#20, Volume 2: Hop Toddy
The Schlafly Tap Room

#20, Volume 2: Hop Toddy#20, Volume 2: Hop Toddy
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From:
The Schlafly Tap Room
 
Missouri, United States
Style:
American Strong Ale
ABV:
9%
Score:
86
Avg:
3.82 | pDev: 15.45%
Reviews:
23
Ratings:
30
Status:
Retired
Rated:
May 05, 2018
Added:
Feb 01, 2011
Wants:
  2
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
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Rated: 4.25 by BrewSTL from Missouri

May 05, 2018
Photo of Franziskaner
Reviewed by Franziskaner from Missouri

3.81/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Copper colored with an exceptional amount of carbonation bubbles erupting from within. There's a solid inch of creamy light beige head on top. The aroma is of lemon, honey, and wheat. The leading flavor is lemon, but I can taste the sweet bourbon and the wheat. The honey and bourbon barrel aging give it a dry, yet crisp finish.
Mar 25, 2018
 
Rated: 4 by jaydoc from Kansas

Jan 05, 2014
Photo of gpogo
Reviewed by gpogo from California

4.14/5  rDev +8.4%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A- Orange amber hazed body with a slightly off white head.

A- Sweet aromas with a nice sour funk. Honey and lemon.

T- Initial tart sweet flavor, lots of honey flavor. There is a bitterness, but the citra flavor is largely aged away. Nice hit of alcohol heat just like a hot toddy, and it sticks around. Finishes and keeps an aftertaste much like a hot toddy.

M- Medium body moderate carbonation.

D- A very interesting beer, not what I expected at all. The similarity to a hot toddy is interesting. Wish I had one fresh to compare with.
Dec 31, 2012
 
Rated: 3.5 by Bobbydigi from Kansas

Dec 17, 2012
 
Rated: 4 by Texasfan549 from Texas

Aug 12, 2012
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Reviewed by Aiptasia from Florida

1.72/5  rDev -55%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 1 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.5
I got this beer from Jmagnus87 in a great beer trade. While i'm very appreciative of everything in the trade, this was not the beer for me. I'm not a fan of sours, so i'll do my best to review the beer with that in mind.

A) It pours beautifully golden honey amber with a perfet 2" head in a glass beer stein. Decent retention and short legs with modest lacing.

S) Sour notes of clover, lime and almost brett funk. Missing the whiskey barrel notes advertised on the bottle.

T) Sour bomb and brett, lemony funky biscuit was such a clash of tastes I couldn't hang with it and wound up pouring it out. I don't fault the style so much as a personal dislike of the flavor combos.

M) Mouthfeel was fine. Medium bodied and fizzy.

O) Sorry, just didn't like it. Heres to hoping the other Schlafley styles are more appealing to me.
Jan 31, 2012
 
Rated: 4 by mtparty37 from Illinois

Jan 25, 2012
 
Rated: 4 by BigJarv79 from Missouri

Nov 15, 2011
 
Rated: 4 by heyta from Georgia

Nov 14, 2011
Photo of Daniellobo
Reviewed by Daniellobo from District of Columbia

4/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
"The beer equivalent of a Hot Toddy" as warned by the text on the bottle. Quite the sweet and unusual concoction...

Presentation: 750 ml brown capped bottle. Screen-printed label with a simple retro look noting the brand and celebratory digits. Back narrative offers an overview of the celebratory occasion, background of the brew, and main description. Notes 9% Alc. by Vol. Served in a snifter.

A - Hazy medium to deep amber pour, frothy head, medium to low retention, fair surface memory and some touches of lacing.

S - Sweet and somewhat medicinal nose, like a cough lozenge… but not in a bad way. Lemon and suckle honey, which...

T - …are carried all the way to the palate. The range is quite complex an unusual. But the medicinal candy theme continues with the honey, lemon, a complexly sweet sense of pineapple coated the overall sweetness. The bourbon aging as such is unperceivable, or the wheaty characteristic, at least in any common way. There a sense in the citric sweetness with some vanilla and a hint of spiced texture that could reflect on the grain and barrel.

M - Medium body with generous prickly carbonation that aims to hold up the otherwise predominantly lemony sweetness that lingers in the mouth.

O - Intriguing, an unusual sipper. An acquired taste for sure.

Notes: Quite a praiseworthy experimental offering. Now, they play rather well with the notion that this is a beer take on a Hot Toddy and they do that with provocative dexterity. But Hot Toddies are really not my thing, never were. So while the brew is fun, and worth the try, on a personal level it did not quite do it for me.
Aug 19, 2011
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Reviewed by wnh from Missouri

3.75/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
750 mL bottle poured into a tulip.

Pours a unique rose-tinted amber topped by a moderate but fleeting foamy light tan head.

Honey and citrus dominate the nose, but are not overpowering. Notes of wheat and a bit of warm spice give this a hint of witbier quality. The hops add a mixed fruit aroma, not unlike Juicy Fruit gum. Alcohol is noticeable but tempered by the lemon.

Surprised me on the palate. There's a blast of tart lemon up front, followed by the pungently sweet honey. Has the flavor and texture of an American wheat ale mid-palate, then fades into a rich, brown-sugary bourbon note on the finish. Quite well balanced, if only because there's a bit of everything in this. Lingering citrusy hops with faint accompanying bitterness.

Full bodied, mostly soft and rounded but with a pretty good bite from the combination of lemon juice, bourbon, and bitter hops. One of the more uniquely tasting beers I've had the pleasure of consuming, but somewhat difficult to drink at the same time.
Aug 15, 2011
Photo of maximum12
Reviewed by maximum12 from Minnesota

3.76/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Thanks to kier for this bottle, popped open to celebrate Great Taste of the Midwest Eve. Well, eve of Eve. Possibly the best holiday of the year!

Interesting description on the label...don't think I've seen words put in that order before. Wheat, bourbon barrel, honey, Citra, wow. Pours a fogged orange in the mid-translucent range. Even allowing for warming, not much in the smell category except a distant wheat field overgrown with grass gone to seed.

Hop Toddy is...unique. A wheat field dappled with honey, & there's a few small oak seedlings dotting the landscape. Plenty of lemon to feed my burps & allow me to taste it twice. Nice spicy hop twang on the backside, almost a rye feel to it. No barrels appear to have been harmed in the making of this brew. Nice, nice drinkability for a big beer dominated by wheat. Goes down like half its ABV.

Very good beer, enjoy both the off-beat strangess as well as its easy-drinking nature.
Aug 12, 2011
Photo of homebrewhawk
Reviewed by homebrewhawk from Kansas

4.42/5  rDev +15.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
750ml bottle served in a Blvd. Tank 7 Tulip. Poured a light copper with a finger of white head. Very fragrant with lots of tropical fruit, mangoes in the aroma. Lighter side of medium bodied. More tropical fruit in the flavor. Barrel comes out in the finish with vanilla, but it is pretty well intergrated. Some hops flavor but not a lot of bitterness. Very drinkable. Very original. I thought this was fantastic. I wish more people could have had a chance to drink it as it was a very limited release.
Jul 20, 2011
Photo of glid02
Reviewed by glid02 from Georgia

3.88/5  rDev +1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Bottle purchased from the Wine and Cheese Place via mail order.

Pours a hazy light copper color with a slightly off-white head that leaves decent lacing.

Smells of slightly sweet pale malts with good amounts of breadiness and hints of toffee. Also present are mild amounts of light citrus and herbal hops and even milder amounts of oak.

Tastes similar to how it smells, though more robust. Pale malts up front are joined quickly by moderate amounts of bready flavors and citrus hops. Midway through the flavor profile dries out a bit with the addition of heavier herbal hops and oak that carry through to a mildly bitter ending. Mouthfeel is good, with solid carbonation.

Overall I had higher hopes for this beer but even so it was nothing if not interesting. Not worth seeking, but if you happen across it it’s worth a shot.
Jul 17, 2011
Photo of BradLikesBrew
Reviewed by BradLikesBrew from Missouri

4.1/5  rDev +7.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Peachy orange body with a white head.

Whiskey is the primary aroma, with honey and citrus adding secondary notes.

Hop Toddy is about as weird, muddled and messy as the label would have you believe. Whiskey, wheat, lemon, citrus, honey, sweetness, bitterness, more whiskey. Strange, but in an odd way, I think it works. The flavors are different and layered, like an everlasting gobstopper. And yet, in its own way it is balanced.

Medium to full body with lowish carbonation.

I enjoyed Hop Toddy. I didn't know what to expect, but I did like it. Complex, flavorful, bizarre, but tasty.
Jul 04, 2011
Photo of TheWhiskerReview
Reviewed by TheWhiskerReview from Tennessee

3.62/5  rDev -5.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Pours a hazed orange-amber with a frothy 1-finger off-tan head. Leaves a ring of retention about halfway down the glass. Lacing is mild.

Although this was aged in bourbon barrels, I'm having a hard time picking out any bourbon scents here on the nose- mostly the honey, lemon juice and bigtime mango, papaya and orange flavors from the hops. Ok now that it's warming, there's some subtle undertones of caramel and vanilla. A vague barrel earthiness tucked in there, but they're both buried deep.

Palate is full-bodied and malty sweet, with some additional body and sweetness coming from the honey and bourbon, while the hops have a mild midpalate impression and quickly yield to the lemon juice infused semi-tart finish- leaving more of those nice tropical flavors long after the sip is swallowed.

Structurally, I can't find many faults in this. It's balanced wonderfully and the finish is endless which always gets the most bonus points. With regards to the flavors, however, I'd have to say that I was most disappointed because this wasn't nearly as interesting as I anticipated. I was expecting it to lean near the side of too crazy with the bourbon influence providing a sharp and perhaps unharmonious contrast to the lighter wheat, lemon and honey flavors, but instead the bourbon influence is very mild, leaving the brew with same sort of citrussy, herbal flavor profile you'd find simply in some American IPAs. But overall, it's still very delicious and that's what counts. I'd rather this be drinkable than something I pour out halfway.
Jul 01, 2011
Photo of AlCaponeJunior
Reviewed by AlCaponeJunior from Texas

3.97/5  rDev +3.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Orange to copper and pretty cloudy, head was two fingers and fluffy, dissipated somewhat slowly, and left sheets of lacing that rejoin the brew after a bit.

Smelled very nice! Wow lemons, lots of them, along with an interesting citrus hops component, and a light bit of sweet malts.

Taste wise you can tell they added honey, but it's not overpowering. Lemon and orange flavors are ever-present, especially dried lemon peel. Some wheat flavors are evident. Hops add a nice citrusey, floral component. A sweet malty background seals the deal.

Feels slick and sweet, with a lemony, floral aftertaste. Body is medium and carbonation is light.

I served it at fridge temperature and it was nice, but as it warmed the texture improved, becoming more honey-like, and the flavors seemed to come out more. Oddly, I never really detected too much of the bourbon-barrel aging. It was there, but didn't really add a whole lot of bourbon flavor to the brew.

Overall it's a very interesting beer and a great experiment gone right. Schlafly is one of my favorite breweries and this strange brew just adds to that sentiment. An excellent experiment!
Jun 26, 2011
Photo of gford217
Reviewed by gford217 from Georgia

3.65/5  rDev -4.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
750ml bottle.

Pours a hazy deep orange with a creamy beige head and some clingy lacing.

Aroma is very sweet with honey, caramelized sugar and A good bit of lemon zest. There are some citrus hops as well, though the sweetness is more dominant.

Whoa, the taste is far more interesting. There is an initial vanilla and bourbon burn which I didn't get at all in the nose. That is immediately followed but the honey and wheat sweetness. There is also some tart lemons in the finish and a big alcohol burn.

The mouthfeel is full bodied and seriously sticky on the palate, a bit too thick and sweet for my liking.

This is certainly a unique beer with a whole bunch of flavors competing in the taste. It didn't come together completely for me but it did start to grow on me as it warmed.
Jun 21, 2011
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Reviewed by TheBeerAlmanac from Kentucky

4.12/5  rDev +7.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from tap into a snifter

A: Pours an amber, orange color and has a pretty fizzy head that doesn’t linger.

S: Smell is really nice: orange citrus, wheat grain and some hoppiness. It’s sweet, tangy, and bready all at the same time.

T/M: Carbonation is low in this one, but it suits it well. The hoppiness is light but fitting and orange and grapefruit notes indicate it’s a citra variety. This beer was aged in bourbon barrels to give it the warm, hot toddy like flavor, but honestly it’s not very noticeable. Surprisingly, at 9% alcohol, it doesn’t taste strong at all.

I really would have liked to catch more of the bourbon effect but it’s still really good. Maybe I’ll just spike my next one with some Buffalo Trace and drink it warm, that will really bring it on par with a hot toddy. Or a punch in the kidney.
Jun 18, 2011
#20, Volume 2: Hop Toddy from The Schlafly Tap Room
Beer rating: 86 out of 100 with 30 ratings