Shmaltz/Terrapin Reunion Ale 2012 - A Beer For Hope

Brewed By: Shmaltz Brewing Company in Brooklyn, New York (with Terrapin Beer Company in Athens, Georgia)

Purchased: 12oz bottle from the 2012 Holiday Gift Pack bought at Binny's in IL; 2012 

Style/ABV: American Strong Ale, 7.6%...8.0%...???

Reported IBUs: ?

Wrapping up with the Shmaltz Holiday Gift Pack, tonight I'm looking at a beer that Shmaltz brewed with Terrapin, which is pretty legit. About He'Brew:

He'Brew is part of the Shmaltz Brewing Company. The Shmaltz Brewing Company has two lines of beer: their He'Brew The Chosen Beer, and their Coney Island Craft Lagers. Shmaltz Brewing Company is a craft brewery based in San Francisco, California, founded by Jeremy Cowan in 1996. The company previously contract brewed most of their beer through the Mendocino Brewing Company, while operating a small brewery in Brooklyn, New York. After 16 years of having their beer contract brewed, the Shmaltz Brewing Company opened its own New York State microbrewery in Clifton Park, NY. The new location features a 50-barrel brewhouse, with 20,000 barrels of annual capacity, and began production April/May 2013, officially opening July 2013. The company is known for its innovative beer, eye-catching bottle artwork, and sense of humor. For more information, check out the Shmaltz website HERE. Don't be a schmuck!

I should probably mention that Terrapin is a brewery based out of Athens, Georgia, founded by Brian Buckowsski and John Cochran in 2002. If you roll over to the Terrapin Beer page, you can see that the Reunion - A Beer For Hope, is a series of beers. The 2012 edition is brewed with cocoa nibs, vanilla, and cinnamon. According to Terrapin, this one uses Canada 2-Row Silo, Victory, Special Roast, Crystal, Brown Malt, and Chocolate malts; and Willamette hops. They state that this clocks in at 7.6%, and the beer is described as a dark strong ale. Shmaltz also has this beer listed on their website (what's the difference, yo?)....according to the Shmaltz website, this beer uses 2-Row, Victory, Briess Special Roast, Fawcett Crystal, Brown, Dark Crystal & Chocolate malts; Warrior and Summit hops, and clocks in at 8.0%. Proceeds for this beer go to the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research, which is pretty cool. Let's glass this up...and do the best kind of drinking...drinking for a good cause!

Reunion Ale 2012 - A Beer For Hope

This one pours a dark red/brown color, that looks black in low light. The head on this beer is absolutely gorgeous, with root beer float thickness. The head is a lovely light tan/sandy color. Head retention is nice, and the head has a nice khaki color in bright light. This beer is a murky brown black/purple/brown color in bright light, and you can see some carbonation rising upwards on the side of the glass. The head is leaving some nice lacing.

The aroma on this reminds me quite a bit of Sam Adams' The Vixen Chocolate Chili Bock. I'm getting a ton of rich chocolate on the nose of this, lots of cocao, some dirt, cheap coffee with cheap creamer that you find in your office's break room, cinnamon, earthy spice, dirt, jalapeno, salt, vanilla bean, and some strong caramel malt. There's an elusive hint of really earthy fruit on the nose as well.

This is really nice, with tons of cocoa abound, and nice cinnamon-fruit kick up front. I'm getting lots of chocolate, cocoa, vanilla bean, crappy coffee with creamer, and a TON of cinnamon, with a hint of dirt and salt, and some mild hop bitterness on the finish. This end's a touch bitter, dry, and with lingering cocoa.

This has a decent amount of carbonation to help keep the body in check, giving this a medium-full mouthfeel. Nevertheless, the body has some density to it, and feels pretty thick and creamy in the mouth. There's almost a tannin quality to this beer, likely from the cinnamon. And yeah, you get a lot of cinnamon in this. Palate depth is great, and complexity is just okay. This one doesn't scream complexity, but it delivers the cocoa, vanilla, and cinnamon in a big way. This also does an incredible job masking the 8.0% ABV (or 7.6% or whatever). Up front is caramel malts, cocoa, and vanilla; that transitions into big vanilla and cinnamon; the back end is trailing cinnamon, spice, dry cocoa (almost cacao at that point), and some hop dryness....really solid stuff here.

Rating: Above-Average (4/5 Untappd)

This is about Decent Above-Average stuff, which is not bad at all. Really solid on the chocolate/vanilla/cinnamon thing, and has nice warming. I would pair this beer with some chocolate cake, or a burger, or some coffee-braised meat. You could also conceivably sip on this, though it would work better in the 22oz format rather than the 12oz bottle I have. NICE STUFF, good job Terrapin and Shmaltz.

Random Thought: It's raining, it's pouring...no seriously, we are projected to get like 4 more inches of rain, and it's been raining nonstop since like 5pm. I'm sure the roads and streams and retention ponds will be a source of much entertainment and frustration tomorrow. Hooray for adventures!