New to Ohio (2018)

lol wut?

 

Any Short’s Hoppy Holiday pack sightings in Ohio?

 

/s

 

So the new Choc/Marsh Boris and Boris 300 are fantastic. They won't get the hype of other releases in OH, but I highly recommend. The Choc/Marsh stands toe to toe with any choc stout I've had and the 300 is barrel forward, with each barrel actually contributing, which is awesome.

Choc/Marsh releases to public at the brewery tomorrow (11/15) and Boris 300 on Black Friday.

 

What are the prices?

 

$15 and $17 for 22oz bomber.

 

That’s actually not too terrible.

 

I'd be interested to know what else is cheaper than HoFro ba stouts at this point. Especially out of Ohio, and per ounce. Whatever reputation they earned for being pricey...just totally undeserved and irrelevant at this point, especially for the quality. Every single other ba stout producer in the country--outside of, what, Lagunitas?--looks down on Frog prices from way on high.

That said....Wolf's Ridge. Why the fuck is no one ever talking about Wolf's Ridge. Let's ignore that pricing because it's bonkers, but seriously. What a fucking god damn shame. No beer geek in Ohio wants Ohio beer. If it ain't brewed with 30 pounds per barrel of vanilla bean and rapeseed in a hippie commune on a south Pacific island, Ohioans could give af about it. At least that's what it seems like as far as spreading the word. Ya'll really need to up that hype game.

 

Serious question, are you affiliated with them? Admittedly I was in the camp of they're over priced and very mediocre after being disappointed with them and avoided for years.

Your regular advocatation of them in here made me try them a couple more times.

Having said that, not a whole lot changed in my opinion. I enjoyed boris royale somewhat however ended up dumping 3/4 of toris. It was a $16 letdown that wasn't worth the calories or hit in ABV to enjoy enough to finish.

 

No, certainly not affiliated with them, although with the amount of time I've spent there, a few of them know me pretty well.

I can tell you which beers are the real standouts for me, but if you dumped TORIS, I really don't know what to tell you. Like, wtf? (Wait, you dumped over a pint of beer that you rated a 3.89?! Man, Untappd has really skewed beer ratings!)... While it's a bit stronger than my personal preference, it's better than almost any other non-flavored, non-ba stout at that ABV I've ever had. By a long shot. And the Night Vision variant is outrageous.

I've never had a "bad" beer by them, including beers aged almost 10 years. I know you're a Voodoo fan, but by comparison, I'd take Frog stouts every day of the week. Not only do they consistently execute at a high level, they don't believe in such a thing as stout season. They make that shit all year around, put it on draft ceaselessly, and don't even blink about it. Whereas I have spat out Voodoo stouts on numerous occasions, and have visited their various locations without even being able to taste anything as dark as a Brown.

The only Frog stouts I've not enjoyed are usually the ridiculously off the wall beers that are overly hopped or spicy with peppers, but that's not a big sample size and not really their main game, and also not really all that far off from Hotting Up.

Why don't you try the two above mentioned beers and come back with thoughts? I'd be happy to hear them. I haven't had 300 yet, but have a few in the house now and am looking forward to trying it, if I don't get it on draft first. 200 was one of the best beers I've ever had, but this one sounds like it's in a different realm, for better or worse.

 

Wolf's Ridge is doing just fine without the hypemongers ruining it for everyone else.

 

I don't use untapped. My ratings on here (apart from years old ones where I rated anything decent a 5)are as follows

4 is average, or a "C" I'd drink it again but never seek it. I really dont utilize the 20 incriment scale of 0.25 - 5.

So 3.75 is a "D", and 3.5 is an "F". If I rate something below 3.5 or above 4.5 they're true outliers.

So yes, I dumped a 3.89 C- by my standards beer. It was no better than a storm king stout. I was sad I paid $16 for it and reminded why in the past I considered them overpriced and understood why they sat.

BTW, voodoo has really fallen out of favor with me. I'm anything but a fanboy and fully agree a significant portion of their BRC is simply Pittsburgh hyped mediocre at best stuff with a few outliers. Their regular rotation isnt worth touching IMO.

I call it how I see it and am just saying that hoppin' frog has consistently let me down. You're free to tell me any brewery in my hood or the world has let you down and I'm not going to get upset.

What shelf HF would you reccomend highest if I were to, once more, endeavor to understand what I've so far missed?

 

Surely you don't interpret the aggregate of others' ratings based on your narrow, arbitrary rating scale...do you?

 

No, of course not. Everyone rates to a different scale. I was explaining to Sabtos where 3.89 fell on the scale that I use.

I'm not sure the relevance though? The conversation we're discussing is that per my taste, Hoppin' Frog has not been worth the money. I've not commented on them being "overrated" if that's what you're implying. Only overpriced for what I've gotten back from them.

 

I pretty much only want Ohio beer; fuck hype

 

I'll second this. I buy far more beer from Ohio breweries than from ones from my home state.

 

Not here to argue who is better one way or the other, but the non Lagunitas out of Ohio breweries that I can think of that are the same or cheaper per oz would include Founders, Clown Shoes, Heavy Seas, Avery, Epic, Central Waters, and (if memory serves correct) Dark Horse.

I don’t think that most people are complaining about the barrel aged prices. It was usually the $8-9 for a bomber of regular stuff like Shandy, Porter, Frosted Frog... Maybe I am wrong though because everyone likes to complain about Wulver price point which is a lot better than the 2 that Hoppin Frog is releasing next week.

I think Wolfs Ridge non flavored/ba stuff (excluding Red Legacy, Cinnamon Toast, and Daybreak) is some of their best. The Dire Wolf varients have been mostly disappointing. And do you mean “bonkers” as in good deal, high, or all over the place because I could get on board with all over the place. The 500ml prices are rough, but the TDS series at $13 and Red Leagcy at $18 on the high end is bonkers that they are that cheap really. Especially now that they went with the 750 format. Conpare those saisons to Jackie O’s that are anywhere from $12- $18 for a 16.9/500ml. Or the Pretentious sours (pretty good stuff too). Now, Hill Farmstead Arthur at $10 cheap?... Cost of living is a little higher though.

 

I dumped the majority of my TORIS too. Not because it tasted bad, but because it was so damn heavy it was like tryin to eat a stack of pancakes. I find quite a few if theirs that way. I recall Brad mentioning once how he would read reviews/hear comments about how awesome something tasted but they could never drink one alone. I have had my share of those. The Bruery and Angry Chair stand out

 

Sorry for the giant post, responding to different sentiments all in one post. It's not a rant, I promise.

That's fine, but some of the beers they're making are not just worthy of the hype, but are aimed directly at stirring it up. It feels, more than anything else to me, like people just aren't as interested in them as they are in non-Ohio beers .

I can understand how a smaller format would be preferable, (coming with a smaller cost per bottle but not necessarily per ounce), but I still don't really see how they're actually overpriced.

Just my personal view, but a 3.89 is a high rating to me--not exceptional, but better than average. The reason I mention Untappd is that's where my mind goes when thinking of over-inflated ratings. People tend to give 4s for "good to okay" beers and 5s for "great" beers, and that's about it, which really skews the results. I don't get it, because I think there's a real place for 1s, 2s and 3s. To me, 4 is a real standout, and 5 is a very rare, exceptional experience. Your description of TORIS would be something like a 3 or lower for me...but I also disagree with that description. But hey we're all different.

I'm not going to get upset that you legitimately don't like Frog after giving them multiple chances either. Palates gonna palate and I appreciate you giving your two cents tbh. I still hold BORIS and DORIS in very high regard, particularly DORIS. I don't really tell people to go out of their way to get it anymore because most people don't give af about regular ass stouts. I often send them as one of my extras in awesome trades though, or at least a can of Infusion A, which still beats almost any peanut butter stout or porter I've ever had (having just had PB PM Dawn, as well as Traxxx a month or two ago)--it's a pretty perfect beer for what it is. TORIS is a bit to strong but still delicious to me, and Gavel Slammer is way too much, but it was cool they came right out of the gate with it when they were legally able.

I'm not saying you need to give them more chances than you already have, but if you haven't had the following and you come across them, I'd give them a chance (particularly if you have someone to share it with besides the drain ). Especially considering you liked BORIS Royale, some of these are significantly better. But then again, that probably speaks more to a variation between our preferences more than anything else.

Extended BA BORIS and/or BORIS 200 were both exceptional beers, while the experience was slightly different, they are essentially the same beer.

Vinnamon Sin did make it to the public after being in the Rare Beer Club and I've had numerous people that didn't care much for HoFro rave about it.

BORIS Maple Whiskey BA is also exceptional.

B.O.R.I.S. Bairille Aois isn't easy to obtain anymore but it's one of their older entries that's still really impressive

Almost all of their barleywines are excellent, in this order for me: BA Naked Evil, regular Naked Evil (two different experiences), BA Northern Hoser, and Intensity.

Port BA Frog's Hollow was pretty fun

For those that like a more boozy kick in their BA stouts, Gazebo BORIS and BORIS Buff are solid.

And c'mon Tequila Turbo Shandy

Good list, but...better tasting and higher quality than Frog? Some of those not by a long shot. Others I ain't mad about, but they're different as well. Obviously my opinion, but Lagunitas is hit or miss--when it's a hit it's great, but that is usually at the same time a pretty heavy handed coffee ba stout. Founders is pretty massive, but afaik, Epic and CW are pretty big too. I've seen CW's barrel room and it's impressively immense for what I had ignorantly assumed to be a quaint little producer. What I'm more curious about is the drastic price difference between CW's 12oz ba bottles vs. Jackie O's.

Wulver is excellent, and Frog offering it on site for as long as they did was awesome, knowing they won't achieve the same thing and don't need to. But have you had BORIS 300 or Marshmallow BORIS, since you're definitively saying Wulver is better? They're different styles so that's a tough comparison, but Marshmallow is pretty, pretty good.

All over the place I guess. I love their Clear Sky series, but I am also quite fond of their Dire Wolf series. Not my favorite stouts, but a lot more solid than a lot of stuff that gets way more undeserved hype by comparison. That said, $25 for Salted Chocolate?! People really seem to lose sight of the greater landscape and perspectives really get strangely warped when it comes to HoFro.

That's odd to hear again about TORIS, but I do tend to have 8z pours of it, although I have killed a bottle once.

I find HoFro stouts to have a more substantial body to them, but just right and not too heavy for me. I think of something like BA Sump as heavy, while I think of Angry Chair as cloying, and Bruery, Dogfish Head, and Jackie O's as boozy and thin. People like these beers differently for different reasons, but I like Frog for their balance, complexity just from regular brewing ingredients, and the substantial heft that feels how I think a quality stout should feel, while also not being sweet or boozy (until it gets into TORIS and higher ABV territory). I can drink Frog beers alone and do often, but tend to prefer to share the relatively smaller pours and bottles of JO's with friends. Ultimately I've always thought that people that like Jackie O's actually prefer bourbon to beer in some respects, because of the comparable mouthfeel and flavor profiles, and vice versa for Frog...

 

I’ve never been to Hoppin Frog when they release bottles, how long do bottles like these typically hang around for?