roasty bitterness in the finish, this was a beer perfect for whiling away an afternoon with.
The only downside is the price, at $6.75 for a local beer it’s about $1 overpriced for a local beer, I think (especially when a full pour of also local Red Hare Rabbits reserve Bitter Hearts Double Dark IPA was almost twice as strong, a full mug pour and the same price).
Still, this was truly delicious and certainly a beer that I would buy again.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
