Craft Beer Pairings

Hoppin’ Frog Brewery BORIS and Urban Artifact the Gadget

We have a nice Buckeye State lineup for you. Akron’s Hoppin’ Frog Brewery has made quite the name in the beer industry with its award-winning Bodacious Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout. The lavishly dark and complex beast brings forth flavors of roasted cocoa and coffee. Sip it alongside Cincinnati brewery Urban Artifact’s the Gadget, a fruit smoothie-tasting sour brewed with 1,200 pounds of blackberries, 1,200 pounds of raspberries and 30 grams of vanilla beans per 30 barrel batch. BORIS, $17.99 four-pack bottles, the Gadget, $11.99 four-pack cans

Boulder Beer Co. Shake and Brewery Ommegang Rosetta

Colorado’s Boulder Beer Co. has won numerous accolades for its Shake, which is a rich dark chocolate porter that has flavors and aromatics of coffee and caramel. These characteristics make it a great beer to pair with the Rosetta sour ale, made from a blend of a brown ale aged over cherries and a bright fruity kriek, from Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, New York. This tart-sweet combo of beers is a natural fit for a dessert of chocolate-covered cherries. Shake, $9.99 six-pack cans, Rosetta, $11.99 four-pack cans

Jackie O’s Razz Wheat and Left Hand Brewing Co. Peanut Butter Milk Stout

or another fusion of dessert-like flavors, pop open this devilish yet delightful duo. Jackie O’s Razz Wheat is a staple of Athens, Ohio, for its easygoing wheat beer taste infused with natural raspberry puree that conjures up the right amount of sweetness. Create the ideal pairing with Left Hand Brewing Co. Peanut Butter Milk Stout, made in Longmont, Colorado, that tastes and smells like a peanut butter cup in a glass. Layers upon layers of flavors peel back as you swill, leaving you craving more long after it’s gone. Razz Wheat, $10.99 six-pack cans, Peanut Butter Milk Stout, $10.99 six-pack cans

Find all six at select Giant Eagle, Acme Fresh Market, Fishers Foods and Mustard Seed Market & Cafe locations, as well as your finer craft beer stops such as Lizardville and 101 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.