Hoppin Frog Hop Dam Triple IPA

Brewed by Hoppin Frog Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Akron, Ohio USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

22oz. Bottle: Aroma of hops, pine, evergreen, hop oil, fresh cut grass, and light citrus. Really smells a lot like fresh cut pine. Poured orange/amber in color with a very small, off-white head that greatly diminished but lasted around the edges and as a film on top of the beer. Cloudy. Lightly sparkling. Full of small and medium-sized particles throughout. Flavor is heavily bitter. Tastes of hops, pine, evergreen, light crystal malt, slight citrus, hop oil, and resin. Medium body. Slick, oily texture becomes lightly dry. Average carbonation. Heavily bitter, hop, pine, and light crystal malt finish is dry. 10%ABV is completely hidden throughout. A really nice hop bomb.

22 oz bottle. Clear brassy orange with a fluffy white head. Nose is orange and peach with cracked black pepper adding a nice sting. Creamy, chewy hop juice with a tingle. Taste is orange marmalade, toffee and pine finishing like a shot of gin. Big and hoppy but very drinkable.

Bottle, home. Good beer but a bit disappointing. This beer pours a pretty standard shade of orange-gold with a nice head, a shade or two of yellow past white. The aroma packs a lot of hops. It seems to run a bit more piney, but the big three American hop aromas, pine, grapefruit and floral, are present and accounted for. DIPAs seem to be locked in a battle for most fragant and Hop Dam does well in this regard, but I’d honestly prefer something more than pure strength at this point. The flavor is dry and generally good but just a bit too astringent/paint thinner heavy to compete with the best DIPAs. It’s nice and bitter, and I’m certainly not scared off by the astringency, but the best DIPAs (looking at you PtY) just drink smoother. Mouthfeel is a tad rough. I’ve just been bowled over too many times by too many other super-hopped DIPAs to be all that impressed by this sort of no-holds-barred take on the style. That said, I love hops, and this beer certainly provides a hop fix.

Bomber from Whole Foods (Tampa, FL). Pours a crystal clear amber to orange copper color with a one finger foamy white head that settles quickly. Aroma is a blast of hops and malt -- big nose of citrus, pine, grapefruit, caramel, honey, some floral esters. Flavor is about the same -- strong notes of floral hops, citrus, grapefruit, pine, caramel, honey, floral esters. Medium body with a strong hop finish.

22oz bomber enjoyed as fresh as possible. Pours a bright viscous glowing straight orange color, little hop specs floating around in the syrup. Aroma is wonderful and a kick to the face, huge citrus and fresh hops, orange, peach, super citrus, some toasty sugar, light pine and resin, very juicy, fresh Devil Dancer mixed with Hop Slam. Aroma is mouth numbingly bitter at first, then comes the teeth rotting sugar, eventually after it opens up a bit and one’s tongue adjusts to the bitterness does the depth show, mostly orange citrus, a bit Hop Slam-ish a la biscuit and honey but way more bitter. Full bodied, sugary, viscous, takes a while to drink, seems to need all that sweetness and body to fight the bitterness. Um... yeah... I could still taste it about 10 hours later =p

Bomber from Knightly. Mostly clear deep orange viscous pour with a persistent slightly off-white head. The aroma is intensely resinous and piney with a slight sweet accent. The taste is intense up front, but not astringent, and has a nice floral finish. Nice drinking. Impressed with the real hoppy stuff from them lately.

Bomber split with Raninator84. Pours to a lupalin-induced hazy amber with a thin white head. The nose on this beer steals the show. If you’ve never smelled whole hops right out of the bag, just pour yourself a glass of Hop Dam. As far as flavor, this beer delivers the whole hop experience, start to finish. The bittering lasts an eternity, and the immediacy of hop flavors comes quickly. Hoppin’ Frog proves once again that they are far more than "the guys that make B.O.R.I.S."

Rich amber pour. Aroma is loaded and I mean loaded with tropical fruit, sweet malt, citrus hops and floral hops. Flavor runs back and forth from bitter hops, to sweet hops to malt then back to bitter hops. Fun beer that will please the taste buds throughout!

Bottle from the release weekend. Pours a hazy copper-orange color with a medium thick light beige head that diminishes slowly. Rings of lacing on the glass. Assertive hops aroma with piney and citrusy notes. Rich body with a big resiny hops character with notes of citrus and tropical fruits, as well as a touch of sweet malt. The finish is piney hops with a grapefruit aftertaste. Overall this beer is a hop lover’s dream. Very good all around.

650 ml bottle
The latest release from Hoppin’ Frog is a monster that rivals Fat Heads new imperial IPA and barleywine for intensity. I give the edge to Hop Juju though because it comes across as a bit more balanced. This one is just a little too raw and you can’t age it unless you also want to kill the things that make it otherwise excellent. Were it not $13.99 a bomber I might buy more in the near future.

Aroma / Appearance - The semitransparent bronze body possessed a short lived head the color of brown rice. Grapefruit, cotton candy, pine cones, and a sweetness like Laffy Taffy permeated the air as it sat on the table. It was almost too cloying, like an overly sweet diet soft drink. Also it does not try to be subtle. If you cannot pick up the hops in this one you need to check for allergies or some sort of congestion.

Flavor / Palate - Hoppy this one bit from the first sip. Tasting like pine flavored Jolly Ranchers mixed with the dregs of a can of maple syrup it certainly was not mild. The mouthfeel was full and borderline cloying but managed to stay on the "good" side. A caramel malty finish accents the hoppy bite well giving this nice balance. Ultimately this should rank with almost any other non West Coast imperial IPA. The only knock might be a heavy price tag to match the high ABV.