Bought this several months ago, at Hop City, Atlanta, GA and paid the slightly absurd price of approx. $20! The bottle is pretty extravagant, even by ridiculous Rogue standards. My guess is that the price is why there are only 15 reviews before mine, despite the fact that this beer has been out for a LONG time. The beer pours with a mid-brown, clouded body and a healthy, light tan head. Some decent lace considering the ABV. The nose is not especially strong, even on warming. It reveals a...
Notes on beers brewed by
Rogue Brewery (Brewer's on the Bay)
Chatoe Rogue First Growth Creek Ale
Without question my favorite of all of the First Growth Series so far. 22 oz bottle from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, the usual First Growth presentation. Not an especially attractive pour that generates a murky, reddish brown body, a nice, thick, creamy head but a carbonation that at first seems a little on the high side. After it all settles down it does produce a creamy feel and a less prickly mouthfeel than I first thought it might. Nose and tastes give some gentle tartness and a really fruity...
Chatoe Rogue First Growth OREgasmic Ale
22 oz bottle from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA. Pour here offers a good, high head (deep and rich with a nice off-white color) that lingers. The color however, is a different matter - a turbid, murky, dirty brown that I don't care for. The color undoes the good work of the head IMO. This is a VERY strange beer to me. Firstly it does not look (or feel) like an APA at all. It seems to dark to me, and the tastes are odd. This beer just seems overdone. At first the beer seems too malty. Then, in the...
John John Juniper
Picked up the latest of the John John series to make it to Atlanta at Green's on Ponce. 22 oz bottle. Not really excited by the first one in the series, but this one seems to offer more potential for me. Color is an attractive, slightly hazed, golden body with a fine, wispy head. Not much retention or lace but a good color. Nose offers little other than some sweet malts and perhaps a touch of alcohol. Tastes are what I would call refined. A very tasty, noticeable light, citrus and herbal twang...
Chatoe Rogue First Growth Single Malt Ale
Simplicity on the pour with a nice, orange body hat sits underneath the white head. Some lace, but not much to speak of and the head fades rather quickly. Nose has plenty of grain character but the threat of extra hop presence also wafts into the nostrils. The tastes confirm that exact combo with the hops taking too forward a role for me (at least in terms of the style). Finis is interesting since it imparts a fairly significant dry, cracker like ending that I wasn't expecting and again seems...
John John Dead Guy Ale
22 oz bottle from Smyrna World of Beverage. Around $8-9 for the privilege. Probably should have taken a closer look at the label here rather than just grabbing it, as I'm not a huge fan of either Dead Guy or barrel aging in general - ho hum. At first glance I wondered if this was another of those annoying Rogue habits where the beer get re-packaged and re-named. Apparently I'm in the clear. Beer seems slightly over-carbonated as I open the bottle. Creamy head sits a top of a light copper body...
Chatoe Rogue First Growth Dirtoir Black Lager
Silly name. 22 oz bottle in the usual Rogue presentation from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA. Jet black pour but without asignificant head or lace. The hop nose and hop tastes are suprisingly reserved for Rogue, but at the same time too large for the style IMO. This is essentially an "Americanized" version of a Schwarzbier which, unsurprisingly, takes the hop profile way too far for me. Lingering bitterness replaces a sweet edge, and the hops also provide a biting note that detracts from the...
Charlie (JLS Release #22)
Marketed as, "Charlie 1981" at Taco Mac on the East West Connector, Austell, GA, USA. 16 oz pint. Slightly murky, brown body with good lace. Some chill haze in the glass, not much clarity. Aroma has very hop-based and I could easily feel this ought to be classified as a typical American DIPA. Typically Rogue, the beer seems slightly over-hopped to me, and this beer is essentially a DIPA. Resinous hops, strong, astringent nose and a slight burn. Hops tire the palate quickly in a combination of...
Maierfest Lager
WOW and WOW, I wasn't expecting this! $4.99 for the 22 oz bomber in the usual silk-screened presentation from Green's on Buford, Atlanta, GA, USA. I usually approach Rogue with some trepidation since I often find their beers over-hopped but this blew me away. (I was worried with the bottle design having hops strewn about Mr. Maier!!) A significant hiss on opening and a lively pour with a good dose of carbonation. BEAUTIFUL clarity on the golden orange pour with great streaming carbonation -...
Morimoto Soba Ale
22 oz bottle, Total Wine, Perimeter, Atlanta, GA, USA. The usual Rogue, screen-printed presentation. Very difficult to believe that I have not yet reviewed this brew, but here it goes. Pour is a mid-orange with some nice soapy head. Head is persistent and leaves some sticky lace on the glass. Nose and tastes have a mild sweetness. A balanced beer by any standards but if you put it in the context of Rogue's, often over-hopped brews this is especially surprising. Reminds me a lot of an English...
Somer Orange Honey Wheat
As usual with Rogue, it's EXTREMELY difficult to tell if this is just another alias for another one of their brews since they have so many re-naming projects going on, but because of the thread below, and because of searching around (including Rogue's site) and finding nothing, I *think* that this has a chance of being a new brew and something that should be added to the db. Anyway, it can be moved if it does turn out to be an alias of a beer already in the db (I am pretty sure this is NOT the...
Smoke Ale
22 oz, screen printed bottle. Usual Rogue presentation. Cloudy orange pour with a high head which is wispy and quickly dissipates. some scant lace. The orange color and the head makes it look a little like an American IPA. Pretty reserved smoke in the nose, and to be honest it seems just as reserved in the taste. In NO way would I characterize this as a smoked beer since it really just drinks like a typically unbalanced Rogue (large hop presence without much malt to back it up) with smoke...
Double Dead Guy Ale
Since re-categorized on BA as an American Strong Ale. === Original Review 10/08 ==== 22 oz bottle - striking in its appearance but I don't know if I like it or not. $9.99 from Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA so I am a little worried about the value - that's pricey for a bomber. Right off the bat this is a VERY poor "Dopplebock" (IF indeed that is what it is supposed to be). If the beer IS just a hyped up version of Dead Guy, then I fail to see how it can change style dramatically. I'm...
Half-E-Weizen
Recently arrived in GA (along with Dad's Little Helper) as an addition to the Rogue line-up. I was a little concerned about this beer because I thought that a Rogue Witbier would just be another style that they would add too many hops to, and in the process take the thing out of style and screw it up. There WAS a touch of extra and unnecessary hop bite in the finish, AND the aftertaste was way too soap like for my taste, but overall it was better than I expected, and it was a little truer to...
Brewer’s Ale 2008
Difficult to be absolutely sure if this is the correct listing for the beer that I had at lunchtime today, but for now I think it may be for the following reasons; 1. I drank it at Summit's in Snellville which has a "special" relationship with Rogue. 2. The one other review seems to resemble what I drank. 3. It was listed at the bar as "Brewer Ale". Anyway, a very dark brown pour with a pretty lively, frothy head. The head eventually settles down to yield some nice, spotty and creamy lace. The...
Oregon Golden Ale
22oz bomber from State Line Liquors purchased under the Sharktooth moniker. I think it was $4.99. Golden/Orange hazed and cloudy pour. Head and lace are unimpressive. Nose is a light lemon. Some noisy, and prickly carbonation. Quite bubbly in the mouth. Body is Hefe like. Tastes are interesting with a yeasty background with some citrus notes. In fact, if I had to sum this up I would call it VERY reminiscent of a typical British Lager Shandy. Lots of lemonade (British, NOT American), which...
Glen Ale ( JLS Release #27)
On tap at Charlie Mopps, Sandy Springs, Atlanta, GA, USA. $5.35 for the 16 oz pour. Despite the reputation of Charlie Mopps amongst some, they are still serving their beer in frozen glasses, and you can still barely breathe for the smoke in there....anyway, back to the beer. Simple looking amber our with a nice head, good retention and some sticky, ivory colored lace. A nice looking pint. Simple malt and bitter balance with (for Rogue) a sensible amount of malt backing up the hops. I though it...
Kells Irish Style Lager
$5.49, City Beverage, Winston-Salem, NC, USA. 22oz bomber. One of the few Rogue offerings that we do not get in GA so I thought I should pick it up. Nice pour. Plenty of decent head and some lace. Slighly clouded appearance with some honey color in the body. Head and lace have some retention, but not a great deal. Not much aroma - small amount of grain perhaps?? Frankly a very ordinary lager. Mild sweetness, slight bitterness in the finish, simple and refreshing, but not much else to report....
Dad’s Little Helper Malt Liquor
On-tap at the Brick Store, Decatur, GA, USA. $4.50 a pint. I really enjoyed this! Macro golden pour with a very nice head that left some pretty nice lace. Very smooth (no nasty skunk or edges on the beer). Served at just the right temperature and in the late Atlanta Spring, a couple of pints of this really hit the spot! It is very sweet so if you are not keen on that sweet, malt taste then you should stay away. Also I would imagine that a few pints of this could give you a NASTY hangover, so...
Brewer (JLS Release #17)
On-tap at the Brick Store, Decatur, GA, USA. Dark, chocolate colored pour with a small head but some decent sticky lacing. Certainly looks above average. Bready, hoppy nose with plenty of character. Rogue is stamped all over this. Huge hops that give a cloying bitterness that is not subtle in the least. The hops cut into the finish and even over-shadow the relatively high ABV. I just can't seem to get to grips with many Rogue beers. Everything seems super-hopped for no apparent reason that...
Über Pils
$4.99, 22oz bomber, Hilton Head, SC, USA. Don't really know why, but I've passed up the chance to try this on several occasions and have only got around to trying it and reviewing after several years of not bothering. Shame, because I really like it. Much more orange color in the pour than a traditional, light pure yellow Pils, and a bigger head with more dense fluff characteristics and good lacing. Nice looking beer. Aroma has hops, but not astringent and sharp. MUCH more rounded with a...
Monk Madness (JLS Release #18)
Interesting. 22 oz Bomber, Green's, Buford, Atlanta, GA, USA. First off there is nothing "Belgian" about this, nor is there much that makes it a Brown Ale. Typical for Rogue the hops are upfront, huge and out of balance. In this beer the hop presence is ridiculous for a Brown Ale, but not too overwhelming when you consider the Rogue style. Often Rogue can get completely out of hand, here it's just big. This is really a Bitter, or perhaps even close to an Irish/Amber, but either way it's very...
Imperial Stout
750 mL, XS packaged, black "ceramic", swing-top bottle. 2006 vintage. Opaque black - jet black with a fast receding, coffee colored, fine bubbled head. Some lacing but not very extensive. Motor oil is a good descriptor. Aroma is dark, burned sugar with lots of alcohol. Amazingly dense - the glass feels ultra-heavy. Each mouthful burns with bitterness as it enters the mouth, but like the head, it receded quite quickly to leave a rich, fully coating, dark creaminess. Seriously big, this is a...
Chipotle Ale
Light amber color with an attractive ring of very light brown head. Not much in the nose, maybe a little light smoke. This is a very unusual beer. Some really nice bitterness with a solid malt backbone too, there are two prominent features. Some very mild smoke, and the unique heat. Both of them build over the drink, and surprisingly this really does drink like spicy food. The heat never threatens the beer, and it is very tasty. Like a spiced IPA. I was a bit dubious, but this grew on me...
Juniper Pale Ale
Cloudy yellow pour with a good head and some lacing. Decent carbonation leads to a nice appearance. Pleasing hoppy bitterness that seemed balanced (unusually so for Rogue) with only a hint of the herbal/spice that the Juniper is presumably supposed to generate. Pretty dry all the way through particularly in the short finish. Easy drinking and a bit of a novelty but worth a try.
Santa’s Private Reserve Ale
Absolutely, 100% typically Rogue. This is an unbalanced beer with cutting, citrus hops overwhelming everything else, to the detriment of everything else. Good looking beer, with a really nice color, lovely big fluffy head and some excellent layered lacing. The appearance is by far its best quality. Mild hops in the nose, but this mild mannered start to the experience is quickly dispelled a thin mouthfeel, big, big hop profile and a brutally dry finish that saps the enjoyment from the beer. (As...
Younger’s Special Bitter
Light amber pour with some chill haze and a nice full head. Some decent lacing too. Aroma is of mild hops, but generally pretty non-descript. Extremely middle of the road bitter. Balanced malt profile with a small amount of bitterness in the finish, but very little to report. A fairly dry finish too. Refreshing, but lacks depth and body. Session possibilities, but not especially captivating in any way.
Morimoto Imperial Pilsner
OK, this review will be a little biased since I bought this for $3.99 rather than (up to) $16.99 that I have seen in Atlanta. At this price, this beer is a straight 5. At $12, $13, $14 or $15 a bottle it isn't. Great, butterscotch and lemon apppearance, with a massive head, chill haze, carbonation and a real viscous feel make up a wonderful look. Aroma? Well, the best way I can describe it is as an expensive Euro Lager (Stella on acid). Hoppy and malty, and at the same time, the viscous feel...
Morimoto Black Obi Soba Ale
Essentially this is, acts and drinks much like a low quality Porter. It has all the appearance, aroma and taste characteristics of a watered down version of the classic English brew. Some creamy head remians after the initial pour, but not much. A little lacing. A wee bit thin in terms of the body and mouthfeel for a Porter, but some decent smokiness and chocolate malt character in the beer. A little bit watery in the finish, but some hop bitterness in the end. A drying finish too. Caramel...
FestiveAle
A really simple beer to review and talk about in my opinion. This has the aroma of a classic Saison, perhaps is a little too dark but I can live with that, and gives a Saison taste for a few seconds and then guess what? Well, as is SO often the case, the over-hopping bitterness of Rogue cuts across and through absolutely every redeeming quality. It simply does not work. A Saison is unlikely to be a brew that Rogue can pull off, and this confirms it. They appear to have attempted to combine a...
Brutal Bitter Ale
Pretty much as I expected. A decent beer but hopped a little out of the style. To be fair I did not think this was as over-hopped as many other Rogue offerings, indeed it was more balanced than many of their products, but this is NOT an ESB. Attractive pour with a light copper color and a nice head with some lacing. Taste is typically Rogue. Lots of hops upfront and all the way through to the finish. Grapefruit is dominant with metallic twang in the finish. Obviously this lacks the subtle...
Hazelnut Brown Nectar
Original notes 10/30/2005 (picture from 2022) Light brownish, garnet color, that when held up to the light takes on some serious red highlights and looks a lot thinner than I was imagining it would look. Some bubbly, cream colored head form an aggressive pour. The head is not sustained though and there is little or no lacing. Pretty good looking brown ale, especially strong in the body color appearance. Obviously from the name I was expecting some hazelnut in the aroma, but frankly I got very...
XS Imperial India Pale Ale
I'm going to go against the grain here - for the usual reasons - and say I don't much care for this, but more importantly for the price there are several other examples of better beers within the style. I feel that Rogue often "hops" out of a style to the point where the citrus hop bitterness just leaves you feeling that that is all you are getting, and some of the finer points are lost. I KNOW that some people love that route, I just feel they often overstep the mark. Very cloudy...
Buckwheat Ale
At last, a well balanced Rogue beer - strange that it comes in such an unusual brew. Deep golden orange pour with a substantial head. Lacing is good, but the head fades quickly. I would describe this as a "malt IPA", meaning it has hop IPA characteristics, and it has the appearance of a solid IPA, but shows at the same time it exhibits more sweet malt balance that takes it somewhat out of the IPA style. Some citrus notes, but they are very muted, but this is still a very drinkable beer. Nice...
XS Old Crustacean
$2.99, Whole Foods, Sandy Springs, Atlanta, GA, USA. The attraction of drinking this is largely lost on me. Under any circumstances, or in the name of any style, ABV of 11.3% coupled with 120 IBU's is getting close to a point that is perilously close to simply going too far. I understand the style, I understand the art of producing massive beers and I understand the role of these types of brew in the grand scheme of beer making and in the grand scheme of an evening's drinking, but even to a...
Honey Cream Ale
Definitely honey and creaminess to this brew. It pours a hazy orange color which I don't think is especially attractive. Quite smooth, but like most Rogues, I find the hop aroma and the general hop character much too big for the beer itself. It doesn't matter that the hops in this beer are really quite small for a Rogue brew, they still seem to overpower the style that the beer should have. I was only introduced to Rogues a few months ago and after the initial delight at finding something more...
Dead Guy Ale
$1.49 per bottle as apart of mixed six-pack from World Market, Marietta, GA. To me, Rogue beers seem to be consistently over-rated. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy them, but I am consistently expecting more from them. This brew pours a cloudy orange color with absolutely no head. As hoppy as ever for Rogue, that, together with the color and the "flatness", reminded me of a classic cask-conditioned English ale. It was very rounded and full flavored in the mouth - a nice experience. Finished quite...
Mocha Porter
In typical Rogue fashion this is an extremely hoppy offering with a lot of body and plenty of bitterness. For me, for this to be described as a Porter is misleading. It's much more like a stout. From the tan bubbly head, through the bitter and hops, onto the smokiness, right through to the dry aftertaste, this has none of the creaminess or the smoothness that I associate with the best, most drinkable Porters. Don't get me wrong, Rogue makes some fine beers, but as a Porter this isn't one of...
American Amber Ale
Updated Review 05/08: Second review under the "Sea Otter Amber". Light, reddish amber with some chill haze. Head fades quickly with not much lace. STILL the astringent, over the top, West Coast American hops which unbalance the beer. My views on Rogue have changed over the years, and I now find many (if not most) of their beers, unbalanced in terms of hops. This is a classic example of that. Original Review 02/04: Nice hoppy aroma and initial flavor that mellows out as the bottle is emptied....
Chocolate Stout
I had heard an awful lot about this beer, and as a result I was concerned that it would not live up to the hype. In the end it was just about what I had expected. It poured like liquid mud! Tan head. The chocolate character did two things for me. Firstly it took away the bitterness of the stout and secondly it made the aftertaste somewhat dry. Given that stouts are not my favorite style, I enjoyed it, but not as much as some others seem to have. Real stout lovers would certainly write better...
St. Rogue Red
$2.99 Arbor Place Beverage, Douglasville, GA. Later $3.99 Atlantic Wine, Atlanta, GA. The picture (label) on the large brown (1 Pint 6 fl oz) bottle looks like a drunk, Communist Jesus - highly amusing! Poured a red/copper color with a decent head with some (but not much) lacing. A little chill haze. Malts upfront with a very light bitterness and not nearly as dry as I was expecting. Highly drinkable and somewhat refreshing. Definitely a watery mouthfeel, and lack of body. Finishes with a...
Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout
This is clearly a quality product, but you really need to be a solid stout fan to enjoy and appreciate it fully. I'm not a huge fan of stout in general, and as a result my scores may be a little on the low side. Regardless of that this is one hell of an impressive looking beer. As black as any I can remember, with a truly brown head. The mild bitterness that this gives, truly coats the roof of the mouth for an unmistakable stout experience. The after-taste was much more mellow. The whole...