Plum Tuckered-Out Double Double Porter
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

 

1955
Name: PlumTuckered-Out
Brewery: Hoppin' Frog
Location: Akron, OH
Style: Imperial Porter
ABV: 17%
Date: 2019
I am drinking Plum Tuckered-Out today. I served it at 48 degrees. I used my Collective Arts stemless glass. The pour did not create any head. Examining the color, I determined the beer charts to be around SRM 38—a dark brown, nearly black, and opaque. I am rating the beer average; the appearance did not show much.
The first sniff was prunes and raisins. Nosing the glass again, I detect molasses, chocolate, bready, and light floral. The plums and raisins are pungent, making it difficult to smell other aromas.
This beer is a beast. The plums and raisins flavors are prominent and upfront. The fruit component is sugary but not cloying. Other flavors are chocolate, bread, lightly toasted malts, hints of char, molasses, minerally, and alcohol. Tasting the flavors was slightly more manageable, but the plums laden the palate down.
The mouthfeel is warming, chewy and thick. The body is heavy, with low carbonation.
This beer is a challenge to drink. Small sips go a long way. The plums in the beer are almost too much. Sometimes, I feel like it is alcoholic prune juice. I don't think aging this beer anymore would temper this fruity beast.

I am very quickly ripping through all the beers I picked up in Cleveland last weekend. Here's yet another Hoppin' Frog beer, a brewery I've been loving lately, but also just had a rather strange one from them the other day that I didn't hate but wasn't great. This one sounds very interesting though, plum in a Porter sounds like a good way to amplify traditional Porter notes, but I'm not sure about in a massive one like this. Let's dive in

Pours a murky medium brown with a finger of light beige head that quickly fades to a thin ring and leaves minimal lacing. Quite a few floaters in here

It's definitely plum-forward in the nose, but it's integrated very well. I'm picking up on aromas of stewed cherry, plum, brown sugar, cocoa powder, molasses, dark bread, sweet caramel, and light tobacco

I'm not surprised that this is boozy in taste given the 16.8%, but the nose didn't really suggest much booze. To be clear I'm perfectly fine with this. On the front end of the sip I'm tasting molasses, sweet caramel, plum, stewed cherry, raisin, smoky tobacco, funky rum, cocoa powder, light vanilla, and dark bread. The swallow brings notes of jammy plum, stewed cherry, fusel alcohol, brown sugar, molasses, dark toast, cocoa powder, light caramel, and raisin

A medium body pairs with gentle carbonation, resulting in a slick beer. Finishes mostly dry and quite boozy

Despite the rather bad appearance, this is another great one. It didn't feel all that much like a Porter but still damn solid

12oz bottle poured into a snifter, bottle is around 3 years old

A- pours a deep brown color with a one-finger foamy light khaki head that has short retention and leaves nothing behind

S- aroma is primarily dark fruit; plumbs, raisins, figs, even some dark cherry. Undertones of chocolate, alcohol & licorice

T- sweet dark fruits are showcased up front with notes of raisins, figs, plumbs and dark cherries, similar to the nose. Mid-palate gives some malty cocoa and bitter chocolate, as well as a hint of molasses. The finish gives more dark fruit with a boozy linger

M- medium body with low carbonation leads to a slightly foamy mouthfeel that continues into a warming boozy finish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plum Tuckered out Double Double Porter from Hoppin’ Frog. Received on 1/3/21, cost $ 9.60 (Including tax) for a 12 oz bottle ($ 0.80/oz) from the brewery. Stored at home at 42 degrees. Reviewed 13/3/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated bottle other than “2020” on the front label. Served at 49.8 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 56.3 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Deep amber (SRM 15), slight haze.
Body – Brown (SRM 20), muddy and opaque. When rear-lite, same with marked effervescence and some precipitate.
Head – Miniscule (Maximum 0.4 cm, aggressive center pour), wheat, high density, average retention, leaving a two mm crown fed by effervescence around most of the circumference, and no cap.
Lacing – None. None expected at 17% ABV.
Aroma – 4 – Primarily light cocoa with some plum. No hops, no yeast.
Flavor – 4.5 – Begins slightly bitter from hops, slight cocoa flavor, dark fruits tending toward plum and raisin gradually appear. Still later, an alcohol burn arrives and slowly settles into the stomach where it quickly dies. No hop flavor, no yeast. No alcohol (17 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4 – Medium, almost creamy, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 Much less boozy than expected – A year’s aging has apparently mellowed it out. I don’t understand why more breweries don’t use plums because they produce an excellent flavor in beer.

 

Purchased for about $9 at the brewery. My wife thinks I've been spending too much money on beer (I've been buying $15 singles) so this price point is perfect for me, and for her. Poured up with a thick one inch creamy head full of bubbles, that dissipated quickly, leaving a collar around the glass. Color is dark brown, quite opaque. Smell is deep and full of dark fruits, as the bottle describes. Can't really get the scent of plum though. The beer does emanate an alcoholic scent. Taste is very sweet, quite malty as would be expected, and elicits raisins, dates, prunes, and the plum flavor that's advertised appears a few seconds after tasting. There is some bitterness that balances the intense sweetness, and this is a big big beer. Mouthfeel is moderately thick. Overall this is an incredible beer, I love that Hoppin Frog isn't afraid to brew bold flavors coupled with high ABVs. You really only need one of these - after just 4-5 sips I could feel it - if not share it with a friend because it's really good. I'm honored such a great brewery is here in my hometown.

 

This beer is a conundrum....in a purely positive way!

When you see the alcohol at 17% you immediately think boozy but the plum flavor is so perfectly done that I can't get enough of this beer.

It has all the characteristics of a barley-wine but with a delicious flavor of plum. I also feel/sense a fermenting raisin in the background.

I have taken this to some beer tastings where there are some very experience drinkers and this was an instant hit!

 

A: The beer is essentially jet black in color. It poured with a short beige head that quickly settled down, leaving a narrow collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderate aromas of plums are present in the nose along with notes of roasted malts.
T: The taste follows the smell and has lots of favors of dark fruits, of which plums are prominently featured, along with notes of black licorice and hints of spices.
M: It feels medium- to full-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation. There is some warming from the alcohol in the finish.
O: This beer tastes like a hybrid between a Belgian Strong Dark Ale and an Imperial Porter. The high alcohol content definitely makes this a slow sipper.

Serving type: bottle

A smooth enjoyable porter. Smells strongly of raisins and dark fruit. Taste is sweet and rich with a mild amount of bitterness. Very candy like. Reminds me of a plum flavored lollipop. Caramel and toffee. Mild roasted malt underneath. Dark bread resides quietly. You would not guess that this is 17% ABV. It's seems way more drinkable than that. Very subtle and dangerous. A slow sipper, this can be consumed over the better part of an hour and warming brings out more dark fruit flavor.