So there I was on October 6^th of 2016 at my Canton Taco Mac (by now you may feel as if you’ve been there yourself, even if you haven’t), drinking beer. Isn’t that wonderful? Anyway, this was a Thursday, and I scribed the following:

After this week which is not over yet I needs good beer, and this is a good beer.

I’ve long forgotten what was so troubling about that week, but I do vividly remember how wonderful the beer that I was sipping at the time, Terrapin Cacao Avellana was. This is a chocolate hazelnut porter (Avellana means hazelnut in Spanish if I am not mistaken), and is a draft-only specialty though would that Terrapin would make this one available in bottles and cans. Terrapin was the brewery of the month for October, and Cacao Avellana was one of the featured beers.

Terrapin has no listing for Cacao Avellana but Taco Mac says this about it on their website:

This is Cacao Avellana from Terrapin Beer. This beer is brewed with natural flavors and caramel color added and it will hit 6.1%-AbV.

Terrapin Cacao Avellana is made with local chocolate from Condor Chocolates and coffee from Jittery Joes. It has an alcohol content of 6% by volume with 30 IBUs and I paid $5.75 for a 20-ounce mug, and I got a free logo pint glass with that. This is not Terrapin’s first chocolate porter; they released Dos Cocoas first as a side project in 2009 and later under its own name. I complained it did not have enough body or chocolate, and I think they heard me. Cacao Avellana has much more of both.

My mug of Terrapin Cacao arrived an inky black color with a medium-sized tan head of foam and rich dark bittersweet cocoa in the nose. Taking a sip, the beer has a thick full mouthfeel, chock full of luscious bittersweet chocolate, licorice, caramel, and a very dry roasty powdery cocoa finish.

Wow is this good! I’m not really getting the hazelnut, it’s drowned out by the rich roasty chocolate, but this is certainly one of the best beers I’ve had all year, so full of deep dark chocolate. An amazing robust porter that hopefully we will see again.



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