Outta Kilter
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

I picked up a single of this beer from the local store. From an aluminum can, adorned with a bagpipe-playing frog, it pours a reddish-rust color with lots of haze. The head is a tanish-brown. It has a strong malt and caramel, bready aroma. Appropriate. The taste is sweet with plenty of brown, Maillard flavors. Full in body. It could be a bit richer and more well rounded, but overall it is still a delicious Scottish Ale.

Pours a fairly clear amber with fine head.

Smell is sweet and malty with notes of brown bread, pine, dried fruit, molasses, leather and toffee.

Taste is sweet and malty with solid bitterness and notes of dried fruit, raisins, brown bread, molasses, leather, toffee and citrus peel.

Mouthfeel is medium, soft, smooth and well carbonated.

Overall, a terrific Scotch ale.

 

 

 

It's been so long since I've had this, and my reviews were so short back then, I'm completely deleting my old review and starting fresh with this new batch, freshly canned for the first time in 12 ounce servings.

The appearance is foggy burnt copper-red with a moderate but dense creamy khaki head that slowly settles to a curled ring. The turbid body seems to settle out to fairly clear over time, without leaving much sediment, so it seems to have been a deceptive sort of chill haze apparently.

Quite malty, but also yeasty, this is nothing like the local rival you might expect it to be--the stellar Wulver by Thirsty Dog. Instead, it's almost like a lager, a doppelbock even. There's a banana wheat characteristic within a rounder, fuller thick body, that's still quaffable and subtle. However, there's a hard to pinpoint accent that pops up just before the softly semi-dry finish that's reminding me of jalepeno, without the heat.

Lightly toasted, the malt's not quite pumpernickel, yet somewhat like rye, but mildly nutty, like Brazil nut. The hops are herbal, and not quite grassy, but maybe this is where I got the jalepeno from--it's got a sort of allium character to it, without being sharp. I don't know what it is, but it's unique.

Both for Hoppin' Frog, and the ABV more generally, this is a surprisingly mild brew in execution that's much more drinkable than you may think coming in.

On tap

A-pours a dark amber color with a small fizzy white head that reduces to a film and ring around the glass

S- sweet caramel, brown sugar, oak, vanilla, bourbon, molasses

T- dark fruit and alcohol mixes with brown sugar and molasses, bourbon, oak and vanilla, boozy finish

M- medium body and carbonation, foamy mouthfeel and slightly creamy finish

From Zombier. In Teku glass. Playing Custome Quest 2. Pleasant notes and, even not being the barrel aged version, I also seem to find some woody notes.However, its too much alcoholic for its abv

 

 

 

 

Poured at 45°F from a 22oz bottle (no date) into a thistle. Consumed on 28Sep16.
SMELL: Mild aromas of red cherries, black cherries, figs, and plums commingle with subtle bitter cough syrup, campfire, and caramel aromas.
3 out of 5
TASTE: A mild fruitiness of red cherry, black cherry, fig, and plum begins to unravel the taste profile. Mild flavors of caramel and subtle flavors of bitter cough syrup quickly trail as both of the cherry flavors intensify. Subtle campfire and black tea flavors next enter to provide the expected smokiness and bitterness of this style. The display of flavors concludes with subtle tree nut flavors and whispers of alcohol and spicy rye as all previous flavors persist.
3.25 out of 5
NOTE: I find it difficult to comprehend my experience with this beer. I do not understand how a brewery, with which I have only had great encounters, can make one of my favorite styles so poorly. I am unsure as to what caused it, but the perception of cough medicine is not something I desire in a beer. It was not easy to overlook despite the subtle amounts that were perceived.

 

 

 

 

 

22 ounce bottle served in a pint glass.

Pours a ruby brown color with off-white head.

Smells of roasted caramel malts.

Taste is just okay for me... not great. Seems to be lacking that deep, complex wee heavy taste.

Wouldn't recommend this really.