Port Wine Barrel Aged Pentuple
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

A cute little 8.45 oz. can that makes me feel like my mitts are the size of an NFL quarterback. I’m Doug F***ing Flutie, mother*cker.

The pour, what little there is, results in a murky amber brew with a nose that screams “BOOZE” with a side of fruit cup.

Pentuple – Port Barrel Aged is a bit of a letdown based on my love (& consumption) of good port. Alcohol hits often & hard. Brown sugar & red grapes, & the port is subsumed by the pinballing booziness into a faint fruitiness. Glad I split this with the wife.

Disappointing use of the barrel, this beer uses the ABV as a crutch & a centerpiece. Not one of the better efforts by a good brewery.

2023-05-29
8.45oz can served in a little Cantillon wineglass. Can is dated Best By NOV 23 2024. Received from @ozzylizard in NBS BIF #17.

Pours a muddy light brown or very dark amber, head appears then over about a minute it complete disappears. I can see a small amount of tiny bubbles struggling up to the top. Smell is hot -- I think I get some port right away, sweet and jammy, some dates or raisins as well.

Taste is interesting. Booze is there but certainly not so strongly as I got it in the smell. Dates/raisins provide a strong backbone of sweetness, but it's lightened by something -- maybe that's the port working indirectly and unintuitively in the background? Something is also balancing out the sweetness, I think it's a wood and fruit skin bitterness.

Mouthfeel is moderately thick, you can feel the alcohol in the back of the mouth a little. Overall, this is really interesting, and quite good, although it's not very pretty.

250ml can from Tavour. Dark brown pour, ring of beige head. Sweet, malty aroma, pit fruit, toffee. Taste is dark malts with a port wine edge, grapes, light tannic notes. Again, I ddid not pick up on the high ABV. Smooth.

 

Clear ruby color with minimal head and lacing. Dark fruit smells, notes of brown sugar, molasses, caramel, and port barrels. Taste is dark fruit and strong port presence. Boozy, boozy, boozy. Medium bodied, slight thickness. Not bad.

Regular pentuple was a hit in our house, this was not. And it is not for lack of flavor, no there is sweet caramel, candi sugar, light banana, apple, plum, red grape, and for 3/4 of the sip it is fun, massive and tasty, but the finish is hot sickly sweet booze and harsh yeast finish that overpowers. Nose is even more focused on candi sugar, dark fruit, and booze, soooo sweet and boozy. Feel is hot, cloyingly sweet, somehow smooth and grainy at the same time, just doesn't feel like the body is holding together. Pours light murky brown with no head.

 

Clear red-amber with a fairly short khaki foam head.

This might be the best one yet. The port barrel really succeeds in adding depth of flavor to the base's dark fruits and caramelized sugars, weaving well with the mild barrel char to bring in fantastically contrasting dark red wine tannins. These qualities take the Pentuple to nearly chewy heights before exhaling a toasty bitterness that's yet toffee-like.

The slick, nearly syrupy medium-full body has a tingly, numbing carbonation that comes to a lightly sticky but then drying finish.