Hoppin Frog Barrel Aged BORIS The Crusher

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

Deep tar-black inky sludge pour with an inpenetrable dark body and a dark brown ~ almost purple head. Heavily roasted nose with massive bourbon, whiskey, and raisin smells as well as some nutty almond tones. The taste reveals that the wonderful creamy mouthfeel of original BORIS was not sacrificed here. This still retains the original’s warm, milky comforting mouthfeel. Although, I did feel that the oatmeal aspects were eaten alive by the booze; which rendered certain aspects of this brew to be somewhat flat. However, one should not care about such small details when enjoying the bounty of rich flavour and satisfaction that this whiskey-soaked frog delivers.

Bottle. Pours black with an average, frothy dark brown head, somewhat lasting with good lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, molasses, chocolate, nutty), average hop (flowers, herbs), heavy yeast (leather, broth) with notes of alcohol, prune, dates, cherry, and tar. Full bodied, creamy texture, average carbonation, and a bitter finish. Long duration, heavy sweetness and bitterness, moderate acidity.

Thanks a ton to 17thfloor for sharing this big boy! Pours a beautiful opaque black but the head was kind of small, losing a point for it. What was there was a nice dark tan creaminess. Aroma is huge bitter chocolate, vanilla, oak woody, sharp hoppy undertones. A big alcohol presence provides some unpleasant bite on the nose but otherwise the whiskey barrel is nice and bold. Flavor is quite interesting. Big hits of dark fruit and bitter chocolate prevail over the whiskey notes which come through more in the dry finish. Very rich and powerful flavors. While there aren’t as many flavors as might be expected, those that are there are quite aggressive. Full bodied and a soft but rich carbonation. Very different and excellent to sample. Flavors are thick and heavy. I appreciate all of the nuances of flavors that have changed from regular Boris though I feel like some aspects have been sacrificed for oak and wood flavors. 17thfloor has helped note that some citric hop fruitiness is present balancing the bitter chocolate.

Ridiculously expensive bottle shared with funkybrewster. Pours a chalky near black with a smaller but fine dense robust brown froth. As I suspected before opening, the generous hops in the regular Boris would probably be a detriment to aging, aroma is cocoa powder and fading piney hops with some toasted coconut and notes of bourbon, vanilla but they are definitely a little bit hidden. Flavor is super rich very dark chocolate, not particularly bitter though, and equally massive bourbon barrel, coconut, vanilla and citrus hops trailing just behind and thats about all that can fight its way to the taste-buds 8.5. The only part of the regular Boris that really makes it through the bourbon barrel aging is the oatmeal. Really nice long bourbon, oatmeal and dark chocolate aftertaste. Of course, much better as it reaches room temp. Body is super viscous and syrupy, not sticky though, I think a dinosaur might have gotten stuck in mine and entered extinction. I think I initial rated this a 4 after a few sips, however, as it warms and as the flavors develop my score has opinion has improved. I suppose the only thing really holding this beer back is the oxidation in the hops...

Bottle that Miketd very kindly sent my way via Craig, big thanks to the ever generous Mike, cheers my friend. This was consumed in a field at Cropredy Festival 15-08-09 Pours shark eye black, its got long sticky oily legs that cling to the side of the glass, it also has a rich creamy brown head. Aroma is rich sweet, smooth, whisky, oak and dark sticky fruits. The taste is more of the same but with roasty malts and some creamy vanilla, so smooth and loved by all sat around me which was most of our KBO morris team. Great stuff, cheers Mike and also thanks to Craig for bringing it over. A7 A4 F8 P4 Ov16 3.9

Pitch black with a small but dense light brown head, looks creamy and inviting. Aroma is vanilla, caramell, molasses and dark chocolate, very deep and complex. Flavour is smooth of chocolate and mild vanilla, caramell and molasses and finishes with a longlasting warming bourbon aftertaste. Sweet, but in a very balanced way. Mouthfeel is silky smooth and creamy fat. Lovely.

22oz bottle courtesy of BeerandBlues2. Color is a deep dark black. Carbonation is mellow producing a thin brown head. Aroma is deep and bold with sweet roasted scents. Its a full bodied brew that goes down with a rich creamy feel. Finish is bold with flavors of cheery, chocolate, a little caramel and just a hint of smoke. After taste has a slightly tart feel with a bit of the whisky showing. This is an amazing brew, I would love to find some more.

My favorite of the beers at the Pittsburgh Ratebeer gathering. Sampled from a 22 oz brown bottle this beer poured thick, black and oily with a trace of a tan head. The aroma was sweet chocolate syrup with a light floral hop undertone. The flavor was tangy, malty and had strong notes chocolate, floral hops, fruity hops, coffee and cherry. The finish was long, sweet and malty. The mouthfeel was thick and smooth. This beer coated the tongue and would not leave. Wonderful.