Bourbon Barrel-Aged Plum Tuckered-Out Double Double Porter
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

2023-05-07
16oz can served in tulip shaped wineglass. Best By October 25, 2025. Received in NBS BIF #17, from @Ozzylizard.

Pours a dark, murky brown with little head. Smell is vanilla and caramel, very bourbon-y, some booze. I don't think I get much plum unless I try to. I get a milk chocolate aroma.

Taste has some heat to it, but in a pretty nice way. Definite booze, tempered a bit by the chocolate I got in the aroma, fairly sweet but not cloying. Again, nothing I would clearly describe as plum, but the sweetness has a vaguely fruity character -- maybe a little bit of a maple turn to it?

Mouthfeel is hefty, thick, but not too sticky. Overall, it's very interesting and very enjoyable.

Bourbon Barrel Aged Plum Tuckered-out from Hoppin’ Frog, 16 oz can. Picked up at brewery 22/03/23. Reviewed 04/04/23 (Review 3064). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on can bottom “BEST BY OCT 26 2025”. Stored at 42 degrees at home. Served at 58.1 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 61.7 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Deep Amber (SRM 15), clear.
Body – Brown (SRM 20), opaque. Under direct light, same but some precipitate is visible. When rear lite, shows a translucent ruby.
Head – Average (Maximum 2.5 cm, aggressive center pour), goldenrod, high density and fizzy, quickly receding to a 0.2 cm crown and no cap.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 4.25 – Smells like chocolate covered cherries and bourbon. No yeast, no malt, no hops. No ethanol (16.8 % ABV as marked on can) aroma.
Flavor – 4.25 – Begins lightly sweet with chocolate and less cherry than the nose. No malt, no hops, no yeast. Medium gastric warming which becomes harsh as it warms. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Bourbon is more prevalent on post-consumption belches than during quaffing.
Palate – 4 – Full, approaching syrupy, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 I consider plums to be an underutilized fruit and thus anyone using them gets graded slightly easier. Flavor and aroma are both good, with the 16.8% ABV being well-balanced against the flavor. Unfortunately, I cannot taste or smell any plums. This should be served at a slightly lower temperature range than I used, i.e., cellar temperature.

Anxious to try this. Only the second to review this after the legendary Sabtos. Purchased from the brewery one week after it came out, and poured out into a snifter. A light glaze of tiny bubbles danced across the surface of the beer for a moment after it was poured, but then sneaked back into hiding. The beer is dark opaque brown. You can't see through it at all. Smell stings my nose with bourbon, leather, and dark fruit. The taste is overwhelmingly strong, I get a strong sweetness to it that highlights the warmth of fruit, chocolate, leather, and smoke, with gorgeous notes of purple plum engaging my tastebuds. It is a mysterious taste, I can't say I've ever had anything quite like this. Mouthfeel is lightly bubbly and tickles my tongue. Props to Hoppin Frog for making a beer that has a unique taste that is unlike most other beers, this is singular indeed, strong, powerful, and wonderful. This is joining their elite tier of beers that include Den Haag, TORIS, and Gavel Slammer, that are simply awesome offerings to the world of beer. I will be drinking this again.

Though dark, it's also clear, displaying dark brown with ruby red edges all under a quick to dissipate tan head that disperses to a creamy collar.

Made up of powerful barrel and booze, yet more quaffable than the base, caramels, dark fruits, butterscotch, bourbon soaked cherries, and more define the palate.

Intense af, but again, more drinkable than the non-BA base.