Hoppin’ Frog / Fanø Natasha Røcks America Chocolate Rye Imperial Stout - Hoppin' Frog Brewery

bluejacket74

Ohio

4.5/5  rDev +13.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

22 ounce bottle. Served in a nonic pint glass, the beer pours a dark brown/black color with about an inch frothy tan head that stayed around for a while. There's also a lot of lacing. Aroma is very nice, it smells like roasted malt, milk and bittersweet chocolate, coffee, and some dark fruit and earthy hops. The dark fruit comes out more in the taste, along with roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, burnt/charred malt and some earthy hops. Mouthfeel/body is full, it's creamy and a bit coating with moderate carbonation. Not as hoppy as I expected, considering the label says this is a hoppy stout. But I think this is a pretty good brew overall. Hopefully this will be made again in the future, I know I'd buy it again. $8.99 a bomber.

Serving type: bottle

11-17-2012 23:41:30 | More by bluejacket74

wvsabbath

West Virginia

4.43/5  rDev +11.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Serving Type - 22oz bottle

Appearance - Dark black, slight tanish tint, not much of a head or lacing. Looks like a russian stout for sure.

Smell - Very malty, smoke, chocolate, spices, mollasses, brown sugar. Nice coffee backbone.

Taste - Hmm, first sip is rather off the chart. Loads of smokey, roasted malts mixed with a very bitter hop punch. Chocolate and coffee is strong in the finish. Hops add a bitter piney flavor. Insane amount of smoked malts. Second only to alaskan smoked porter for amount of smoke flavor in this beer.

Mouthfeel - Tounge gets nailed with smokey malts and bitter hops. Coffee and chocolate coat palate along with some sugars. The finish is very smokey, coffee flavored and dry bitter from the hops.

Overall - This is pretty wild beer, overwelmed at first with the insane smoked flavors, along with the bitterness of the hops. The coffee adds even more bitterness but doesnt ruin or make this too bitter. Nothing else ive had that compairs to this, so the unique factor is really high. Enjoying this, try if you get this chance.

Serving type: bottle

11-23-2012 03:05:03 | More by wvsabbath

superspak

Michigan

4.38/5  rDev +10.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

22 ounce bottle into snifter; no bottle dating, but was released in 11/2012. Pours pitch black color with a nice 1-2 finger dense dark tan head with incredible retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice thick soapy lacing clings on the glass. Aromas of big dark chocolate, roasted malt, pine, grapefruit, orange zest, floral, toast, light char, dark bread, spicy rye, and hop earthiness. Damn nice aromas with good balance, strength, and complexity; did not a profile similar to a Black IPA. Taste of big dark chocolate, roasted malt, cocoa, char, toast, pine, orange zest, grapefruit, floral, dark bread, spicy rye, light coffee, and hop earthiness. Fair amount of coffee and citrus bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of dark chocolate, roasted malt, cocoa, light char, toast, pine, orange zest, grapefruit, floral, dark bread, spicy rye, light coffee, and hop earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Fantastic balance, complexity, and robustness of roasted notes; with a great hop/malt balance; and zero cloying flavors present after the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a very creamy, slick, and lightly sticky mouthfeel that is very nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with hardly any warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is an incredible rye imperial stout! Great balance, complexity, and robustness of flavors; and extremely easy to sip on. An extremely delicious offering, would definitely have it again.

Serving type: bottle

02-23-2013 06:46:52 | More by superspak

hosehead83

Ohio

4.35/5  rDev +9.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Poured from 22oz. bomber bottle into a standard pint glass.
Inky black in color, with a big chocolate-milkshake head of foam.
Aroma-Cofee and cream
Taste-Dark roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, spicy rye notes. Smooth and tasty, well balanced between chocolate, spicy rye, and citussy, earthy hops. Friendly and drinkable, not super high gravity. Great flavor and character. Must try.

Serving type: bottle

12-10-2012 22:44:26 | More by hosehead83

Stinkypuss

Pennsylvania

4.18/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

LOOK: Dark black color, lots of off white lacing. Looks like an attractive, well hopped stout.

SMELL: Robust malt aroma with chocolate and grainy rye. Whole flower American hop signature. Just a hint of alcohol and coffee.

TASTE: Starts with a fresh hop and coffee like flavor, chocolate emerges midsip. Earthy bitterness and strong on the roasted malt. There is a mildly spicy dry rye note that adds some pepper. This is a complex stout that really delivers. Finishes with a spice and astringent bitterness. Little to no alcohol presence.

MOUTHFEEL: Full bodied, earthy dry finish, flavors of lingering hops, burnt coffee and cocoa.

OVERALL: A rich, excellent stout getting a good flavor from this interesting mix of ingredients. Got much better as it warmed, the malt needs to compete with the rye and resinous hop flavor. Very fine.

Serving type: bottle

12-19-2012 21:36:56 | More by Stinkypuss

scruffwhor

Illinois

4.11/5  rDev +3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Black in color with a soft brown head and ring o foam. Foam sticks pretty well to the sides of my glass. Looks thick and frothy overall.

Dark, dry chocolate and coffee aroma. Add some spicy rye and hops to the mix, and you have a well balanced, bitter, roasty, malty smelling Stout.

Spicy, somewhat bitter roasted rye, chocolate and coffee flavors mix pretty well with the American hopping. Bitter roasted chocolate with some at times Earthy hop notes.

Creamy and syrupy palate, nice to sip.

Serving type: bottle

05-05-2013 17:11:00 | More by scruffwhor

Brenden

Ohio

4.1/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This beer is thick, inky black. It manages a tan head nearly a finger high with some good staying power. A nice, creamy ring of lacing is left at the top of my snifter, and some leggy and patchy lacing follows.
At once sweet, roasty, creamy and just a little bitter, this beer's got a bit of complexity and plenty of heft in the aroma. Bittersweet chocolate alongside roast with a bit of pine and leaf and a touch of cream makes me want to take more than a few sniffs. This is what a big imperial stout is about. Alcohol is barely noticed and rye is just enough to add a little spiciness and earth.
The flavor carries the same profile with the exception that a bit more dark fruits come out and the bitterness and hops presence is more pronounced. In fact, if you have some and set some aside for a good while, the beer that's left out becomes quite a bit like a Cascadian Black / Black IPA (whatever your take on the style's name). If gets a little leafier than in the aroma. To be honest, I liked the bigger maltiness of the nose, and there's lots of competition with this style these days, but it's still very good.
The body has all the thickness and heft I'd expect and want out of it. It's not fantastically smooth or creamy, but it feels very nice regardless, and there is a good level of smoothness to it.

Serving type: bottle

12-12-2012 15:56:07 | More by Brenden

ncketchum

Wisconsin

4.1/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Served room temp in a chimay chalice

A - pours thick and black, dark chocolate head, opaque

S - very prominent rye, spicy with a backing of chocolate and hint of malt

T - rye again is dominant, now the hops come through significantly, undertones of chocolate

M - pretty thick, the rye and hops linger for some time

O - really good rye aged stout, heavy on the rye, unique take

Serving type: bottle

01-27-2013 05:56:57 | More by ncketchum

mychalg9

Illinois

4.08/5  rDev +3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Picked up this bomber on a whim on a beer run to Dekalb, IL. Looks great immediately after pouring, inky black with a nice-sized tan head. Initially I was put off by the smell and the taste as I am not generally a huge fan of really hoppy stouts. I get some chocolate and rye in the nose and some coffee sneaks in there as well, with a big whiff of hop piney-ness. Taste is fairly complex: spicy rye with dry bitter chocolate, like cocoa nibs, with a great balancing piney hop middle/finish that really compliments the malt quite nicely (more so as the beer warms). Alcohol is discernible for a brief moment in the middle but stays fairly well disguised unless you really hunt for it. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, maybe a little more viscous than I would like in a stout but it drinks really well and feels great going down, almost too easy to drink. Carbonation level is great and compliments the flavors as well. Overall I'd say this beer makes my mouth (and liver, stomach, and brain) very happy. I made a total 180 after half of my first glass of this as I didn't like it at first at all (although I pour all my beers at fridge temp), but once it warmed it kicked into high gear. My only complaint is it drinks a little to quickly.

Serving type: bottle

12-28-2012 01:04:31 | More by mychalg9

TMoney2591

Illinois

4.03/5  rDev +1.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Served in a tulip glass.

Well, if nothing else comes of this stuff, at least VDubb seems excited about it... Anyway, it pours a straight obsidian topped by over a finger of khaki foam. The nose comprises roasted malts, miscellaneous greens, pine resin, and light dark chocolate. The taste brings in more of the same, with the chocolate and roast definitely taking control over things, relegating the pine to a mere supporting role at best. The body is a solid medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a dry finish. Overall, a very nice stout. This one is touted on the label as being decidedly hoppy, but for me, it's best the hops play a largely minor part in the grand scheme of things, as it allows the chocolate and rye to really shine (even if the rye isn't incredibly self-expressive).

Serving type: bottle

12-11-2012 06:32:39 | More by TMoney2591

jmarsh123

Indiana

3.71/5  rDev -6.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.5

Finally picked up a reasonably price bottle of this in Indy after refusing to pay Sahara Mart's gouged price.

Pours deep brown close to black. A touch of beige head and moderate to light retention and lacing.

Massive rye aroma. Chocolate is in the background, but this one screams rye.

As expected from the aroma, there is a massive flavor assault of rye up front. I'm not sure I've had many beers that have this overpowering of a rye character, even ones with a lighter overall malt bill. Not that that's a bad thing. I like rye. What I don't like is the interplay with the chocolate. The flavors don't really go together in this beer well. It's like eating a piece of rye bread and putting a hershey's bar in my mouth mid-palate. Kind of strange. Ends with a piney kick on the back of the palate confusing it more. I could use a bit more roast in the malt profile.

Medium bodied with appropriate carbonation. For whatever the flavors do, this is pretty smooth.

This is interesting and I'm not entirely sure it's good or bad. I like some components of it, but the combinations clash a bit too much. It definitely opened up and got better as it warmed, but not sure I'd buy another bottle.

Serving type: bottle

03-12-2013 20:05:15 | More by jmarsh123

BrownAleMale

Wisconsin

3.7/5  rDev -6.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

22oz bottle poured into a Gulden Draak tulip glass

Appearance- Jet black with 3 fingers of khaki head that slowly dissipates to about 1 finger worth leaving lots of lacing.

Smell- Whoa...rye is for sure. Also, getting some pine and a bit of chocolate.

Taste- No shock here but lots of rye and a slight pine finish.

Mouthfeel- Medium body with a super dry finish and just a medium amount of carbonation.

Overall- This definitly is focusing on the rye and if that is your thing then you will love this beer. For me, I would have liked a few more stout characteristics in the flavor profile.

Serving type: bottle

01-20-2013 04:11:53 | More by BrownAleMale

maximum12

Minnesota

3.28/5  rDev -17.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Wandering through a Wisconsin liquor store & this bottle catches my attention...rye? OK. Pick up bottle & cradle in arms. Yeah, I'm a sucka for anything rye. 22 oz. bottle split with my wife.

Pour is vividly black. Even right out of the fridge, aroma washes out of the pour in waves of spicy, earthy, chocolatey rye. I'm thinking that people should make a rye Three Musketeers Bar. Seriously. I'd buy it. Especially if it came with a rye stout to dunk it in. Rye is screaming off the surface of the beer like a banshee.

Natasha Rocks America does no half measures: there's a rye shortage in some third-world country because of this beer. Holy earthy rye. Pause to recover. Unfortunately, the rye frontal assault doesn't meld nicely with the chocolate; they're in direct conflict. They outcome is a rather odd taste. Big roast roars in mid-palate, & the piney hop punch at the end adds to the bedlam. I'm sipping it quickly just wondering what's going to come out of this hot mess next.

Well, this isn't great, it doesn't suck, it's very complex, but the flavors are too diverse & Clash like Titans. Decent enough beer, but simply doesn't work for me.

Serving type: bottle

02-07-2013 03:32:07 | More by maximum12