• Terrapin is open to the public for tours and tastings every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 5:30 – 7:30.
• Educational tours run at 6:00, 6:30 and 7:00.
• Live Music!
• Souvenir glasses for tasting are $10 each. A portion of each glass sale goes to support local charities!
• Over 10 unique brews on tap every day, year round!
• It is about a three hour ride from Hampton.

So there you have it, an award winning brewery in our region that offers tours and tastings. Mull it over, or in the comments section post your suggestions and we will highlight them here as well.

As for Friday: Remember a 6 pack that is not on the list of tried beers, and a club name. Also if you want a sampling glass our fearless Cannuck leader has  plenty of them.

This was one of the most interesting tastings of the meeting.  What was a Minnesota beer doing in little old Hampton, SC? Nobody at the meeting, outside of Terry,  knew much about this brewery so a little research was needed by our crackpot research team here at hbc.com. Here is what we found via the Schell’s website:

The August Schell Brewing Company is a brewing company in New Ulm, Minnesotta. It was founded by German immigrants August Schell and Jacob Bernhardt in 1860 and passed into the possession of the Schell family in 1866. It is the second oldest family-owned brewery in America and became the oldest and largest brewery in Minnesota when the company bought the Grain Belt rights in 2002.

So this brewery has some tradition, and it has according to the Minnesota Legend MBurke a loyal following in Minnesota.  So with this information in hand we present Schell’s Pilsner. Brewed to represent a classic American Pilsner (which is different in style than a Czech Pilsner) this is a great representation of the style.

Here is what the Hampton Beer Club had to say: ( You will also see the average ratings for the main categories)

• Highest Rating 23 out of 30
• Lowest Rating 15 out of 30
• appearance 4.17 out of 5
• aroma 2.08 out of 5
• mouthfeel 3.75 out of 5
• flavor 4 out of 5
• overall impression  6.08 out of 10

It had an average of 20.08 on the brew-club scale, and finished ranked 7 out of 9.

Final Impressions: This was a decent pilsner. The aura of the brewer’s history, the nice packaging and clean, crisp taste all make it a worthy brew. Now if we could only find a way to get it around Hampton!

Several of us are brewing today at 4:00 PM in Frog Hollow. Please feel free to stop by and see what the process is all about. We will be there until 9:00pm and will have plenty of tasty brews to drink as well.

Hello everyone!

Just as a reminder several members of the club are getting together tomorrow in Frog Hollow to brew a batch of all-grain home brew. This process, which will take the malted grain and convert it along with water, yeast, and some adjuncts into a delicious summer ale, will take roughly 5 hours. We are starting at 4 and anticipate brewing until 9-10pm. We are also bottling two batches as well. So you can see the beer making process from start to finish Saturday in Frog Hollow at 4pm. Feel free to stop by with some brews, and just take in the scene.  Email me at escaife58@yahoo.com for directions to my house.

Editors Note: This is the 3rd in a series of 9 review of the beers sampled at the Hampton Beer Club’s monthly meeting.

For most South Carolinians that keep an avid eye on the beer section of their local grocery store, New Belgium Brewing company has made a notable and recent splash. This Fort Collins, Colorado based brewery is quickly gaining some well deserved respect amongst beer enthusiasts throughout the states. Their roots are firmly in the home brewing culture and it really shows in their final product. These might not look as polished as some of the other mass marketed beers, but they are tour De force in flavor. While offering this new taste of brew to most American’s New Belgium is staying real to the traditional brews of their namesake country Belgium. One of the most recognizable Belgium styles is the Wit. Wit literally means “white”. This based on medieval brews that did not use hops as a preservative, but rather spices, and gruit. Today the spices are usually citrus peel, coriander, and small amounts of hops. Mothership Wit follows this style perfectly and produces a Witbier classic.

The pour is cloudy, hazy, and slightly opaque. This is what a wit should look like! The aroma is of wheat, orange, and coriander. It is all there and it is a beautiful blend of the elements involved. Again this is a spot on representation of the style.  The taste is slightly sour as the lactic acid produced in this beer has a chance to mingle with the gruit and create a pleasantly refreshing taste that finishes very smooth.  The  Hampton Beer Club rated it as follows: ( You will also see the average ratings for the main categories)

• Highest Rating 25.5 out of 30
• Lowest Rating 18 out of 30
• appearance 3.83 out of 5
• aroma 2.83 out of 5
• mouth feel 4.42 out of 5
• flavor 3.58 out of 5
• overall impression  7.42 out of 10

This beer finished with a 22.08 average rating and was 3rd out of 9 beers sampled at the February beer meeting.  The boys at Beer Advocate give it a 3.59 average out of 5. It is a generally well liked beer there. You can check out the reviews on Beer Advocate here.

Check in next week as we continue to review the beers sampled in February.  Also remember members of the club are meeting on Saturday to bottle and brew some beer. Look for more info on this Friday.

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of nine reviews on the beers sampled at the February Hampton Beer Club meeting.

Sam Adams where do you start with this company? It is easily the face of major American beer brewing today. The sell of Budweiser to INBev of Belgium, and the sell off of Coors and Miller have left the boys from Boston as the biggest American owned brewery in the United States. It seems like only yesterday Sam Adams was the upstart little guy working hard to change American tastes from the mass produced beer that most Americans reached for in the late 80s and early 90s.  The story of Jim Koch, the founder of the Boston Brewing Company (which is the parent company of Sam Adams), is a great succcess story and it all goes back to his passion for brewing. But that is a story that I hope to detail another day.

As of today there are plenty of beers brewed by Sam Adams, but one of the most popular is Cherry Wheat.  First introduced as a spring/summer seasonal it has quickly proven to be one of the most popular  varieties the company produces and is now available year round.
When we poured the Cherry Wheat it came out a beautiful light amber with a rosy tint to it, while producing a lovely slightly off white head. The aroma lived up to the moniker the cherry hits you, but sitting there is the nice wheat smell as well. This was a nice aroma. The taste was cherry with the wheat stopping in quickly to say hello! I found the cherry to be plesent but not overwhelming which is important in a beer because it is after all a beer, and not a wine cooler.  The mouth feel was slightly thin, and it was not too spritzy. If there is one area I would like to the see the cherry wheat improve at it would be in the carbonation department. American, and Belgium wheats taste best when spritzy and well carbed. This was slightly carbed and really kinda dull on the tongue. But overall I felt this was a good brew, a nice session beer I would enjoy on the front porch in some nice steamy weather.

Here is how the beer club rated it: ( You will also see the average ratings for the main categories)

• Highest Rating 27 out of 30
• Lowest Rating 18 out of 30
• appearance 3.75 out of 5
• aroma 4 out of 5
• mouth feel 4.17 out of 5
• flavor 4.08 out of 5
• overall impression  7.03 out of 10

This beer finished with a 23.03 rating out of 30 and was ranked 1st out of the 9 beers we tried. The members of the club generally found this to be an easy to drink, but tasty and accessible drink. If you are looking for a gateway brew to introduce someone to the flavors of the beer world this might be a nice place to start.  You can find the boys at Beer Advocates’ rating of 3.3 out of 5 and other independent reviews here.

Check back tomorrow for another HBC beer club review.

Editors Note: This is the first in a series of 9 reviews that will be posted on the site based upon the reviews of the HBC. Each week I will try and highlight two of the brews from the previous meeting.

When one thinks of Florida fine beer does not really jump to mind. The location and climate really do not lend themselves to fermentation of ales let alone lagers. And if you have ever visited Florida you know the tap water leaves a lot to be desired. But despite these conceptions stands a stark contrast: The Florida Brewing Company. According to the crack pot research staff here at Hamptonbeerclub.com we find out that the FBC actually dates back to 1896 and has a long history of brewing.  You can find out a bit more about the company by visiting this independent site.

The Southernmost Wheat has been brewed by the FBC to represent a Belgium Witbier with a decidedly Floridian twist by adding the succulent key lime to the brew. What results is a tasty, and unique take on an old world classic.

The Hampton Beer Club tasted this in rock glasses and the brew itself received decent praise.  If my foggy memory of the night (nine samplings and some Fat Tire to wash it all down will do that) serves me correctly this poured just a tad bit clearer than your typical Wit. The aroma displayed the lime characteristics but was not overpowering. The club rated it as follows: ( You will also see the average ratings for the main categories)

• Highest Rating 23 out of 30
• Lowest Rating 17 out of 30
• appearance 3.33 out of 5
• aroma 3.25 out of 5
• mouthfeel 3.58 out of 5
• flavor 3.58 out of 5
• overall impression  6.75 out of 10

It had an average of 20.49 on the brew-club scale, and finished ranked 6 out of 9. Not bad for a beer from a non-historical beer state.  The boys over at beeradvocate.com rate it as a 3.36 on a 5.0 scale. Their opinions and other independent opinions can be found here.

Join us tomorrow as we highlight a well known but under appreciated wheat: Sam Adam’s Cherry Wheat.