Hoppin' Frog Brewery Baltic Pirate

Baltic Pirate

 

Hoppin' Frog Brewery in Akron, Ohio, United States 🇺🇸

Collab with: Browar Widawa
  Porter - Imperial Baltic Regular
Score
7.74
ABV: 9.5% IBU: 50 Ticks: 31
Immensely smooth, yet complex and substantial. Made with our Baltic brewing friend Wojtek, a master of the style from Brewery Widawa in Poland. Pirating this awesome recipe from Baltic history, we created this crazy collaboration by getting all the traditional malts, Lager yeast, and even hops fresh from his source in Poland! Then for distinct hop character, we increased the kettle hops by 3x. Plus, to make it world-class, we added a touch of dried plum which is often part of the flavor profile of the best Baltic Porters.
 

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8.1
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

355ml bottle. Jet black colour with slightly late awakening, small, thick, creamy, moderately lasting and lacing, dark beige to tan head. Roasty, mildly smoky, minimally nutty, dark malty aroma, notes of smoked ham, smoked eel, some coffee, dark chocolate, bacon-wrapped plum, a touch of toasted nuts, dark caramel. Taste is chocolately, roasty, dark malty, slightly caramel malty, slightly smoky, minimally alcoholic and fruity, notes of dark caramel, dark chocolate, hints of smoked ham, wood ashes, plum wine; lingering, sweet-ish, malty and minimally warming finish. Viscous texture, smooth and soft, slightly cloying palate, fine, soft to flat carbonation. Excellent take on the style with malty, smoky and fruity aspects - very good!

Tried from Bottle on 29 Jan 2022 at 02:25


8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle from Beer Republic. Black with a light brown head. Aroma is sweet, roasted malt, wood and bourbon. Flavor is quite sweet and rather bitter. Sweet and rather bitter finish with a little warming alcohol. Oily and soft. 100620

Tried from Bottle on 10 Jun 2020 at 20:00


7.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle picked up from Beer Republic, Breda, Netherlands webshop and consumed at home Saturday 25th April 2020 at home Attenkirchen on another wonderful glorious day, once again wall to wall sunshine, day 39 of lockdown :-(. Tonight is homemade burger night, we have Smoked Chicken Cobb Burger, listening to Beirut - No, no, no. Pours black with a light beige head. Treacley, bitter and roasty, thick in the mouth, okay it's got a little boozyness but the bourbon does carry through into the mouth nicely, some fumes come back down the nose. This is very pleasant.

Tried from Bottle on 26 Apr 2020 at 02:13


8.8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

Hoppin' Frog approaching one of the new generation of Polish craft brewers to create a Baltic porter, indeed a style kept alive by Poland (along with a couple of other eastern European countries) in 'traditional' times, but in this case 'adorned' with the addition of dried plums for extra 'Polishness', so to speak... Mousy, creamy, pale yellowish beige head, lacing in dots and slowly dissipating over a black beer with only the thinnest of misty burgundy-reddish edges. Intense but alluring bouquet - detectable from half a yard away - of smoked bacon (unexpectedly so), black chocolate, beef stewed with a lot of bayleaf, toffee, toasted walnuts, indeed dried prunes (not too 'pushy' but still clearly there as an actual ingredient and adding a special aromatic quality), freshly grated nutmeg, hints of wet leather, cigars, bonfire, crumbled cookies, whisky, salmiak, ground hazelnuts, 'jenever'. Dense onset, sweet in a 'sedate' kind of way (dried prunes indeed, hints of raisins and dried figs), some beefy umami and an elderberry-ish sourish undertone, medium carbonated but in a refined, well-fitting way. Full, oily, even viscous body, thoroughly walnutty, black-chocolatey and toasty, remaining quite restrained in sweetness but with a clear umami streak highlighted by the smoky factor, reminiscent of smoked bacon (a clear Rauchmalz effect). The prunes add a noble, sweetish-aromatic touch, while the finish is packed with flavour, extends over a great length and warms the chest with a glow of whisky-like, but nowhere too obnoxious alcohol, sprinkled with hints of cloves, bayleaf, coffee and salmiak. Long, dense, complex and intense beer yet still very 'drinkable' and managing to keep all its components in place and well-positioned against each other; I did not expect the smoky aspect at all as it does not normally occur in traditional Baltic porter, at least not in this Rauchmalz way, but coming to think of it, it does fit into the whole remarkably well - and I can appreciate a firm dose of smokiness in beer a lot. More like a smoked porter, in fact, but regardless of that, one of Hoppin' Frog's most impressive offerings in quite a while, at least from what I had of them in recent years. Excellent, even better than expected - this is of international class.

Tried from Can on 21 Apr 2020 at 23:42


8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Sample at the Hoppin’ Frog Tasting Room. Brown-black pour with a medium tan head that recedes gradually to a dense film. Small patches of lace. Aroma of malt, dark chocolate, hops and yeast. Medium to full body with flavors of charred malt, bourbon, bittersweet chocolate, earthy hops and dark fruit. The finish is oaky with a malt and chocolate aftertaste. Good beer all around.

Tried on 12 Apr 2020 at 17:10


7.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle from Glasbanken. Black with a small tan head. Aroma and taste of dark malt, bourbon, chocolate and oak. Smooth and nicely drinkable. A pleasant one.

Tried from Bottle on 07 Aug 2019 at 12:12


6.4
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 5.5

Bottle sample at a tasting at Max's place. Thanks Stas & zvikar. Black, tan foam. Licorice, soy sauce, miso, dark fruits, dark chocolate, sweet and umami, alcohol, full-bodied.

Tried from Bottle on 31 Jul 2019 at 18:19


7.9
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

355ml bottle. Jet black colour with small, creamy, moderately lasting and lacing, beige to tan head. Roasty, chocolately, dark malty aroma with Bourbon BA support and a fruity touch, as well existing spiciness starts delayed, notes of dark chocolate, some coffee, vanilla, a touch of blueberry, caramel and marmite overtones, later some liquorice as well; aroma gains complexity while the beer warms up and developes nutty and woody flavours as well. Taste is sweet-ish, roasty, chocolately dark malty, slightly fruity, notes of dark chocolate, caramel, Bourbon, vanilla, hints of honey, blueberry, a dry oaky touch; minimally warming, alcoholic finish. Full body, oily texture, smooth and soft palate, fine, prickly carbonation. Nicely balanced, sadly a bit harsh in the finish.

Tried from Bottle on 14 Jul 2019 at 00:12


7.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

Hoppin' Frog / Widawa Barrel Aged Baltic Pirate Porter Porter - Baltic 747413
Lukt: Kaffe, bek, lakris, sjokolade. Utseende: Sort. Skum/kullsyre: Tynt skum. Smak: Kaffe, lakris, sjokolade. Hvor: Tasting kveld hos Untappd Geir. Medium: Flaske@330ml, ABV@9,5%, Når@29.05.2019.

Tried from Draft on 02 Jun 2019 at 00:29


8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle at Craig's. Pours deep ruby brown, nose is plum, raisin, caramel, vanilla, chocolate, taste is similar, sugary, sweet. Not much of the bourbon.

Tried from Bottle on 24 Feb 2019 at 15:08