Hoppin' Frog Oatmeal-Imperial Stout: Boris The Crusher

Today we visit a great little Ohio brewery in Akron. Home of the Akron Zips, and former Zips great "quarterback Charlie Frye" who accounted for 14 touchdowns in his short lived career in a Cleveland Brown's uniform! The brewery I am talking about is Hoppin' Frog! The brewery has been around since 2006 and has accumulated some very prestigious brewing awards in their short history. One of their award winning beers is B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal Imperial Stout. BORIS is an acronym for Bodacious Oatmeal Russian Stout. Boris won the Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal in 2008 and 2011. Boris claims right on the bottle he will "Crush you like no other!" I like imagining the frog on the bottle is Boris. Taunting me. I say bring your best stuff Boris!

First the stats on the Crusher: 9.4% a/v 107 OG, 38 FG, 60 IBU, 22 oz.

Boris evidently refuses to reveal the secret ingredients in the beer as none are listed on the bottle. I am not questioning him. He kind of scares me. The bottle does reveal that the brew is made from only the finest ingredients. I believe the bottle. Bottles don't lie! Boris however, I'm not so sure.

Let's pop the top! In this case the cap is blue ,which means it is a B.O.R.I.S. #100 celebrating brewing BORIS stout batch #100! The aroma is a very roasty malty grain with a hint of molasses. You can smell the alcohol, which is to be expected as it is a 9.4% stout.

I poured from a few inches above the glass and was rewarded with a nice mahogany head with some large carbonation bubbles that receded very quickly. The carbonation factor is very low. As for color, this beer is an eclipse. Very dark!

Always the best part! The tasting! This is a complex brew. It is slightly sweet with low level chocolate and espresso notes. The aftertaste leaves a little hoppy finish slightly stronger than a regular stout. Overall it is heavy, smooth and very enjoyable. Boris definitely did bring his best stuff!

Great beer! Fit for any princely frog! This will definitely help to get through a long, cold,winter at the pond fighting of the princesses. $8.99 for a 22 ouncer bottled and brewed right here in the great state of Ohio! One more thing of note here. Don't confuse this with "Barrel Aged" B.O.R.I.S. Imperial Stout or any of the other Hoppin' Frog brews. The bottles are all very similar at a glance. I would hate for you to grab the wrong one and have Boris berate you to tears!