Brewer- TerrapinBeer Company
Beer- RecreationAle
Style- American Pale
Ale
ABV- 4.70%
Description – RecreationAle
pours a cloudy golden yellow with fluffy off white head that lingers throughout
the drink and leaves behind a web of lacing on the glass. The aroma is hop forward with notes of citrus
and pine balanced against a lightly sweetened malt bill, not overly complicated
but still very enjoyable. The taste
follows the nose with a taste of citrus fruits up front namely grapefruit,
orange, and lemon followed by sweet grains that coat the palate and sooth it to
keep everything in balance before ending with a quick dry finish. The moderate carbonation and medium-light
mouthfeel give this beer a highly drinkable quality and makes for a great
session beer. Despite the session beer
label, this is a beer that drinks like the best of them and is perfect for days
when you want a few drinks to relax and enjoy a night out, but don’t want that
heavy feeling in your stomach or head.
RecreationAle is a great beer to have in your fridge at any time of the
year, thankfully it is brewed year round, and the sessionable qualities make it
even better, not to mention it comes in a can!
Food Pairing – The
hop forward nature of this beer make it a great pairing for spicy foods,
however due to the lighter body of the beer you may want to keep from going towards
overly spicy dishes as the beer may get lost in the pairing. RecreationAle is great for American foods;
especially those enjoyed during the summer outside or in, so keep this one on
hand for all cookouts! Pair this beer
with hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, or even steak, the hops will add
flavor to any of these dishes and the carbonation will be able to scrub the
palate clean every time. If you are
looking for a spicy food pairing, try having this beer on your next pizza and
wings night, the malts will match up nicely with the dough from the pizza while
the hops will grab onto the Italian seasonings.
While the wings will most certainly benefit from the subtle hop bite of
the beer and the malts will help sooth that burn left behind from the sauce and
leave the palate refreshed. Whatever you
decide to pair with this beer just keep in mind the session nature of it as some
dishes may overpower the beer and while it will not be a “bad pairing” flavor
wise it may cause the beer disappear on your taste buds and that most certainly
is a not a good pairing.
The Final Word –
There has been a slow and steady movement from many American craft brewers
towards more sessionable beers, those that are lower in ABV, however the
movement has only seen a small amount of successful session beers take
off. The problem is that brewers are
trying to make very flavorful beers but with fewer ingredients, typically
malt. The difficultly with this is that
when brewing hoppier beers the lessened malt bill creates a beer that can be
wildly out of balance and be far too bitter for the casual beer drinker to
enjoy. Thankfully, breweries such as
Terrapin have been creating balanced, enjoyable, and very sessionable beers
that are available to the masses.
RecreationAle has a tremendous amount of flavor packed into the 4.7% ABV
and the availability in cans makes it a great beer to pack with you on any outdoor
trips. Be sure to grab a six-pack of
this one and get out and enjoy the warm weather while it is still here!
Rating –
Where can I get it? –
Currently available in 12 oz. cans at:
Backyard Ale House- Scranton, PA; J & H Beer- Plains Township, PA; and Krugel’s
Georgetown Deli- Wilkes Barre, PA
Looks very good
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