Theoretically, there's nothing wrong with a low-calorie beer. In practice, the beers tend to be watery and without flavor. Terrapin is one of those breweries that might be able to pull victory out of defeat by imbuing their 99 cal beer with the taste of a more weighty beverage. I have to admit, looking at the paltry 4.2% ABV, and I am less optimistic than I was when I picked this up in the first place. Nevertheless, I still have hope.
The pale yellow beverage cannot be forced to produce significant head. Points of nucleation abound, but their efforts amount to very little. Once the meager amount of head that the beer started with is gone, there is virtually nothing to replace it. The aroma is a proper beverage, though. It has orange right up front, tangerine, mango, and maybe a little pineapple. I don't smell much of a malt, but a malt would probably wind up giving this a lot more calories than they wanted. So, I can satisfy myself with hops.First sip isn't bad, but it's not groundbreaking. It is definitely more watery than I would expect from an IPA, and the flavors are consequently very muted. The taste isn't bad, and it reminds me of a lot of the nonalcoholic beer that I had recently that I assume was intended for people who did not like to imbibe alcohol or perhaps were designated drivers or the like. It's a substitute for beer, but it is not easily confused with a regular beer. Perhaps a gulp will let this shine.
Tip-in is light carbonation sizzle with tartness encroaching on the front of the tongue while seltzer spritzed with fruit juice dances around the whole mouth. The middle cranks up the carbonation to the point that it nearly drowns out the spritz that has been shoved into the seltzer for what should be the meat of the beverage. The finish is a wave of acidity that meets the carbonation before a somewhat dry and relatively tasteless trail off.
Bottom Line: I know there is a point to these beverages, but I am at a loss to figure out what exactly it is.
1.75/5