New to Ohio (2018)

There are tons of 6 packs all around at Giant Eagle and Heinen's. It's pretty easy to find right now.

 

Not in my neighborhood as of yesterday afternoon. Will try some other stores further from home.

 

What part of town are you in?

 

Northwest. After visiting two heinens, three local shops, Whole Foods, and two giant eagles today, I found some at the last stop - another giant eagle. Will see if it’s worth the search this evening.

 

At the end of the day it's still just a beer, man. I'm sincerely sorry that you had such trouble.

 

Not trouble. Sometimes the hunt is the fun part. Found a bottle of CBS and a sixer of Burial surf wax along the way, so not complaining.

 

I can tell you that if you want to make a long drive then the Kroger on East State Street in Athens Ohio has a ton of IW brewed on 6/27/18.

I just picked up my 5th 6 pack today.

 

Bottling more IW vol 1 today.

 

I have kids that need to go to college man...

 

I picked up a sixer of Insane Wanderer and it really is one of the best west-coast style IPA's i've had in quite a while! Very impressed with it, glad to hear more is being made. Very well done.

I got mine at Heinen's Strongsville. They had a few cases on the floor.

 

I don't know if it actually improved over a month or so, but jfc...BA Northern Hoser is unbelievable, really delicious. Just picked up more. The 12 ouncers will be going public 7/28

 

Looked it up, looks interesting (despite my general weariness of all things Hoppin' Frog). When you say going public, do you mean going distro?

 

No just at the taproom in bottles/draft. To this point it's been a club-only beer.

It's delicious though. Sweet, but filled with bourbon-maple-y delight.

 

There's a Hoppin frog beer club...?

 

Yes this is year 2, with BA Northern Hoser being the first bottle.

Last year had a couple goofy ones and a couple major hits. Don't remember the order they all came out in, but it started with

Night Vision - TORIS aged in vanilla biters barrels. Was stellar.
Orange You Diggin' It IPA was swept up just as fast or possibly faster than Night Vision
Vinnamon Sin - cinnamon whiskey BA BORIS. Again, awesome.
regular Nothern Hoser "Canadian-style" Barleywine brewed with Canadian malt and aged with maple syrup and freshly-milled maple wood. Was actually kind of underwhelming, which is another reason I'm so impressed with the BA version.
Wild Juniper Jubilation - Gin barrel aged Wild Frog Wheat, one of the oddballs. Seems to be mellowing out now.
BA The Jam - raspberry hot pepper jam BA Silk Porter. Not too bad surprisingly, better than it sounded

 

With the price of their beers I'm a little afraid to ask the price of membership...?

 

This year, during the early renewal period inaugural members got a free chicken and waffle breakfast. Renewal cost $150 and came with a box of:

2011 Naked Evil Belgianesque Barley Wine "never been tasted by the public, stashed away for over 6 years in our cellars, this is the non-barrel aged version"
2013 Natasha Rocks America
2015 BA BORIS
2016 Re-Pete 2x
2016 BORIS Grand Reserve
2016 El Frogquistador
2017 Northern Hoser Exposure
2016 Rum BA Silk Porter

Last year there was also a brick oven pizza party at County Line Family Farm that cost $35 to attend, but the food was unlimited, they gave us a $25 gift card, and there was also unlimited HoFro beer, including various BA bottles you could open as you wish. I don't know of many places that invite you to members only events and give you unlimited food and beer, occasionally at no cost to you, so it's a massive bonus on top of just a really good time.

You do have to buy the club releases separately, but you're not stuck with a max allotment if you're unsure whether you'll like it. You can buy as many or as little as you want, at a lower price than if and when enough remain to go on sale to the public. I believe 3 of the first round's bottles sold out to members.

The first year was the same price I believe, and the initial benefit was:

2011 BORIS
2012 BA Naked Evil BBW
2013 BA BORIS Bairille Aois (has always been the better one over Van Wink, btw)
2014 Gulden Fraug
Gavel Slammer
Rum BA BORIS
SS Stout
Du Hast Mich deFrogt!

A couple of the included beers were pretty hard to come by, with Bairille Aois being one I've only had a few times and loved every time, and same for 2012 BA Naked Evil. The 2011 Naked Evil was a complete shock, and also surprisingly amazing for both its age and style.

Ultimately there's not much like that around here, and he's actually taken a few ideas from us collectively or otherwise over the years, he's really a lot more open-minded than people give him credit for. If he keeps running it the way he has been I'm a member for life, easy choice for me.