Any good bottles at Hoppin Frog?

For informational purposes, those unfamiliar with the HF label art need look no further than Fred Karm's wallet. https://twitter.com/ArmonRickABJ/status/770359590554857477

 

Rebranding can be a painful and expensive endeavor. I've seen plenty of breweries wait to do so due to cost, and plenty do so at great expense only to have to rebrand yet again soon after because it wasn't well received. Some have personal relationships with artists as well complicating or locking things in. Just food for thought.

 

Not a HF hater, which I don't get, BTW. I'm thinking it's a humblebrag like the people who tell travelers, "Oh, skip Great Lakes, they're so over yadayada..."

The tasting room is as good as many others. Food's good, tap list is as good as many other brewpubs. Best bet for taking home some beers is Tuesdays when they bottle some one-offs.

 

Yeah I don't understand the care for the label either. The whole view is very odd to me.

 

Being amphibian- and reptile-centric I have no problem with the labels - there certainly are some godawful ugly ones out there and HF are better than most. Their stouts are above average but frequently seem somewhat overpriced. Never been to the taproom so I can't help you there - mostly I buy their stuff in the Giant Eagle chain in western PA.
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I really liked Hoppin Frog personally. I never buy their beer in the store, but the taproom was a great space to try out all their beers. Hope to get back down there at some point in the next few months again.I think it is the best option in the Akron area for quality of beer (Out of Thirstydog, R Shea and Aqueduct that I have been to).

The hateraid being passed around on HF is just silly at this point and borderline annoying.

 

Ah, the internet. Where dissenting opinion is "hateraid".

 

They have a ridiculous amount of bottles for sale to go. Some of the 'vintage' bottles are extremely high priced, but all of their normal BA and regular brews are what anyone would expect for 22 ounces. I can PM a picture of a current bottle any time, just let me know.

Couple points for me add on the positive position, which I rarely get to do since I'm always taking the negative position on other topics, but, if you're looking for a whole-hearted recommendation, here it is:

1. Their bombers are actually cheaper than a lot of other big name bombers of similar style and quality. They simply don't offer a smaller format that makes it appear more affordable. If you're drinking by yourself and don't feel like you can finish a full bomber, understandable, but their price is easily comparable per ounce for any other high quality beer out there.
2. Yes, their beer itself is top notch, high quality and delicious. If you're looking for an easy drinking beer, this probably isn't for you because they brew big beers with tons of amped up characteristics. Even their shandy will put people on the floor (I've seen it happen) because it tastes nothing like alcohol but is way stronger than a traditional shandy. Addressing a side tangent--of course the Turbo Shandy is no reason to go to the taproom, unless you're bringing a gaggle of cocktail drinkers or wanting to have the bar blend it with an IPA, which you can still do at home regardless, since Turbo is widely available on shelves pretty much everywhere. It's good but there's too much else to try if you haven't had a lot of their beers.
3. The taproom usually has a few barrel aged beer on drafts, a good variety of their regular stouts (which IMO is the best part, comparing multiple stouts on draft instead of cracking full bombers), a few seasonals, some IPAs (including a few collabs right now), some guest drafts, as well as some unique guest bottles for onsite consumption. They also are doing a few blends that the bartenders have been concocting, and have always done infusion towers on Tuesdays with ingredients submitted by customers or bartenders. If you're on the fence about any brewery of course you should stop by the taproom, I'd recommend it for any brewery in that case, just to find out for yourself definitively. But I recommend Frog's because there's just a ton of options for whatever your palate likes, and you can try things in smaller sizes. The slight downside is they have less room for guests taps than they had in the past--they tended to bring in a lot of rare beers, still do, just not as much.
4. @PJ_ regarding the rum barrel, you must be a big fan of rum, I take it? I thought most beers aged in rum barrels are just using the sort of barrels that rum producers acquired as previously spent bourbon barrels. While I did like some of the apple characteristics I got from the recent treatment of BORIS, (I don't know what rum they used), I've not had a rum barrel aged beer by anyone I've been really impressed by. Regardless, if you wanted it, anyone here on the Ohio forum near Akron could have gotten it for you, no biggie. They don't sell out nearly as quickly as the more hyped breweries do.

I'd say yesterday was a much bigger deal regarding the ABV limit being lifted, possibly the biggest, most historic occasion Frog has ever had, especially considering their 10 year anniversary coincided with it. While there wasn't a line out to 224 like I've seen once or twice, being the first Ohio brewed and released beer over the limit was definitely occasion enough for the crowd to be spilling out into the lot.