Tag Archives: Hoppin’ Frog

Beer Review: Silk Porter by Hoppin’ Frog

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Beer Name: Silk Porter

Brewery: Hoppin’ Frog
Beer Style: Porter
ABV: 6.2%
Size: 22 oz. bottle
Beer Advocate: 86
RateBeer: 97

If you are a regular reader of this blog then you might have seen me write about how I will drink a heavy stout/porter regardless of the time of year; that being said, when the weather and the leaves start to turn, that need for dark beers becomes all the more insistent.  So when on my last trip through lovely NE Ohio I saw a bottle from Hoppin’ Frog that I hadn’t seenin Columbus before, I had to have it.

Silk Porter is aptly named at least on appearance; it is shiny black in color, and it has no noticeable head which makes it look as though it slides up and down the glass… like silk (get it). The nose brings some coffee notes as well as a bit of dark malt sweetness and maybe a hint of chocolate. The mouthfeel on the beer also reminds me of silk. It is exceptionally smooth with just enough carbonation to make it not fall flat on the tongue. Unlike the smell, the beer’s taste is mostly of sweet chocolate with light notes of coffee. The nose did foreshadow the nice amount of sweetness found when drinking this beer.

This beer is very very drinkable for a porter; it is smooth, chocolate, coffee, and (yes) silky. If I had one criticism, though it would be that it may be lacking the bitter coffee/chocolate taste that I enjoy so much in stouts and porters. That said, I think this would be a great beer for those trying to convert someone who is afraid of stouts/porters to the dark side.

Ratings:
Sessionability: 6-pack. There might be only one or two dark beers that I would consider  more drinkable and also interesting enough to make me want to have more than a couple.
Overall: 5-pack. Not the most exciting beer that I have ever had, but it is not even an ounce bad.
Would Best Be Consumed:  Crepes with strawberries and cream.

Video Review- Fresh Frog Raw Hop Imperial Pale Ale by Hoppin’ Frog

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Beer Name: Fresh Frog Raw Hop Imperial Pale Ale

Brewery: Hoppin’ Frog
Beer style: Imperial Pale Ale
ABV: 7.8%
IBU: 45
Size: 22 oz. Bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 87

In this video I review Raw Hop by Hoppin’ Frog brewery. This was the hardest review I have ever done. Sorry about the length but it was the only way to fully describe this very complex beer.

Ratings:

Sessionability: 2- Pack
Overall: 5-Pack
Would Best Be Consumed: By it’s self. The flavor is so unique that you should fly solo with this one.

Beer Review: Turbo Shandy Citrus Ale – Hopping Frog

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Beer Name: Turbo Shandy Citrus Ale

Brewery: Hoppin’ Frog (Akron)
Beer style: Shandy
ABV: 7.0% (from BA)
IBU: 7.3
Size: 22-oz bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 79
Untappd Score: 4 caps

WOW, THAT’S SWEET!!! This phrase could mean a couple of things. It could mean that my five-month-old just hugged one of my dogs; it could mean that I just listened to the latest Grizzly Bear song for the first time; or it could just mean that I am drinking Hoppin’ Frog’s Turbo Shandy.

First off, I am a fan of shandies – to a point. I don’t have issue with a beer with fruit, (@fitzohiobeer slightly disagrees) but it also requires balance. Turbo Shandy pours a hazy blonde with only a slight head that evaporates quickly, and then just sits in the glass kind of the way a wine cooler would. I poured two glasses at the same time – one for me and one for our editor – and I evidentially stirred up the yeast in the bottle because the second one got a few chunks of yeast in it. The bottle suggests you don’t let the yeast escape the bottle because sometimes yeast floating around in a beer can change the taste a bit – sometimes even improve it (try this with some hefeweizens for a fun at-home beer experiment). In this beer’s case, it seemed to have a strong impact on the nose. The glass without the noticeable yeast smelled of sugary lemon and the yeasty beer smelled much more of oranges.

Now for that sweet taste I was talking about earlier, that is what this beer tastes like, sweet and not much else. It has a bit of a citrus sour to it too; on the first sip it made my mouth water, but I think this was more a function of the sweet than the sour. It almost reminded me of the Lemonhead candies I would eat as a child. After the first sip, the mouth gets used to the sweet and sour flavors and they don’t cause as much mouth discomfort as they did initially, but the continued sweetness actually gave me a bit of a stomach-ache.

Hopping Frog has made some very good beers, but this beer doesn’t taste or act much like a beer; with its high alcohol content and fruity sweetness, it feels more like a wine cooler or something labeled a “malt beverage”. It is just way too sweet for me to enjoy, and besides the citrus, there isn’t a lot going on with this beer. If you had a friend that was not into beer, this might be something he/she would like; but if you like beer, maybe avoid this one.

Ratings:

Sessionability: I give it a 1-pack. I could barely handle the glass and a half of it that I had. I am very glad I shared this one.
Overall: I give it a 2-pack. Not the worst beer I have ever had, but it would not be a beer I would drink again.
Would be best consumed: This would be best consumed if I were an 18-year-old girl during my first week on a college campus. (Disclaimer: MattOhioBeer doesn’t condone underage drinking, but let’s be real: this is what your kid went away to college to do.)

 

Beer Review: Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S. – Hoppin’ Frog Brewery

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Beer Name: Barrel Aged Bodacious Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout (That’s a mouthful!)

Brewery: Hoppin’ Frog (Akron)
Beer Style: Oatmeal Imperial Russian Stout
ABV: 9.4%
IBU: 60
Size: 22oz Bomber
Beer Advocate: 94
Untappd: 4 Caps

This may be the first time I’ve been slightly disappointed in myself writing a review. I wanted to use this blog to not only to give you, the readers, a solid review of Ohio craft beer, but I also wanted to use this blog to try new beers from new breweries that I’ve yet to experience. So I’ll just admit that I’ve had this version of Hoppin’ Frog B.O.R.I.S. before. I won’t blame my beer shop’s lack of selection this week (I could have easily chosen a different Hoppin’ Frog offering), but I’ll blame it on the fact that this beer is delicious and to drink it again for a review is my honor.

B.O.R.I.S pours extremely dark and has a very thick look as it enters the glass, almost like chocolate syrup. The glass I used is 22oz and I’ll blame it on O.C.D., but it took me a while to pour the beer. (I like the bomber to be empty before I start to drink.) The head was dark tan, thick and took its good ol’ time to dissolve. The nose of the beer is very prominent with the smell of oak and whiskey, with it slightly giving way to notes of vanilla and roasted malt. The mouth feel of this beer is extremely smooth, as can be expected with a oatmeal stout, and the taste is outstanding. Up front you get a intense dark chocolate roasted malt taste that blends with a vanilla and toffee flavor that plays together well on the palate. The back end of the beer comes on strong with oak and whiskey flavor from the barrel, and at 9.4% there isn’t the whiskey/alcohol burn I was expecting.

I recently had a few Russian imperial stouts from bigger craft breweries, and I can say without hesitation I’d go with the Hoppin’ Frog hands down. I know that this version was barrel aged, but I don’t really care for whiskey that much and I’d still choose this over the others.

Ratings:

Sessionability: Even though this stout is coming in at 9.4%, I could have more than one of these in a sitting. But with a price tag at about $16 a bomber, I’d probably switch to a different Ohio brew after one. 2-pack.
Overall: This beer has a lot of different things going on (just look at its name), and I believe thats what makes it so special. 5-pack.
Would best be consumed: On a cold winter night, but since we aren’t in that season, a chilly summer night sitting around a bonfire with some friends and letting everyone sample what a great beer you have would do.