Rogue AleGold and cloudy, with brown overtones and little head. Malty sweet nose with a hint of hops and a trace of alcohol. Malty start to the taste with a pleasant, hoppy finish. A classic amber ale (more accurately, an ESB) with a great, rich mouthfeel.
American Amber AleBottled in a 12oz screwtop (just like the Rogue Ale above), with a particularly informative label. This beer is 13 degrees Plato, 48 IBU, and employs "eight ingredients," and is marked as "another complex ale of distinction." Deep, cloudy amber in color with a tan, fluffy head. The nose smells like I imagine hopped coffee would. Also detected a hint of Cascades in the nose, as well as some earthy overtones. Barely sweet taste with hints of toffee, but dominated by hop character. Probably 3 or 4 of the 8 ingredients are hop varietals, and used without restraint. Great beer for hopheads.
You can imagine what this beer is like by the name. At the limit for hoppiness in a lighter style, I would assume this beer clocks in
at over 100 IBUs (but it doesn't...). Still quite potable, though. Well brewed such that the malt still pokes in to save the beer. In some ways, this
beer reminds me of a low-alcohol Old Crustacean, but it might well be more bitter than even that. Hop-head city, this beer.
Rogues's brewer John Maier reports: Brutal combines Oregon hops with English Malts. The Oregon grown
Crystal hop is a triploid variety developed from the German
Hallertau aroma hop variety with contributions from Cascade,
Brewers Gold, and Early Green. Crystal is the only hop used in
brewing Brutal and it provides a massive amount of aroma without
dryhopping. The English malts used are floor malted Pipkin (a
mellow cross of Maris Otter and Warboys, from an English company
called Beeston), Cara Vienna and Cara Wheat. Brutal weighs in at
59 International Bittering Units, 15-degrees Plato, 14.2-degrees
Lovibond.
Somewhat murky straw color. Slightly minty,flowery herbal nose, slightest grape
hints. Crisp flavor, vague sweetness, hints of nuts, slight hop bite of a sort of carbonic feel.
Hop notes linger forever, mutate into herbal, Goldingesque notes. Minty notes creep into the flavor
as the beer warms as do little rose-hints. Moves to almost buttery intensity, with ever so slight
leather notes.
The Rogue Official Description: Buckwheat (Fagopyrum
esculentum Moench) is a broadleaf crop in the same family
as rhubarb. Buckwheat seed is ground and used in similar
ways to grain, yet Buckwheat is gluten free since it is
not a grain! Kasha, the roasted Buckwheat seed, is what Rogue's
Buckwheat Ale is brewed with (about 35% Kasha and 65% malt.)
Buckwheat Ale is Rogue's answer to fruit beer, a smooth and
sophisticated beer with a soft nutty flavor. While soft
on the palate, and delicate in body when compared to other
Rogue elixirs, Buckwheat Ale has 34 IBU's of hop which are
masterfully blended with the grain and kasha. Available in the
classic 22-ounce bottle, a 64-ounce jug, or on draft.
A fine, fine stout. This beer makes an excellent addition to the line, complementing Shakespeare Stout well. Deep black with a nicely roasted nose and flavor which finishes into a rich chocolate malt aspect. Little hop influence. Along the same lines as Young's Double Chocolate Stout, but richer overall and less dominated by the chocolate malt (and its cocoa flavorings).
Dead Guy Ale
(aka Maierbock, Whale Ale, Spiny Lumpsucker, and almost any other unacounted for name)
A Bock, this beer is brewed each year in celebration of Dia de los Muertes (Day of the Dead),
a Latin American holiday. I've had several of the "vintages" and found them to be reasonably consistent.
Copper colored with a coffee colored but
transient head, the beer has a sweet nose, and a sweet, vaguely alcoholic start. The profile
is quickly dominated by a hoppy character which then mellows into a well balanced finish.
Unusually hoppy for a bock, but quite good none the less.
Cloudy golden in color with a lightly malty, but mostly floral nose. Malty start to the taste, but soon overtaken by a hop character, with a herbal finish. Pleasant and drinkable, with a faint sweetness. Deceptively complex, revealing new flavors all the time.
Nutty (hazelnut extracts are used) but with a caramel dominance, an intensity such that you expect it to eventually repel you, but it never does.
Deep brown in color, almost opaque. Brownish, transient head. Aroma sweetly malty, with a bit of nuttiness. Sweet start, quickly overtaken by a
nutty finish. Little hop character (Perle and Saaz used). But this beer isn't about hops, it's about malty sweetness. Occasionally referred to (by me) as
"liquid God."
Employs: Great Western Harrington, Klages, and Munich malts. Hugh Baird Brown, Carastan 13/77,
Crystal 70/80, Crystal 135/165, and Boston Pale Chocolate Malts employed to yield a 14 degrees
Plato, 36 degrees Lovibond beer with 30 IBU (73.6 AA).
I've never had it, but here is Rogue's description of it:
Brewed for the summer months, this is a medium-
bodied ale with a creamy head, hints of honey in the nose and on
the palate, and a crisp, light finish. Honey Cream Ale is an eight-
ingredient brew using warm fermentation, like traditional cream
ales, but with the addition of local wildflower honey. The honey,
which ferments almost completely, imparts a dry, crisper flavor.
John (Maier, Rogue's head brewer) is using a new hop variety in his Honey Cream Ale.
It's called Crystal, a triploid developed from the German Hallertau aroma
hop with contributions from Cascade, Brewers Gold, and Barley
Green. At 8-degrees lovibond, Honey Cream is much more golden
in color than traditional cream ales, and at 29 IBUs it is much
hoppier--the Maier signature. John uses two-row Harrington,
Klages, and Munich malts, and his proprietary Pacman yeast (12-
degrees Plato, 83.3 apparent attenuation).
Formerly known as "Mo Ale."
This
beer is also occasionaly re-packaged in personalized 12oz bottles for certain customers, such as "Driftwood Ale" for the Salishan Lodge (and
other names/bottles for others). If you're a bottle fanatic, you can pick up these special bottlings
at the brewery (rather than going around to all the different places that use them). This is a beer loaded with competing flavors. Wheat based, the
beer is cloudy and yellow. It has a spicy nose with some wheat aromas. A rich mouthfeel with
flavors of coriander and a crisp but earth influenced bitterness that lingers. Orange begins to breep back in
in the very late stages of the taste. As the beer warms, you begin to pick up a nice ginger note
that stays in the background, adding to the complexity of the flavor. A very nice interpretation of
a wheat beer, unlike almost any other you will find.
Mocha Porter (formerly known as "New Porter")
An excellent porter which balances a strong Porter body (rich, coffee/chocolate taste--black
patent malt in strong evidence) with a definite Cascade hop finish. Quite simply one of the
best Porters brewed in the world. My words cannot possibly do it justice. Go out and try one,
I'll post your review!
An interesting side note about MP from Rogue:"A few years back, Rogue made a beer for the Japanese market
and their resident Rogue in Hokaido, Phred Kaufmann. It was
their Mocha Porter with caffeine added.
It was sold in a silk-screened nip bottle with a picture of
a wigged-out Phred under the name "Wide Awake Drunk."
It came packaged with a nip of Old Crustacaen picturing Phred
in a nightcap under the name "Have a Phred and Go to Bed."
As far as I know, it was only sold in Japan. John Maier said
the caffeine was such a pain that he only did one batch or so.
I got one of the gift sets while in Japan and it still makes
me laugh every time I look at it."
St. Rogue Red AleReddish copper in color with a malty/hoppy nose, but with a hop dominated taste and finish. Quite excellent. Chinook and Centennial hops are employed here, and without reserve.
Shakespeare StoutEbony in color, this oatmeal stout sports a big oaty and chocolatey taste with Cascade overtones in the finish. An excellent stout, but very different from the classic stouts such as Guiness. Naturally, you say, but this beer also is quite a bit bigger (in every department) than your average oatmeal stout, such as Young's. Overall, one of the finest American stouts. Around St. Patty's Day, this beer is released under the moniker "Wild Irish Rogue." It's every bit as good with that name. (I guess Shakespeare was right...)
In my experience, pepper beers are generally too one dimensional to be taken in large quantities. But leave it to Rogue to develop another exquisitely well balanced beer for their product line. Cloudy orange in color with a sweet nose which is also influenced by Jalapeno and smokey overtones. The taste is clean and smoky with just a hint of "fire." The spiciness does linger, but it isn't uncomfortable. The chipolte pepper is employed in this beer (for those of you unfamiliar with it, it's a Jalapeno which has been smoked until dry. It has a similar flavor profile to the Serrano peper, but with less overall spiciness.) Essentially, this is another fine beer, fairly close to a Rauch style, with a little spiciness thrown in.
Rogue's Christams offering, this ale is deep ruby in color but still clear. Big, flowery/fruity nose with hoppy overtones dominating. Big hoppy flavor which moderates into spiciness as spruce creeps in to the finish. Chocolate malt overtones also show up. Chinook and Centennial are employed. 13° Plato, 44IBU, 73.1 AA. One of the finest Christmas brews you're likely to find.
Yellow SnowI've never had it, but the brewery description is: Brewed in anticipation of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah. A pale ale, saffron in color with a smooth malt balance; a floral aroma with a dry spicy finish from whole juniper berries. Brewed with Northwest Harrington, Crystal Triumph, C-15 and Maier Munich Malts; Amarillo and Styiran Golding Hops, Free Range Coastal Water, Top Fermenting Pacman Yeast, and whole Juniper Berries. Yellow Snow is available in 22-ounce bottle, 64-ounce jug, and on draft. Measurements: 13 degrees Plato, IBU 34, Apparent Attenuation 11, Lovibond 3.2.
The bottle tells us (even before we start drinking) that the beer is 20 degrees Plato, 74 IBU, 13 degrees Lovibond
and 75AA.
Cloudy (the bottle mentions that the beer is unfiltered and unfined) and essentially golden.
The nose is mostly bereft of hops at first, with a slightly nutty aspect and a hint of
spice (the Goldings must be creeping in there.) Most of the nose is thinned by an alcoholic dryness.
The taste is intensely bitter at first, with the alcoholic thickness and drying sensations pushing its way into the middle,
followed on by more bitterness (especially on the sides of your tongue and even down your throat a bit.)
As the beer warms, you get more and more alcohol in the nose and the hops don't seem quite
as overpowering. Some malty syrupyness also expresses itself. East Kent Goldings is the most
evident hop, giving a strong earthy spiciness. Some Saaz is tasteable in the slightly grassy
finish, and a little of that Cascade citrus tang comes into the warmer beer. Overall a
very intense beer hop wise, but worth trying out.
Big rich stout. Jet black and a bit oily on the side of the glass. Roasty nose with some fruity overtones, especially cherries. Dominated by roasted flavors, most notably roasted barley, but also chocolate and a touch of black patent. Also has a nice alcoholic warmth, especially in the finish.
The bottle-printed label kindly informs us that this beer is 17.5 plato, 45.5 IBU, and 28.64 degrees Lovibond.
Deep amber in color, and fairly cloudy. Malty nose with hints of peat and woody notes. Also a strong nutty character
to the aroma. Rich mouthfeel, it's almost syrupy in its clingy-ness. Some date flavors are also apparent as the vapory
alcoholic aspect finishes off the overall taste. A slight, suggestive bitterness manages to creep into that vapor/drying
flavor. Not much peat in the taste. As the beer warms the
wood from the nose enters the flavor, as do some licorice notes. Overall a nicely balanced beer. At the end of the 8 oz. you'll
wish there were a few more ounces to go...
Formerly in the big bottles, this beer was reassigned to the XS line (i.e. it's now bottled *only* in 8 oz portions) this beer is deep copper in color with a decidedly smoky nose. Woody start and finish with a hop character sandwiched in-between. Unlike most smoke beer brewed on this side of the pond, this beer does not taste like liquid smoke; however the smoke character is not under-expressed by any means. Very well balanced, especially considering the style is usually butchered. Try it with or without Barbecue, you will not be dissapointed.
Rogue's barleywine, formerly came in a little 6.4 fl.oz. bottle (which is a screwtop, oddly enough), but is now a member of the XS line and is bottled in 8oz protions (hooray, 1.6 extra ounces!). Vintage dated on the "label" (printed directly on the glass, like most Rogue products), and bearing the instructions to let the beer age at least one year. My bottle was from 1994. The beer is turbid and the color of an old penny. There is no head, due to the nearly complete stillness of the brew. Big, complex nose, which is alcoholic with a hint of cherry (diacetyl influence, most likely, and permissible in this style) as well as a malty and hoppy aspect. The taste starts smooth with a big alcoholic character and a lingering bitterness that seems to last all day. I have heard non-hopheads refer to this as "tasting like a mouthfull of nickels." If that is the case, then I for one would like an extra helping of nickels. Not as malty as Anchor's Old Foghorn nor as hoppy as Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot, Old Crustacean is an incredibly well made, and supremely balanced beer -- well worth seeking out.
Never had the pleasure of sampling this beer, so we're left with the brewery description: Imperial Pilsner was brewed for the 1999 Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF). The news from the brewery sales office in the spring of 1999 was "Everyone who has tasted the Imperial Pilsner for the OBF has raved." Each winter John and his band of brewers concoct some new elixir to brew for Oregon Brewers Fest which is another 6 months away. An email from John Maier describes it as follows: "About OBF, we brewed a Imperial Pilsner--about 18 plato, 100% French 2-row pilsner malt, 100% Sterling hops (a new hop variety, Mt. Hood-Saaz cross). Also dry hopped with the same @ 1#/bbl. We used Czech pils yeast. It went through a 2 week primary fermentation and will go through ~ 10 to 11 weeks in secondary, and will not be filtered. I am sending it off for analysis, but I am guessing about 8.8% ABV and 78 IBU." Imperial Pils is available only on draft at select Rogue accounts.
Unfortunately, this beer has been relegated to the "brewed occasionally for the Public House" list. It's one of my all-time
Rogue favorites and I wish it would return to wide availability.
A cloudy, brownish/blackish ale with a brown and creamy head. Rich, floral and hoppy nose which is
dominated by Cascades. The taste starts with a rich and roasty malt flavor reminiscent of
the higher gravity European styles, but this impression is quickly supplanted by the hoppy
intensity which defines this beer. An assortment have been employed, Kent Goldings and
Cascade seem to be chief among them. Also present is a full and pleasant mouthfeel, and the finish
is that of a lingering bitterness. Altogether an excellent brew.
I was fortunate to sample a cask-conditioned
version of this beer at the Rogue Public House in Newport. Richer hops, and huge malt aspects. Really awesome,
if you get the chance.
Rogue's lager, which they occasionally referred
to as the "Official Beer of the New Millennium." It (was) currently only
available in a few markets. I found it to be bronze colored and crystal clear with a clean nose
with some caramel/flan notes. The taste is rich in caramel with some pear elements, it does, however,
maintain a pleasant lager crispness. Pleasant hop flavors emerge as the beer warms. The Crystal and Saaz
hops used still give many of those Halletauer flavors to me.
Here is Rogue's "official description" of the beer:
John Maier undertook a new challenge--to create a World Class
lager, and he chose Vienna Lager as his model. Vienna Lagers
are characterized by malty aroma, slight malt sweetness and
clean hop bitterness. This beer is of medium body with a
reddish-amber color and mild hop character. Nobel hop aromas
and flavors should be low to medium. John acquired additional tanks for the brewery in
Newport and allocates 45 days for this special product to lager.
He uses a German Yeast strain (not the classic Rogue PacMan
yeast strain) and imported Cara-Vienna malts.
The march of Rogues never seems to stop. This one was never available in TX.
Murky reddish in color, this belgian style fruit beer seems to be the last existing fruit flavored beer in the Rogue lineup. A bit syrupy in the sweetness dept, this one could use a bit more of that Lambic tartness for balance. Notable wheat content. An interesting style for Rogue to attempt, I'll be curious to see if this one ever emerges full force from Newport (it never did).
Fruit beer made with Marionberries. Reddish in color with a pale coffee colored head, the beer has a fruity start with a chocolate malt dominated middle and fruity finish which lingers. Saaz hops are used for around 20IBUs so very little hop character (none to my palate). I've never had a marionberry alone, but in the beer it tasted a bit like a boisenberry to me.
