Review Date 2/14/2010
Try?
Re-buy?
So, I'm reading an interesting book by British beer writer Pete Brown called Hops & Glory. It's a really great book that you should definitely read if you love beer, and Pete does something for and with beer that nobody else has done in this century, most likely. Anyway, talking about the 69 different beer styles at the Great American Beer Festival, Pete says:
"There are not sixty-nine different styles of beer. But the only way you'd win this argument with an American craft-beer enthusiast is by pretending there are even more."
Being an American craft beer enthusiast myself, I will of course differ with Mr. Brown. There are as many beer styles as there are innovative craft brewers. Were good old Bert Grant, he of Grant's brewing fame, still alive today he'd agree with me. But it's this American spirit of ingenuity that has made the beer world so rich and diverse of late, and that's why we can have all the styles we want to have.
So what made me think of all this? Why Athens, Georgia's Terrapin Brewery's latest effort: Side Project Volume 9: The Dark Side Belgian Style Imperial Stout. An imperial stout brewed with a funky Belgian trappist yeast strain? There you go, new style, and why not? Variety is the spice of life, and what the beer revolution is all about.
This isn't a huge imperial stout at an original gravity of 20.8 Plato and 8.5% alcohol by volume. Ingredients per the company website:
Malts: 2-Row, Crystal 120 L, Crystal 86 L, Chocolate, Black, Roasted Barley
Hops: Pilgrim, Goldings
They claim the beer "is loaded with subtle nuances of dark Belgian chocolate", though it does not appear to made with any chocolate. Chocolate malt can easily impart chocolate character, however, and that is certainly the case here.
No beer called the Dark Side would be complete without a reference to Star Wars, and Terrapin obliges on the bottle by calling this brew "as black as the underside of Vader's cape."
I pour about three quarters of my 22 ounce bomber bottle of Terrapin Side Project 9: The Dark Side into a large, bulb-shaped Duvel glass and watch as the jet black liquid fills the glass. A large but somewhat short-lived creamy tan head forms atop the liquid, and a whiff reveals a bit of raisin and funky Belgian yeast. Will there be more of Belgium or Russia to this one? I can't tell yet.
Taking a sip, I find the body just a tad thinner than I want in an imperial, but I can see that: don't want to overwhelm the funky Belgian yeast flavors permeating this one. I get a lot of chocolate too, the deep dark bittersweet kind, along with a hint of licorice, some dark fruit (raisin and prune) and some roasty espresso. In the finish, the dark roasted malt notes come to the fore as the funky yeast flavors intensify. There's not a lot of alcohol warmth, and this one is deceptive in that regard. It does not seem as potent a beer as it is.
Wonderful stuff, a worthy four star effort. Probably still some on the shelves as I type, so don't pass on it if you have the chance to score some.
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
