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Posts tagged rogue
Rogue Brutal Bitter
Dec 30th
Beer-a-Day #364
An Imperial bitter with exotic traditional floor malts, citrusy, hoppy flavor, stupendous hop aroma.
I don’t think this is a commentary on the year just ending, but Freud would probably have something to say about it.
Orangey with a chill haze. Big citrusy hops aroma. Fairly big hops, but lighter than something that proclaims itself as an “Imperial” anything. It’s good.
St. Rogue Red Ale
Dec 28th
Beer-a-Day #362
Reddish copper in color, a roasty malty flavor, with a hoppy-spruce finish.
Nice clear copper with a thick head. Malty aroma with a bit of resin. Very piney taste. Interesting. I’m not sure yet if I like it.
Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve
Dec 24th
Beer-a-Day #358 
A double-hopped Red, reddish in color, with a roasty, malty flavor and a hoppy spruce finish.
Deep amber with a thick, beige head. Light aroma that deepens as it warms. Roasty flavor for sure; perhaps a bit too much.
Rogue Ales – Santa’s Private Reserve
Rogue Morimoto’s Imperial Pilsner
Nov 11th
I found a hidden gem in an offbeat section of Troy, New York: DeFazio’s Pizza.
I had stumbled upon the place using Yelp (or some other such app) on my iPhone. I was very skeptical at first having never heard of it before yet it had great reviews online. It also noted it as a BYOB. So, I gave them a call to check them out and they were very nice, suggested reserving us a table and said that we could bring our own booze. Perfect! I was ready for an adventure and I wanted to try the Rogue’s Morimoto Imperial Pilsner Al gave me.
It was a bit hard to find on a rainy Saturday evening, but I was not deterred. The place was small. Very small. The décor was…scant. My wife said the parking was scary. But they were very nice, gave us personalized service, and the pizza was high quality gourmet. We were going to the theater that evening and there were a few other people we suspected had the same agenda. Others brought several bottles of wine and looked like they were going to make it their entire evening.
My biggest complaint would be that they didn’t provide glasses, so I had to have my pilsner in a plastic cup. But that didn’t ruin it for me, nor the beer. This pilsner was in-your-face hoppy. This is basically an IPA brewed as a lager. But it also had good depth, meaning it wasn’t just hops, with a strong body of malted barley to back it up. Excellent all around; thanks Al.
Rogue American Amber Ale
Jul 4th
Beer-a-Day #185
July 4th, American Independence Day. What better way to celebrate than with an American-brewed craft beer?
From the Rogue website:
Tasting Notes:
Tawny in color, with a coffee aroma, tight head and a delicate roasted malt accent. Generous use of hops and a smooth finish.
9 Ingredients:
Malts: Northwest Harrington and Klages, 95-115 and 135-165 Crystal.
Hops: Kent Golding and Cascade.
Yeast & Water: Rogue’s Pacman Yeast and Free Range Coastal Water.Specs:
13º PLATO
53 IBU
73.1 AA
33º Lovibond
Well I certainly don’t disagree with their description. That’s darn good. An appropriate accompaniment to our neighbors’ fireworks show.
Rogue Dead Guy Ale
Jun 9th
Beer-a-Day #160
In the style of a German Maibock, using our proprietary Pacman ale yeast. Deep honey in color with a malty aroma and a rich hearty flavor.
Wow, I haven’t had one of these in ages. Probably not since the inception of Hop Talk.
It’s pretty. And it’s malty but a good balance of bitterness to counteract the sweetness. I like it.
Ron on Porter
Mar 18th
I cracked open my bottle of Rogue Imperial Porter and served it with my NY Strip Steak smothered in caramelized onions & mushrooms. I had purchased this beer as part of my search for a favorite porter. Recently I noted that Victory’s Storm King Stout was closer to the porter I am seeking than any other porter I’ve tried (from a bottle). Rogue is one of my favorite craft brewers and I was hoping that at $15 a bottle, this would be the one.
But it wasn’t.
Once again, the primary flavor characteristic came from roasted/burnt barley. You CANNOT taste any malt sweetness behind the charcoal and it ruins what ever hop presence is there. This harsh bitterness is not what I’m looking for in a porter. From Rogue…
This is a huge mouthful of malt and hops. It has notes of bitter rich chocolate and hints of tar. A new hop called Summit was used to give it the perfect hop balance. This porter is the creme de la creme.
I started thinking to myself, I must be wrong, even though we already established that I can’t. Maybe I’m just misinformed… so I decided to look it up.
Robust Porter
Robust porters are black in color and have a roast malt flavor but no roast barley flavor. These porters have a sharp bitterness of black malt without a highly burnt/charcoal flavor. Robust porters range from medium to full in body and have a malty sweetness. Hop bitterness is medium to high, with hop aroma and flavor ranging from negligible to medium. Diacetyl is not acceptable. Fruity esters should be evident, balanced with roast malt and hop bitterness.Brown Porter
Brown porters are mid to dark brown (may have red tint) in color. No roast barley or strong burnt/black malt character should be perceived. Low to medium malt sweetness is acceptable along with medium hop bitterness. This is a light to medium-bodied beer. Fruity esters are acceptable. Hop flavor and aroma may vary from being negligible to medium in character.
So I’m not misinformed, either.
Now, you can’t be wrong either… you might like this. You might like to just add some ash from the fireplace, too. Why don’t you add some smoke flavor to it while you are at it. (Check back for my review of Stone’s Smoked Porter for the upcoming Session.)
I don’t like it. I like it bitter from hops and from dark malt, but it still must primarily taste like beer.
Rogue Imperial Porter is not a bad beer. The body, lacing, aroma and quality is top notch; I just don’t love whatever style of beer this is. And Rogue is not the only one.
IPA Bake Off
Dec 22nd
Back in October we tried an Octoberfest bake off (a taste test) and it wasn’t that successful. Nice.. not thrillin’, but nice. So when a different group of my friends suggested a blind IPA taste testing, I wasn’t very optimistic; but of course I was game anyway.
Surprise! Not only was it a great evening, the winners and losers made it all that much more interesting. We scored them differently than I had done previously, not just on an overall impression like the unofficial Hop-Talk rating system is built upon, but rather a much more detailed method using a standard beer judging sheet. It is based on an overall score of 50 points made up of several categories.
Here are the results. I rounded the averages of the four of us playing judge…
My comments after the tasting go like this…
Rogue - Yes, it stood alone at the top.
Stone – One of my favorite IPA’s. My score for it probably would have been higher but I hadn’t just taken a break in tasting for a slice of Buffalo Pizza… probably not the best idea and probably affected the overall result.
Butternut – We were all surprised by this one, but me most of all as I really don’t like Butternut’s other brews. I’m going to have to go back for this one.
Middle Ages – While we all know and love this IPA, none of us expected it to rate so high. Glad to see it up there.
Sam Smith – I nailed the import.
I had a great time doing this… I don’t know if the flavors varied that much greater than the octoberfest styles, or if the method in judging was what made it so much better. In any case, the casual nature and long evening in which we took to do it was one for the books.
Special thanks to our servers, Ellie & Katie, and their scientific strategy to organization assuring accurate test results. (We will excuse the Yuengling Porter incident.)
Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pilsner
Sep 3rd
Sometimes I just have to try a beer based on the packaging. Morimoto Imperial Pilsner from Rogue is onesuch. It comes in a lovely, resealable ceramic bottle. Add to that my eldest daughter is really getting into all things Japanese and urged me to buy it.
It also turns out to have been on Ron’s Wish List last year.
I actually bought this several weeks ago. I just haven’t had a good opportunity to have 750ml of a 8.8% ABV beer.
From Rogue’s website:
Style: Pilsner
Food Pairing: Seafood, Poultry
Tasting Notes:
Golden in color with a dry hop floral aroma and intense hop bitterness supported by a big malty backbone which culminates into a hedonistic mouthful.Ingredients:
100% French Pilsner. 100% Sterling. Czech Pils Yeast & Free Range Coastal Water.Specs:
18º PLATO
74 IBU
80 AA
16º Lovibond
I like the idea of a “hedonistic mouthful”.
Light amber in color with a cream colored head. Seems a bit hazy. Lots and lots of spicy hoppiness in the aroma. Body is surprisingly full, and there’s plenty more spice in the flavor. It’s oddly smooth with a bite at the same time. Interesting.
Hopheads would love this.
It has quite a kick. If you drink the whole 1 pint 10 fluid ounces yourself, plan on not going anywhere.
Pretty good, though. I rather liked it.
Top 5 Beers on Ron’s Christmas List
Dec 17th
‘Tis the season of giving, so if anyone happens to be in the spirit of things, here’s what I want…
Just kidding, of course, but as I have been browsing the brews at my local candy store recently, I have come across a variety of beers that I have never tried before. These beers have caught my attention but I have held off because I have been spending enough money on beers as gifts and feel that buying these typically higher priced beers for my self would be quite self-indulgent and not in the spirit of the holidays. Sure, I will eventually get around to them, but in the meantime, here are the top 5 beers on my Christmas List.
#5
Un*earthly Imperial India Pale Ale
by Southern Tier
Smell the enchanting aromas of the hops waft forward as your first sip divulges this beer’s fervent soul.
I love hoppy beers and this IPA comes in at 153 IBU’s sounds like a screaming good time. 11% ABV
#4
Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale
by Stone
…we crammed, forced, shoved and cajoled the OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale into itty bitty tiny little 12oz bottles. It did not go willingly. Some Stone peeps got hurt.
Read all of what Stone has to say about this brew on the back of the bottle.
I’ve had the Arrogant Bastard Ale before, in bottle and on draft. It is an excellent beer, even though Stone may not think me worthy. I’d love to know how the extra expensive Oaked version compares. 7.2% ABV
#3
Jah*va Imperial Coffee Stout
by Southern Tier
…a heady mixture of sweet sugar, dark roast, and complex flavor.
I love stouts of all kinds; this one sounds like one to sip by the fireside. 12% ABV
#2
Santa’s Private Reserve
by Rogue
Rogue’s annual holiday offering, Santa’s Private Reserve, is a variation of the classic Saint Rogue Red, but with double the hops–including Chinook, and Centennial, and a mystery hop called Rudolph by head brewer John “more hops” Maier!
Rogue has never let me down so this hoppy beer has to be a winner. I wonder what the Rudolph hop is…? 6% ABV
#1
by Weyerbacher
Double Simcoe IPA
Double Simcoe IPA is our incredible reward for Hopheads seeking over the top flavor in a Double IPA, without the harshness. Brewed exclusively with Simcoe hops…
The simcoe hop seems to popping up as the new, “in”, hop. I’m not sure if I’ve ever experienced it and I sure want to try. 9% ABV
In case you are just wrapped up in that giving spirit, here is one more beer I ran across on the Rogue website but I have never seen before. Leave it to an Iron Chef to make a pilsner, imperial… very interesting. I don’t know where you can buy one of this, perhaps you will have to visit kitchen stadium.
Morimoto Imperial Pilsner
by Rogue
Imperial Pilsner is golden in color with a dry hop floral aroma and intense hop bitterness supported by a big malty backbone.
If there is a theme here, it would be “beers to be savored”.
(p.s. I’ve been good!)
