Hoperator
Frank Brewing Co.

 

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, 473mL in a pint glass. From the brewery's bottle shop in nearby Tecumseh, Ontario. Canned January 16/25. My 13th beer from the brewery, and 2nd for 2026. Ridiculously recommended by Sundae the cat...

 

 

473 mL can from Superstore; there's a date stamp, but it's on the black part of the label so I can't decipher it ('PKG ON 22' is barely discernible, so there's that). Served slightly chilled.

Pours clear and effervescent, with a golden-hued body that is topped with an inch of frothy, foamy white head that displays excellent retention. It is gradually reduced to a lumpy cap and generous collar over the next 10 minutes; gobs of lacing are deposited in its wake. Hints of melon, passion fruit, stone fruit and berries come through on the nose, alongside notes of citrusy grapefruit and orange. Impressive thus far.

A quality, sessionable pale ale - no idea how old this can is, but it tastes reasonably fresh to me. There is a hint of grainy pale malt sweetness in the background, but it's the tropical-themed hops running the show here; they impart notes of grapefruit, passion fruit, orange and pineapple, with a hint of melon. The flavours become a bit more piney and pithy towards the back end, resulting in a light bitterness at the finish; the aftertaste is similar, with a lingering twinge of fruitiness. Light in body, with middling carbonation levels that provide a bit of frothiness to this pale ale's smooth mouthfeel. For a well-hopped pale ale, it's exceedingly drinkable - I could easily go through six of these on a lazy weekend.

Final Grade: 3.98, a B+. I'm in the midst of a run of APA reviews, and Smooth Hoperator stands out as one of the best of the bunch - its citrusy, fruity hop flavours are just what I'm looking for from a lighter American-style pale ale. In fact, I don't think it's a stretch to say that it's my favourite Frank beer to date, and probably the only one so far that I'd seek out regularly. Haven't seen this anywhere else in Sarnia, so I guess I'll just have to hope that flats keep showing up on shelves.

Competent and decently executed hoppy beer, haven't had so so many of those recently. LCBO very fresh.

Pours light peach colored with a medium sized rocky head. Tropical hops dominate caramel malts in the nose. Apricot, passionfruit, lemon hop flavors mix with a solid doughy, caramel malt profile in the taste. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with medium carbonation. Moderate bitterness, some astringency and some residual sweetness in the finish.

A pretty good APA but the malt profile could be dialed back and cleaned up. Still worth a try.

 

May 11 2025

I've had a couple of beers from this brewery and my early impression is positive. This is simply a well made pale ale, hoppy with a bit of a spicy bite, firm on the plate without being overwhelming. Nice balance of hops and malt. Drinkable, worth a try.

5.5% ABV on the website, 5.1% on the can.