15th Anniversary Ale
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

Much of a Belgian strong, as I was getting malt not much in hops. Neutralized fish course of meal, spicy pepper steak, and great accompaniment to dessert pie with coconut cream.

Bottle: Poured a deep copper color ale with a large brown foamy head with some retention and light lacing. Aroma of roasted malt and caramelized malt with some vanilla and bourbon notes. Taste is also a mix of flavors between a barleywine and an imperial stout with some vanilla and bourbon notes with some residual sugar notes. Body is about average with some good carbonation and some warming alcohol notes. Interesting BA hybrid strong ale.

22 ounce bottle into a snifter. Had 2/12/22.

Pours a copper color, mostly clear, with a short, quickly dissipating head and light specks of cling. Aromas of bourbon, raisins, caramel, malt, dates, figs, light oak, a bit of a fruity aroma. Mostly similar flavors- bourbon, figs, caramel, raisins, malt, dates, light cherries. Has a spicy flavor and there’s light alcohol warming. Smooth for the ABV, a very good medium body, appropriately carbonated.

Lots of distinct aromas and flavors, although I didn’t seem to pick up the Belgian yeast or Candi sugar. A typically solid barrel forward effort from these guys.

15th Anniversary Ale from Hoppin’ Frog Brewing. Picked up at the brewery, Akron, OH, 03/10/21. $ 26.74 (Including tax)/4-pack of 12 oz cans ($ 0.557/oz). Also available in bombers. In reefer at brewery, stored at 37 degrees at home. Reviewed 12/07/22. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on bottom of the can “BEST BY AUG 30 2024”. Served at 53.7 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King Snifter. Final temperature 57.3 degrees.
Appearance – 3.
First pour – Deep Amber (SRM 15), hazy.
Body – Amber Brown (SRM 18), opaque. When rear-lite, still opaque but with a reddish cast. A moderate amount of precipitate rests on the inside curvature.
Head – Small (Maximum 0.6 cm, aggressive center pour), buff, instantly fizzes and rapidly disappears; leaves neither cap nor crown, just a < one mm broken bubble ring fed by lively effervescence.
Lacing – None as expected at 15% ABV.
Aroma – 4 – Light bourbon and sweet fruity malt. No hops, no yeast.
Flavor – 4 – Follows the nose but much stronger. No yeast and no hops. No ethanol (15 % ABV as marked on label) aroma or taste. However, gastric warming instantly occurs followed by burning of the nasal hairs as fiery exhalation occurs. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 3.5 – Full, almost syrupy, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.75 Appearance-wise it’s just another Impy stout/RIS/Barleywine/strong ale. i.e., unremarkable, and head-/lacing-less. In aroma and taste, it’s definitely been hanging out in bourbon barrels, sweet, sweet bourbon barrels! Mouthfeel borders on cloying. Best served while sitting in a recliner preparing for a nap.

 

Complex but hides the ABV really well. Hoping to repeat, defintely my favorite Hoppin Frog brew to date. Outstanding

Opaque dark brown body with a fat finger of tan foam. Smell is yeast driven, candi syrup and dark fruit abound as partners to the yeast, not the most balanced but fine. Taste is really nice with the flavor balance: dark fruit, yeast, peaty earth, candi sugar, a kiss of vanilla, and barrel emphasizes caramel, oak and char. Feel is warm, malty and yeasty, extremely smooth for style. An old world take on the style, fun. The wife loved it.

 

Hoppin’ Frog does good work & this sounds right up my sweet palate alley. 22 oz. bottle split with my wife before another weekend night of basement debauchery.

The pour is a slightly tased garnet that one can almost see through with a nose focused intently wild sweetness & hard bourbon. Man.

15th Anniversary Ale sets as phasers to bourbon. Large bore bourbon is up front, running through the middle, & shouting into the void on the finish. Molasses-like sweetness also threads through this monster which is, I assume, the Belgian candied sugar with a side of malts. Biscuity caramel, cola, plenty of heat for a cold November evening, wet leather. Big bruiser. I’d like to drink plenty but with the alcohol content of a small still, this glass is about right.

Hoppin’ Frog strikes again with a lovely beer that defies easy categorization. Excellent beer.

A: The beer is hazy dark brown in color and has some caramel-like hues. It poured with a short white head that quickly died down, leaving just a thin ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderate aromas of dark fruit and bourbon are present in the nose.
T: The taste has flavors of dark fruits such as black cherries along with hints of spicy hops. Some hints of bourbon are also present in the nose.
M: It feels full-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This strong ale has a lot of complexities and is a pleasant one to sip but drinks a lot easier compared to what I would have expected for a beer that is 15% abv.

Serving type: bottle

Excellent deep mahogany brown body with garnet hues; clear; fair carbonation; thin, patchy light khaki colored head. Earthy sweetness on the nose; dark pitted fruits, leather and tobacco juice. Powerful flavors hit the tastebuds: rasisins and candi sugar; figs and dates; bourbon; nice phenol presence for the style. Heavy body; velvety with a slight syrupy quality; sticky dryness coats the palate.

Hoppin' Frog is not known to put out wimp beers, and this anniversary ale is no different. It's heavy and complex, especially with its nose and taste. It's a beautifully crafted beast.

Poured at 50 °F

Thanks to Ozzylizard for this one from one of his boxes during NBS BIF #14. 12oz can (best by date 8/30/24) poured into 14oz teku. Poured a solid very dark brown color with just a thin cap of tan head that immediately dissipated, leaving just a thing ring and no lacing.

The aroma started off with a deep, sweet malt scent. Just a hint of oak at first, with nicely solid, but not overpowering, bourbon quickly coming forward.

Fairly similar on the tongue. The beer was very sweet, but the bourbon, oak, and a bit of alcohol heat balanced things out very nicely.

The body was fairly typical; smooth, even, and had a finish that started sweet but dried out nicely.

Drinkability was great, a smooth, easy sippin' brew. The rare brew that had me wishing it came in a 16oz can instead of my preferred 12ozer.

Overall, a great brew. I wouldn't mind if I had a couple cases of this to stash away and sip on for a couple years. A must try if you see it.

 

Barrel aged Barleywine. That’s all you need to say for me. This is a goddamn great version of it. Thick, caramel, dark fruit, bourbon barrel booziness out the yin yang. So much flavor, so much color, so much body. May be a bit oily is my only complaint. But damn. This one delivers.

Initially pouring and filling to a muddled melted chocolate brown with no head, the appearance seems to calm and somehow settle out to a darker cherry wood varnish despite no presence of sediment. It must be a chill haze, which I don't often see in strong ales or barleywines.

Amazing complexities of barrel caramel--if ever there were such a thing--combine with qualities of toasted coconut and even hints of grilled pineapple. This is an absolutely unreal delight. It's like a pastry barelywine under reinheitsgebot. The finish contains a balancing touch of toasty char over a smoothing notion of vanilla bean.

The slick medium-light body contains a minimal but crackly carbonation that finishes warmingly semi-dry, but not hot.

I don't know what I was expecting for this brew, but in reading the description leading up to their anniversary, it wasn't this masterpiece.