This is a PGA archive edition, featuring some of the best from The Professor.
Profile by Ken Carman
In the 90s I was touring northeast Ohio and decided to pop into the Thirsty Dog on the northwest side of Akron, back when The Dogs were a small Ohio brewpub chain. Often, after performing as an entertainer, I would stop and write something about what happened during the show. Honestly? It was an excuse to try local cuisine and good beer.
I sat at the bar and asked what they had that was hoppy. I sighed to myself when I heard the answer, “Only an ‘ESB?'” A moment later the tender came back and I sipped a little, wrote a little and… “wait, there’s another hop in here…” wrote a little, and… “Damn, another hop!”
That ESB literally unfolded one hop at a time as it warmed. I immediately asked if the brewer was in. It takes talent, a knowledge of brew science and hops to do that. While I have had some incredibly great hopped up beers over the years, no other brewer’s beer has come close to that amazing experience since.
Fred Karm: short, black hair, beer/brew hyper in an absolutely pleasing way for those of us fascinated with the craft, looks a bit different than the picture from Hoppin Frog’s web site. In fact, if you’ve ever seen Warehouse 13 on SyFy, Stargate SG-1, Unforgiven or Rush Hour 2, he looks a lot these days like the picture of a young Saul Rubinek you see to your right.
The height is about right too. I found it a bit spooky.
Last year I wrote a Brew Biz column on Ohio brewer Tim Rastetter and the new Thirsty Dog; my second interview with Tim over the years, and asked Tim what ever happened to Fred. He told me he was at Hoppin Frog. I should have known: I’m a giant fan of extreme beers and have given out samples of B.O.R.I.S., their Russian Imperial, at my two yearly summer beer tastings in Beaver River Station, NY, and at Big Bob’s Barley Wine Bash on Pensacola Beach every September.
Of course I did. How could I resist sharing a beer with a fascinating name, label and such a grand savor: all before 
I knew it was a GABF Gold Medal winner in 2008?
I promised Fred I would come back and do a Brew Biz on Hoppin Frog in June. Right now they’re expanding and pictures simply wouldn’t do it justice. It may be August, depending upon my schedule. I will stop by though.
As we look forward to fall, anticipating cooler temperatures, football, and holiday meals with family and friends, American craft brewers are also hard at work personifying fall’s flavors in their latest seasonal releases. With fall-themed seasonals, craft brewers focus on using the ingredients typical of the season, including pumpkin, spices and freshly harvested malts, barley and hops.
Don’t have tickets to the 
On a recent Friday evening, I was at a friend’s house, guiding a group of guys through a beer tasting. I’d been invited by this friend as he is a beer-geek-in-the-making, and he’s been bitten by the bug of wanting to also convert his friends.
This was odd. I presented it at a beer tasting last weekend and it was well loved by all, even me: very pumpkin pie-ish. The color just right: pie in a glass. Had another bottle a few days latter and it was actually a little annoying: All Spice over the top. Clue: second serving was almost warm, first chilled just right. I highly recommend the chilled, unless your fav thing to do is open a can of All Spice and lick it clean. Cinnamon not that present, nutmeg somewhat, Perle hops… why did they bother? Really: in some beers hops seem to be tossed in because some folks think its “not beer without hops,” despite the fact the craft, and the art, of brewing beer is a lot older than the use of hops in beer. Thank the Catholic Church for the weird idea that Jim Koch, I guarantee, knows is false: “Hops are to beer like grapes are to wine.” (Actually, not necessarily always true in wine, though mostly. Mead is really a honey wine, there’s rhubarb wine, dandelion, etc.)
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