Hoppin Frog BORIS The Crusher

Brewed by Hoppin Frog
Style: Imperial Stout
Akron, Ohio USA

(bottle from Sparky27, thanks Eric!) Pours black with just a minimal tan head. The aroma possesses a lot of tart berry, salted peanuts, dough, chocolate and roasted malt. The taste is very big on roasted barley, light coffee and chocolate, with a lingering roasty finish. Light hints of berry skin also appear throughout. The finish is also lightly salty and roasted with just a subtle bitterness. The mouthfeel is incredibly smooth from the oats, and the 9.4% never makes itself apparent.

Bottle/ Poured motor oil black with a wisp of a brown ring. Nose of roasted malts, coffee, chocolate, and vanilla. This beer has a huge body and mouthful, extremely viscous. I like to start these off on the cold side, for two reasons .First, its like a stout milkshake, which I find very pleasant. Secondly, I enjoy how the flavors open as it warms a bit. Great tasting, and easy to drink stout, very smooth, with a touch of sweetness,and then an solid bitter finish.Great stout.

I love these oatmeal impies! Sweet, smooth and smoky. Pours a black dark with minimal head, flavor is raisins, chocolate and coffee. Notes of currants and brown sugar in there. The pour let out a tinny smell, but this is nowhere in the nose of the beer. Ends on a drying note, from sweet to dry.

Aroma of roasted barley and a hint of alcohol. The flavor is of malt with coffee aftertaste - there is also some caramel.

Pours a very deep black that is almost opaque with a good sized tan head that shows good retention. Some sudsy lacing is left behind. The aroma is rich and bursts from the glass with notes of dark chocolate, roasted coffee and espresso, vanilla cream, and some bittering hops as well. Really nice aroma on this one. The dark chocolate and roasted coffee flavor dominates upfront, but is then smoothed out by the oatmeal and vanilla cream. The oatmeal leaves a silky smoothness on the palate, which is really nice. Full bodied, silky smooth, and a creamy mouthfeel lends to awesome drinkability with no heat from the alcohol at all. Just a really great imperial stout all the way around.

Bottle at GABF 2008. This was the best beer we had that evening. We drank it because of the catchy name. This beer was tremendous. It won gold as best imperial stout, I later learned. I will be picking up some to cellar.

Smooth malt, oat, cereal, coffee, and chocolate malt. Also somewhat phenolic but not overwhelming as it blends with the chocolate very well. Amazingly dark black body, thin mocha/chocolate head with nice lacing. Flavor is roasted cacao nibs and mocha, oats, and a sweet dark fruit hop finish. Full bodied velvety smooth wonderful mouth. Warming dry bittersweet finish. Amazing beer.

smooth malt, oats and a bit of coffee. But for me the alcohol was not disguised well enough. A little heavy for me. I liked the Silk Porter better...I didn’t like this one nearly as much as everyone else apparently.