~$12 for 4-pack of 16oz. cans- Purchased at Riley’s Wine & Spirits
Background
This is the second time in about as many months as I have found a stout of some sort still being sold in the summer months. It makes me happy.
Terrapin Beer Company is located in Athens, Georgia, and I’ve had a few things from them over the last few years, most notably their Hopsecutioner IPA (and the Chopsecutioner version sold at the home of the Atlanta Braves, Sun Trust Park). I ran across Beerista when I stopped into Riley’s in Hixson a week or so ago. The name made me laugh and then I read what was on the box so I had to buy it. Here’s what they have to say on their website:
By skillfully blending two batches of our award-winning Wake-n-Bake Imperial Stout, we have crafted “Beerista.” Batch one was expertly aged in bourbon barrels to highlight complex wood, bourbon and vanilla notes. Batch two was brewed with a heavy dose of lactose sugar to achieve a smooth and creamy mouthfeel. The addition of Jittery Joe’s “Wake-n-Bake” Coffee tops off this masterful brew with a delicious coffee flavor and aroma.
Beerista comes in 16 ounce cans and weighs in at 11.2% ABV and 50 IBUs. It’s listed as a “limited release” on their website and I know I’ll be trying to get some more of it before it disappears, especially at the price I bought it.
Notes
I paired the Beerista with a Tatuaje Halloween. It is the last of them that I acquired somewhere in the neighborhood of two years ago, and although it means I won’t have anymore, I also know from experience that keeping a Broadleaf-wrapped Nicaraguan cigar too long doesn’t have a happy ending as they will start mellowing fairly quickly and lose the punch and pepper I love so much. Also, it was sure to be a fantastic pairing based on my previous experiences pairing Tatuaje Maduros with darker beers, especially milk stouts.
Beerista had a very dark, motor-oil appearance, like any good stout, along with a caramel-colored, very creamy-but-thin head. Giving it a sniff, you would almost expect this to just be a Starbucks coffee drink…it has that much coffee aroma to it. Behind that was a little oaky booziness, but you don’t really get the barrel-aging influence 7ntil you take a sip and find this amazing mix of creamy smooth stout, along with rich, black coffee, capped off by notes of vanilla, bourbon, and oak. And it’s strong…I did mention the 11.2% alcohol. Take that with the 16 ounce can size and you get one of the stronger beers I’ve seen on the market in southeast Tennessee.
The Tatuaje Halloween fired up strong and spicy, with underlying notes of chocolate and earth. The beer added a ton of smooth, sweet coffee flavor to the mix, while sipping after a puff seemed to downplay the whiskey notes a bit.
I didn’t end up taking more notes during this pairing, but suffice to say, I really loved this beer. I bought a second 4-pack and drank through all of it since I did this review. Beerista is strong and bourbon-y with tons of sweet coffee flavor. I’m going to buy these just about anytime I see them.
