Pete's Perfect Palo Santo Black Lager
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

Pint can poured into a pilsner glass. Pour is mahogany to black with a pretty nice mocha head. The head didn't last too long. Nice, malty smell with a good whiff of something else - which I would describe as wood. It is different! It's kind of fruity and sweet. Let's say prunes and candy, like black liccorice or something with a touch of earthiness. The taste is similar. It's deep and malty with that touch of earthiness. The more bitter, earthy notes offset the sweetness into a delightful complexity. That leaves us with a mix of things like dark fruit, liccorice, coffee, chocolate, vanilla, toffee, roasty malt, and probably more. Mid-bodied with a lingering creamy sweetness. Dry, fair on carbonation.

Very good, very unique! Thinking more about it the next day, yeah, it's not REALLY a schwarz... it's a big beer with plenty of fruit.

Black color. Medium-sized, beige head. Roasted malt, chocolate, wood, and dark fruits are in the aroma.same notes in the malty taste with light alcohol notes and roasted bitterness.

 

Poured from a can at fridge temp. Pours black with minimal head. The nose is roasted malts, black licorice, earth, prunes, and molasses.

The taste is really interesting and super intense relative to the nose. A good mix of sweet and bitter. Black licorice, sweet toffee, roasted malts, leather, huge notes of dark fruit, bread, vanilla, slight coffee.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and the aftertaste is predominantly sweet toffee.

 

 

 

pours dark big head great dark malt taste good beer to drink again

Best by 3/6/26

I’ve had some weird overly sweet pastry-style beers from Hoppin’ Frog lately that haven’t been so great, so it’s nice to see them going with a more traditional style. That being said, it of course has a twist given that they’re Hoppin’ Frog, being barrel aged in Palo Santo wood and a whopping 11.9%. Let’s dive right into this insanity

Pours almost completely pitch black with a finger of creamy tan head that slowly fades to a thin cap and leaves minimal lacing

The nose is surprisingly gentle, but what’s present is really nice. I’m picking up on aromas of dark toast, black cherry, peppery hops, milk chocolate, smooth oak, baked apple, light roast coffee, light vanilla, and cinnamon

Oh wow, everything is way amplified in taste, and it’s honestly so damn good. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting dark toast, cinnamon, burnt caramel, milk chocolate, medium roast coffee, fig, baked apple, smooth oak, light toffee, and vanilla. The swallow brings notes of black cherry, molasses, dark toast, milk chocolate, cinnamon, black pepper, medium roast coffee, smooth oak, fig, light vanilla, and burnt caramel

A medium body pairs with gentle carbonation, resulting in a velvety beer. Finishes mostly dry and drinks significantly below its abv

This is a wholly unique beer. The typical Palo Santo character isn’t super aggressive, but everything works in unison. I’m very glad I have another can of this

16oz can from Tavour. Near black pour; thin, creamy beige head. Roasty aroma with notes of chocolate and raisins. Taste is sweet, roasty malts, dark chocolate, prunes, raisins, fig. Creamy consistency and a zippy bitterness at the finish.

8 ball black with an airy but level brown foam head.

It's a little more dark fruit forward than expected, pairing with a mild boozy punch and a touch of cinnamon, slightly leaning away from the cedary woodiness I was hoping to have my teeth kicked in by, nostalgic for Dogfish's brown.

Overall it seems a little closer to American barleywine to me, but my partner gets a lot more wood than I do right now though, so I'll definitely revisit another day, acknowledging that palate variation is real.