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B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher

Hoppin’ Frog Brewery | www.hoppinfrog.com

Hoppin’ Frog Brewery

1680 E. Waterloo Road

Akron, Ohio 44306

(330) 352–4578

First brewed: 2006

Style: Imperial stout

Alcohol content: 9.4 percent

IBUs: 60

Awards: Gold medals in 2008 and 2011 at the Great American Beer Festival (The barrel-aged version also has won medals.)

Available: Year-round on draft and in bottles

IF YOU LIKE THIS BEER, here are five other Ohio craft beers to try:

• Seventh Son Oublitte

• Actual Fat Julian

• Hoppin’ Frog D.O.R.I.S. the Destroyer

• Weasel Boy Anastasia Russian Imperial Stout

• Royal Docks Vlad the Impaler

B.R.I.S. doesn’t exactly paint a picture of a strong, bold brew. The mind wanders to other . . . well, we won’t go there. But that’s how B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout began. Hoppin’ Frog Brewery owner and brewer Fred Karm, as a homebrewer, created a big, hearty Russian imperial stout after sampling one at the former Liberty Street Brewing in Akron. Karm knew that an R.I.S. would be part of his lineup when he eventually opened his own brewery.

He dubbed his homebrew “bodacious”—thus the B. But it wasn’t until he added oatmeal when he started Hoppin’ Frog that Bodacious Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout, or B.O.R.I.S. for short, was born.

“The oatmeal was a natural additive to that beer to add more body and flavor,” Karm says. He also knew that oatmeal could help with marketing, figuring he wanted to attract the same beer drinkers who enjoy the well-known Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout.

He recalled his first Russian imperial stout homebrew as insane and thick.

“When I started Hoppin’ Frog, I wanted to remake those homebrews that make people say ‘Oh, my God,’” he says. “The ones you would write home about. The ones you would covet, not wanting to drink the last one. Those are the beers that I wanted to make here. That bodacious Russian imperial stout was perfect.”

B.O.R.I.S. went on to win gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival in 2008 and 2011. It also is the award-winning beer that keeps on giving.

Karm has released many barrel-aged versions of B.O.R.I.S., winning a gold medal at the 2012 World Beer Cup and a bronze at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival. He even created D.O.R.I.S. the Destroyer Double Imperial Stout, the hoppier cousin to B.O.R.I.S.

“From day one, my staff felt [B.O.R.I.S.] was a winner, and my longest employee said you’re going to win a gold with this,” Karm says. “And we did. I couldn’t frickin’ believe it. From day one, it tasted so good I never messed with the recipe—never, ever. It’s one of those recipes that people lock up in safes. Oh yeah, we locked it up. That’s a recipe I think a lot of people want to get their hands on.”