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Akron’s thriving Hoppin’ Frog Brewery (1680 E. Waterloo Rd., 234-525-3764) just got a little more “hopping” thanks to its brand new Tasting Room, which opened over the weekend. The brewery follows recent moves by other Ohio breweries that have added them since recent legislative changes.

Hoppin’ Frog was founded in 2006 by brewer Fred Karm. It has since grown to become the second largest craft brewer in the state behind Great Lakes, and is distributed in 18 states and more than 12 foreign countries. In addition, Karn was rated the 17th best brewer in the world 2013 by ratebeer.com.

Karn says that the Tasting Room offers a dozen house beers on tap, two dozen in bottles, and soon will feature special beers from around the world on a rare beer list. Hoppin’ Frog will also sell beer to go at retail.

As for food, the Tasting Room offers a grilled prosciutto and cheese panini, Sheppard’s pie, and a rotating charcuterie board named the “Frog Board.”

The Tasting Room is open Tuesday through Saturday.

This article appears in Jun 19-25, 2013.

Jason Beudert has had a dynamic career as a leader with The Walt Disney Company, ESPNZone, The Cleveland Indians, and as a restaurant entrepreneur. He is utilizing his twenty years of hospitality experience along with his love for the Cleveland food scene to contribute exciting and insightful food pieces for Scene. Along with being one of our food writers, Jason is also the food critic for WOIO 19 Action News, and makes a weekly appearance on Q104's Fee's Kompany radio show to promote food and the Scene. Jason is also a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure Magazine.

2 replies on “Hoppin’ Frog Brewery Opens Doors to Tasting Room”

  1. I’m sure the wait to get served will be long, but no doubt it’ll be worth it. Just don’t try to rush in and out when you’re tasting strong beer!

  2. Visited Tuesday (6/26) around 5:15pm, found a place at the bar. Was there for about 90 minutes and the place did fill up.

    Fred went all out on this place, putting it at the top of the list of tasting rooms in Akron.

    A few things to note: No Growler fills are offered, it was explained to me that they don’t have the barrel capacity to do that now. Also, the 5oz samplers are priced based on the beer. I had 6 samples and they ranged in price from $1.29 to about $4.50 (that’s right for a 5oz sample of B.O.R.I.S. Bairille Aois). This, as you may imagine, causes a bit of a hassle for the staff especially when putting together a 5 sample flight. There is no flat rate for flights, its priced per choice. An impressive list of guest beers was available. Also being Tuesday it was “Tower Tuesday”. Fred filled two towers with fresh fried bacon and then topped em off with the Silk Porter in one tower and the Pumpkin Ale in another. After a proper waiting period the tastes were amazing!

    The menu is limited, but the selection are far from bar food. More gastro pub style. I had the Shepard’s Pie. Made with real lamb and a BORIS Bairille Aois sauce it was GREAT! With the exception of some puff pastry that needed a bit more attention and some underdone carrots, it was a taste treat (I will get it again as I’m sure they will tune it up as the staff was more than happy to take suggestions.)

    Overall, a great experience, not cheap by tasting room standards (With tip my bill was about $35) but then again this is not your standard tasting room experience.

    I Will Be Back!

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