Note: As part of “The Session”, or Beer Blogging Friday, hosted by Appellation Beer, Al & Ron each reviewed the Rogue Shakespeare Stout for their first time, separately, and wrote each of their reviews independently; click here for Al’s opinion. For some more background, read our History of the Stout and Stout Style articles posted earlier this week.

Not Your Father’s Irish Stout

A basic difference between an Irish Stout and an English Stout is how it finishes; dry, or wet. In the traditional Irish style you will find a dry roasted taste, while an English style will finish with a sweet and bitter combination that is the opposite of dry I can only call wet.

The aptly named Rogue Shakespeare Stout is an English style stout. As a matter of fact, it is technically an oatmeal stout as it has rolled oats in it.

It pours with a beautiful milk chocolate colored head matching the utter black liquid below. The aroma was of chocolate with coffee hints. There is a ton of wonderful hop bitterness that comes through and lingers long after. It is complimented by an equal balance of chocolate / coffee malt flavor. And, thank the beer gods, it is not too harsh. It had a great smooth and well-rounded taste that went down easy. Very easy.

I had the first half of the 22 oz. bottle with lunch, which was leftover quiche made with spinach, mushrooms, and Dubliner cheese. It was an amazingly great match up, especially because I wasn’t trying to find the perfect match. I had some slices of the Dubliner cheese on the side and that went along side of it just as well. I believe this beer could be matched with just about anything.

Later that day, I had the other half of the beer with a cold Alton Brown baked meatball and that was awesome as well adding credence to my theory that this is a very versatile beer when pairing with food.

I’m very impressed with this beer. It quickly jumps up to sit along side of some of my other favorite stouts like Brooklyn’s and Tractor’s. On the unofficial Hop-Talk rating scale, I’m currently landing this baby at a 4, but only because I choose not to pay the premium price on a regular basis.

There was a fine lace left behind in my mug which brings me to the only problem I can find with this beer; and that is how quickly it disappeared.

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