I opened up my bottle of Terrapin's 14th Anniversary Ale and poured it into a tulip glass. The head was gone before I could pick up my phone to take a picture. I recall it being somewhat two-toned pink and orange. But after a minute in the glass, all sign of foam was gone and only the light trickle of carbonation to the surface gave me a visual sense that this wasn't flat. The ale is a slightly cloudy rusty orange color.
The Belgian yeast definitely stars in the smell and taste of this tart red ale. A sniff draws in aromas of tart cherries and Belgian candied sugar. Along with the sour smell comes along peat and red wine. The warmer my glass gets, the more the fruits seem to vary more from the cherries to also being joined by plums and raisins.
When I take a sip, the sweetness of the candied sugar and plums stick out to me first. But it doesn't take long for the plums to get closer to a tart cherry flavor and is joined by red wine tannin, some earthiness, and a squeeze of lemon. As the sip wraps up, the tartness gives way to sour. The aftertaste is mostly cherries, but not as tart as they seemed during the sip. The red ale is medium bodied and coated my tongue well. Despite the lack of head and rather pitiful looking carbonation, I found it surprisingly not flat feeling in the mouth on Saturday night.
As I tend to do, I reserved some in the bottle to sample the next day. The experience was more or less the same as the initial tasting. Really, only the carbonation seemed to struggle a bit the next day. I wouldn't call it flat, but it was less bubbly and dynamic with the mouthfeel as the day before. Otherwise, the smell and taste were very much the same as the previous day.
If you like sour or Belgian ales, I definitely recommend this bottle to you. I was lazy and ate some pizza and Mexican food during my two tastings. They worked fine, but I think pairing this with a rich chocolate or a red-meat-focused dish would be divine.
