B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher | Hoppin' Frog Brewery
Brewed by:
Hoppin' Frog Brewery
Ohio, United States
hoppinfrog.com
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 9.40%
Availability: Year-round
Notes / Commercial Description:
This Bodacious Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout will crush you like no other! This is the grand-daddy of all stout styles, with an intensely deep roasted and full bodied flavor. A robust hop character adds a refreshing balance.
Added by klewis on 11-10-2006
HISTOGRAM
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Ratings: 2,772 | Reviews: 1,045
4.35/5 rDev +2.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.5/5 rDev +6.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.25/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
A-Pours a very dark opaque color with a nice tan head and lacing
A-Aroma has mocah hints
T-The taste follows the nose with nice mocha flavors
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A nice complex stout
203 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
A-Pours a very dark opaque color with a nice tan head and lacing
A-Aroma has mocah hints
T-The taste follows the nose with nice mocha flavors
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A nice complex stout
203 characters
3.88/5 rDev -8.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Pouring from a 22 oz. bottle into a tulip glass. This will be my first offering from Hoppin Frog. Pours out pitch black and looking thick like motor oil. A thin caramel/mocha colored crown forms and holds retention for a few minutes until it's only a ring around the glass. The smell is filled with dark fruit like raisins and plums. Some tobacco notes even make its way in there along with oats and some roastiness. Bread and dark cracker like notes as well. The taste brings in those same dark fruit notes strong and they stay all the way through remaining to the back end. Everything else from the nose is more muted in the taste. Something about those fruit notes really take over. Even raspberries are coming to taste. Roast is still there. And it seems it's fighting over whether to be dry from the bread notes or wet and juicy from the fruit notes. Thinner body than expected for an imperial oatmeal and for seeing how thick it looked upon the pour. But overall this beer works and the dark fruit notes are powerful. Wish there was a little more bread or oat life to it but it's still good.
1,097 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Pouring from a 22 oz. bottle into a tulip glass. This will be my first offering from Hoppin Frog. Pours out pitch black and looking thick like motor oil. A thin caramel/mocha colored crown forms and holds retention for a few minutes until it's only a ring around the glass. The smell is filled with dark fruit like raisins and plums. Some tobacco notes even make its way in there along with oats and some roastiness. Bread and dark cracker like notes as well. The taste brings in those same dark fruit notes strong and they stay all the way through remaining to the back end. Everything else from the nose is more muted in the taste. Something about those fruit notes really take over. Even raspberries are coming to taste. Roast is still there. And it seems it's fighting over whether to be dry from the bread notes or wet and juicy from the fruit notes. Thinner body than expected for an imperial oatmeal and for seeing how thick it looked upon the pour. But overall this beer works and the dark fruit notes are powerful. Wish there was a little more bread or oat life to it but it's still good.
1,097 characters
4.4/5 rDev +4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
3.75/5 rDev -11.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.94/5 rDev -6.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
4.06/5 rDev -4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Solid black color, above average bidy. Seems to have a decent creamy thick feel. Aroma is alcohol, malt, coffee,chocolate, and a little dark fruit. Taste is very identical, the alcohol comes off strong and dominates. Overall it's very good but the alcohol is well hidden and masks some of the other flavors
307 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Solid black color, above average bidy. Seems to have a decent creamy thick feel. Aroma is alcohol, malt, coffee,chocolate, and a little dark fruit. Taste is very identical, the alcohol comes off strong and dominates. Overall it's very good but the alcohol is well hidden and masks some of the other flavors
307 characters
4.21/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.54/5 rDev +7.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.75/5 rDev +12.3%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
3.75/5 rDev -11.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.41/5 rDev +4.3%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Fantastic head production and retention; dark brown head atop a dark black body.
Dark fruit, red grapes, chocolate, molasses, and coffee on the nose. Fairly straightforward for a RIS, but very inviting.
Lush, rich chocolate and coffee tones on the palate. A bit of dark fruit, a bit of char, and a reasonable amount of heat - not overpowering, but not exactly hiding the ABV, either. Waves of roasted barley.
A little sweeter and richer than the average RIS - possibly more in line with an American imperial stout, although it's not up to dessert stout levels of sweetness.
Creamy and smooth on the palate. Thick but not chewy; bitter but balanced. Up there with the better double stouts you can get.
704 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Fantastic head production and retention; dark brown head atop a dark black body.
Dark fruit, red grapes, chocolate, molasses, and coffee on the nose. Fairly straightforward for a RIS, but very inviting.
Lush, rich chocolate and coffee tones on the palate. A bit of dark fruit, a bit of char, and a reasonable amount of heat - not overpowering, but not exactly hiding the ABV, either. Waves of roasted barley.
A little sweeter and richer than the average RIS - possibly more in line with an American imperial stout, although it's not up to dessert stout levels of sweetness.
Creamy and smooth on the palate. Thick but not chewy; bitter but balanced. Up there with the better double stouts you can get.
704 characters
4.51/5 rDev +6.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
This was poured into a snifter.
The appearance was a pure dark black color with a super nice looking dark eggshell white to almost tan foamy head that slid off at an adequate pace. Just a clipping of a concave lace.
The aroma seemed to blend finely between the roast and the sweet - taking some dark fruits to meld with a little bit of cocoa powder to milk chocolate and an ever so slight sort of dark chocolate nib sweetness.
The flavor was an exceptionally fine blend of sweet to roast between coffee and dark chocolate notes riding along some milk chocolate sweet notes. Delicate bitter coffee tones with the dark fruits coming in a little bit further underneath. Aftertaste is slightly dark fruity sweet with a slight roasty pulled dark to milk chocolate sweetness ever so slightly coming in underneath.
The mouthfeel was almost medium bodied, yes, I have to admit, this one seemed to have an ever so slight sessionable quality about it. I didn't mind that for me, but I can see a fair amount of people calling it "watery" and well, yes, we could say that with this beer. Me, I'd have to question that: is it entirely "watery?" Honestly, I'm only going to say: it's smoother and the oats are causing this to be this way. The finish is a bit sticky with some of those oats playing with the dark chocolate and milk chocolate sticky sweet pulling quality about it. Carbonation seemed barely there with this one. ABV did feel on par.
Overall, this is an exceptionally smooth oatmeal imperial stout well worth my time. I'd love to have this again.
1,547 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
This was poured into a snifter.
The appearance was a pure dark black color with a super nice looking dark eggshell white to almost tan foamy head that slid off at an adequate pace. Just a clipping of a concave lace.
The aroma seemed to blend finely between the roast and the sweet - taking some dark fruits to meld with a little bit of cocoa powder to milk chocolate and an ever so slight sort of dark chocolate nib sweetness.
The flavor was an exceptionally fine blend of sweet to roast between coffee and dark chocolate notes riding along some milk chocolate sweet notes. Delicate bitter coffee tones with the dark fruits coming in a little bit further underneath. Aftertaste is slightly dark fruity sweet with a slight roasty pulled dark to milk chocolate sweetness ever so slightly coming in underneath.
The mouthfeel was almost medium bodied, yes, I have to admit, this one seemed to have an ever so slight sessionable quality about it. I didn't mind that for me, but I can see a fair amount of people calling it "watery" and well, yes, we could say that with this beer. Me, I'd have to question that: is it entirely "watery?" Honestly, I'm only going to say: it's smoother and the oats are causing this to be this way. The finish is a bit sticky with some of those oats playing with the dark chocolate and milk chocolate sticky sweet pulling quality about it. Carbonation seemed barely there with this one. ABV did feel on par.
Overall, this is an exceptionally smooth oatmeal imperial stout well worth my time. I'd love to have this again.
1,547 characters
4.15/5 rDev -1.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours very very dark with a modest tan head. Lots of roasted malt on the nose, some cola and anise too. Slightly yeasty. A little boozy on the finish. Big roasted malt flavor, bittersweet chocolate, licorice, Pepsi, star anise. Thick and syrupy, viscous. Overall a nice take on the style, probably one of the first (GABF Gold winner in 2008 & 2011, before the craft beer explosion). Not my favorite. Unfortunately no bottle date.
11/22/17
Bomber
4.25 rating
467 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours very very dark with a modest tan head. Lots of roasted malt on the nose, some cola and anise too. Slightly yeasty. A little boozy on the finish. Big roasted malt flavor, bittersweet chocolate, licorice, Pepsi, star anise. Thick and syrupy, viscous. Overall a nice take on the style, probably one of the first (GABF Gold winner in 2008 & 2011, before the craft beer explosion). Not my favorite. Unfortunately no bottle date.
11/22/17
Bomber
4.25 rating
467 characters
B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher from Hoppin' Frog Brewery
Beer rating:
4.23 out of
5 with
2,772 ratings
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