Beer Review: Salted Caramel Imperial Moo Hoo (Terrapin Beer Co.)

So let me start off by apologizing that this is a bit late, I had drank this last Tuesday, and meant to write-up the review on either last Wednesday or Thursday, and its been sitting in my ‘to-write’ / ‘draft’ area of the blog for several days now. Half finished, half written. I have several blog posts in this stage currently, and since I have off starting now til Saturday morning, I’m hoping to get them written up and posted. Some of these are beer reviews, brewery reviews, beer events, and even beer news. I have the Midwest Coast Brewing post to go live as soon as they greenlight it (the head owner / brewer was getting married this past weekend, so that postponed things a slight bit).

So I apologize for the delay, but moving forward, lets get this blog up, and then we can work on them from there. I’ve also been informed by J. Doncevic that he’s going to be coming out of his long sabbatical and posting a beer review tonight. What will it be? I’m not giving away any hints, so who knows! Take your guesses now and see if you’re right!

Last Tuesday after getting out of work at 6PM, and with some time to kill before having to go to the Winner Circle Saloon and the American Grille for the fantasy basketball draft that some of my coworkers do, I found myself traveling down Rt. 22 and thinking of where to stop for a beer before going to the draft. So… I wound up at Ted’s Bar and Grille.

Ted’s Bar and Grille is located on Rt 22 (Allentown Road) and is primarily a sports bar, but its also kind of a restaurant, craft bar, wing joint, all kinds of things in one. They usually have a pretty decent selection of craft beers (and of course domestics) on tap, as well as a pretty extensive bottle / can selection. Nothing super amazing top shelf or “whaler” status, but plenty of good beers from PA, MD, NJ, NY, OH, and other larger breweries like Bell’s, Founder’s, etc. Its a nice bar with a good patio and a good selection of beer. Its located at 7300 Allentown Blvd Harrisburg, PA (Route 22 between Harrisburg and Grantville). It is a verified location on Untappd so you can check out their taplist and can / bottle selection.

So looking down their bottle and can selection, I found something that caught my eye – Salted Caramel. Always a favorite, and something I always enjoy, even from larger breweries like Genesee’s Pilot Series one I had a few years back courtesy of my sister who lived up in Rochester at the time. It came in a bomber bottle and was a bit more expensive for it, but nothing crazy so (7.50$ at the bar for a bomber bottle isn’t bad at all really). So to while away the time before the draft I ordered it and a glass and sat and relaxed and enjoyed.

Beer: Salted Caramel Imperial Moo-Hoo
Brewery: Terrapin Beer Co.
Style: Stout – Imperial / Double Milk
ABV: 8.5%
IBU: 30
Untappd Write-Up: Salted caramel milk stout

Not the most inspiring or interesting Untappd write-up, but at least there is one? Shrug. Either way, this is a completely enjoyable beer that doesn’t really need a write-up before you drink it up.

Appearance is dark black, nighttime black, Razor Ramon hair black, jet engine fuel black, no moon out midnight black, Cruella DeVille’s heart black. I think that’s enough descriptors for the darkness of the beer. Moving on to the head, it has a rich brown foamy head, with lots of interspersed and varied bubbles.

Aroma is a mixture of sweetness and some bitterness. You can smell cocoa, like cooking chocolate, as well as the caramel. You smell vanilla, but you also get notes of some bitterness, like salt perhaps or some hop characteristics or notes. I don’t quite know how to describe a bitterness smell for this, but it is present, sadly my words are lacking I suppose (or perhaps just not as good at understanding my nose as I thought I was).

This has a wonderful texture and mouthfeel. Its heavy and thick, but not cloying or clinging to your tongue. Its not problematic and it has almost kind of a grittyness to it, perhaps due to salt perhaps due to something else, not quite able to put my tongue on it (aha!), but it has a varied and interesting texture and complexion to this thats very interesting.

Taste is fantastic. Its a mixture of rich salty caramel, vanilla sweetness and sugary-ness, as well a lovely stout. Theres some hop notes of bittering at the end, and you get some bitterness from cooking chocolate (or so it seems), but the true stars of the beer – the salted caramel really stand out, and provide a fantastic flavor profile for this. This is certainly a sipper, not something to be quaffed down quickly or easily. The 8.5% slowly creeps up on you, and since its a bomber it’ll get definitely get you there by the end of the bottle.

I certainly thoroughly enjoyed this and would love to have more for cold nights or fall autumn nights around a bonfire with friends. Terrapin Beer Co. is from Maryland (as the name suggests) and so anyone in the PA/MD area should be able to locate their beers. They have a pretty impressive range of various beers and styles that are pretty good.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.91 (as of 10.16.19)

Be on the lookout for J. Doncevic’s post tonight / tomorrow, as well as a TON of blog posts from me all day Thursday and Friday. It’ll feel like a flooding after the recent drought of posts. So enjoy!

-B. Kline