Hoppin' Frog "Smashing" Honey Blonde

Hoppin' Frog is one of those breweries that I innately believe to be really good, but their actual ratings are not matching that. Instead, they don't appear to be all that good. This is the kind of thing I should really remember before I go buying more beer. If only I wrote down what I thought about beer on some kind of web site that I could read on my phone...

I don't eat a lot of honey, as far as food goes, but I am familiar with the basics. This beer would be picturesque, if the beer was the color of honey, but it's lighter than that. It would also help if the beer had a head, which it does not. Some lacing wouldn't go amiss, but there isn't going to be any. Points of nucleation? Yup, we got some, so we have a stream of bubbles that come to the surface to die. The aroma is more grains and yeast than honey. I'm not sure I even smell honey.

First sip is pretty uneventful. There is honey in the beer, and there are grains. There is carbonation, and there is yeast. All of these things are in this beverage, and we call it beer. Does it have much of a taste? No. Would I hurry back for seconds, based on the relatively watery taste? I would not. Am I going to try a swig to figure this out? I am.

Tip-in is honey and grains with minimal sweetness in the honey while carbonation does a nice little tingle.  The carbonation reaches new heights on the roof of the mouth as the middle comes, and that is where the unassuming beverage loses all flavor. The finish is a return of the pent-up flavor with bitterness and grains hitting pretty hard and a pine trailing them.

Bottom Line: Unbalanced, but not entirely without charm.

2.25/5