The DavidCyrus Blog of Wisdom

The Worst Beer in the World

I was fooled; learn from my mistake

The worst beer in the world is Terrapin Rye Pale Ale.
You wouldn't know it by the bottle, label, price, or its reputation. It uses a nice dark brown bottle (good for preserving beer taste) and the traditional pry-top cap. It's not a Global-International-Beverage-Conglomerate-Brew, rather, it's made out of a small brewery in Athens Georgia; the same town gave us the B-52s. The whole brewery has a Grateful Dead theme to it. That's where their name "Terrapin" comes from- the Grateful Dead's 1977 album Terrapin Station, which is arguably the Grateful Dead's only true progressive/art rock-style album.

The beer itself has won numerous awards as "Pale Ale of the Year" and "Best Craft Brew". The votes are in. This beer's a winner, right?

Wrong.

The instant I popped the cap, I was shocked. I honestly thought the beer had gone bad sitting on the store shelf- because I was smelling an odd, sharp odor similar to overripe fruit, but less sweet. Something like a decaying plum, but without the flower.

That is apparently the signature scent of this beer, which happens to be made with rye. After realizing that the smell wasn't coming from raisins stuck inside my food disposal, I mentally tried to connect the smell with rye. However, I found it impossible to associate the smell with anything but noxious chemicals. I've had rye bread, and enjoyed toasted rye sandwiches often- but to get this kind of smell, you'd have to cram a slice of rye bread into a small glass of grapefruit juice, and let it sit under your sink for two weeks.

I tried to get past it, but this beer fills your nose with the sharp scent of rye upon each sip. I drank my first (and last) of this beer from a glass, so the brew had plenty of time to breathe. It never lost the ability to ruin each sip with a skunky odor, right to the very last sip.

But it's not over yet- if you happen to burp, you then have to relive the same experience of smelling rotten rye with your beer. The only similar experience I have had was when I literally smoked some chicken kabobs over charcoal soaked in lighter fluid, and then burped the taste of kerosene for the next twelve hours.

The beer was not old. The label informed me that this beer was, "Best if enjoyed by May, Week 4." No, this is apparently what the brewmaster had in mind. The home website markets it as, “…a complex flavor.”

If that’s beer complexity, then I’m a minimalist. But I’m not a minimalist when it comes to beer. I enjoy all types of lagers and ales.

Not this one. Which is too bad, since it’s the only selection available locally from Terrapin Brewery.