Review: Terrapin Hopsecutioner IPA2
Terrapin Beer Company out of Athens, GA says of Hopsecutioner, “You may lose your hophead over this one!” Being a hop-head who loves beers to have more hops than a pogo stick competition, I just had to give it a go when I saw the evil looking turtle staring at me through the glass of the cooler at Craft Ale House.
Poured into a pint glass from a 12oz bottle, Hopsecutioner has a nice dark gold amber color. There is no cloudiness to speak of. The head is of medium size, white in color, and leaves a small amount of lacing on the glass.
The first sniff is when I realized that this could be a pretty solid IPA. Some good floral notes on the front end mixing with citrus and pine. The smell is not overwhelming at all; it is light yet crisp, the hops are there but they won’t kill you. With a name like Hopsecutioner, I was expecting a lot more of a big hop smell, something that turned into a theme with this beer.
I was also expecting more of a punch when I took my first sip, instead Hopsecutioner just went right down the middle. The flavors consist of fruit and citrus with a hint of pine. The malt is definitely there, more so than I would have expected, mellowing things out and making Hopsecutioner surprisingly balanced for an IPA.
I was expecting Hopsecutioner to be a beer for the extreme hop-heads among us, instead I got a very solid mid-range IPA. The hops weren’t too weak but weren’t in the extreme range. If you are starting to make a foray into IPAs this would be a good beer to use as a baseline. Overall, Hopsecutoner is a solid IPA and a good example of the style but it does not live up to the label.
Overall: 7.5/10
Mike Hoff is a Senior Writer for Passion Beer.
He is always seeking out the new, weird and wonderful in the world of beer. When he is not writing for the site, you can normally find him with a camera around his neck and a beer in hand.
I agree that the Hopsecutioner’s name is a bit of a misnomer. I just wrote a post (www.aleheads.com) about the cognitive dissonance that comes from a beer’s name not matching its character (in my case, the Harviestoun Old Engine Oil).
For a bigger, bolder offering from Terrapin, try the Big Hoppy Monster. It’s not an “extreme” offering from a hop profile standpoint either, but it’s a brilliantly well-balanced beer that I think will redeem the brewery for you.
And if you’re a true, blue hophead, try the Moylan’s Hopsickle. I’m not even sure that beer HAS malt in it.
I still consider Terrapin to be a good brewery, this beer as I said is still a good beer, just not a Hopesecutioner. I will certainly try and find Big Hoppy Monster and give it a shot.
Moylan’s Hopsickle is one that has been on my must try list for a while. I should get around to that.