Rogue Shakespeare Stout

Brewed by Rogue Ales
Style: Stout
Newport, Oregon USA

Bottle. Solid black. Medium tan head that stays. Lots of chocolate aromas. Some coffee, roasted oats and more sweet chocolate. Long burnt and bitter taste. Notes of chocolate and malts. Roasted coffee, maybe espresso flavors as well. Medium to full bodied, well balanced through and through. Very solid brew.

Big brown lasting head. Black body goes dark brown at edges. Roasty chocolatey aroma with milky toffee notes. Dry roasty earthy chocolatey taste with rye notes. Fullish body. Mild, smoothish mouthfeel. Dry roasty earthy rye aftertaste with wood and resin notes. Malty rye crisp bread flavours linger. Interesting, but quite harsh and unforgiving. (0.65l bottle, wine monopoly.)

22oz. bottle. pours jet black with an attractive off white head. Aroma is filled with semi sweet chocolate, but not over bearing. Roasted chocolate and slit bitterness round out this beer. Carbonation is higher then normal with this stout.

I can’t imagine this beer looking better it’s a very dark chocolate color with a large creamy tight brown head that leaves plenty of lace. The aroma is coco powder some cream and lots of roasty notes. The flavor is nicely hoppy with a good chocolate character and some bitter burnt toast flavor; there is also a mild tone of smoky coffee. This is really not a very complex beer but it is fantastically put together.

650ml bottle, 15C. Pours very dark brown with a large tan head. Nose has sweet and roasted malts with vanilla, oats and cocoa. Burnt flavours briefly gives way to gentle sweetness, which yields to a bitter finish with cocoa and coffee notes. There is slightly more bitterness than the beer can handle, but it’s very good nonetheless.

Pours black with a thick tan head. Excellent roasted malt and molasses aroma. Feels like you’re about to be in for a big treat, but unfortunately the flavor is quite a letdown. It weighs in at about zero on the complexity scale, which is too bad, since it has great mouthfeel and bitterness is just right.

So, i’m not a bit stout fan. This stout, however, is pretty tasty. It wasn’t too bitter, as I have found to be an unappealing factor in many stout’s I’ve tasted. It had a great aroma, lots of nice sweet chocolaty notes. It had a great mouth feel - not too carbonated, just the right density. It was nice that the flavor wasn’t tinged with something. So many stouts have these real flavors of chocolate or coffee, but this was kind of stand alone.. Very nice. This beats Guinness any day.

Brown bottle, 650 ml, savoured on January 31 2010; eye: black, opaque, tiny sheet of cappuccino head, light lacing; nose: grain, dark chocolate, roasting, roasted malt, light burnt malt, lactic, coffee; mouth: grain, dark chocolate, roasting, roasted malt, light burnt malt, lactic, coffee, finale in roasted malt with presence of coffee, full body, mildly bitter, lightly lactic, light enjoyable acridness, slightly oily texture, average carbonation; overall: quite good FRANÇAIS Bouteille brune, 650 ml, savourée le 31 janvier 2010; œil : noire, opaque, petite couverture de mousse cappuccino, légère dentelle; nez : grain, chocolat noir, torréfaction, malt rôti, léger malt brûlé, lactique, café; bouche : grain, chocolat noir, torréfaction, malt rôti, léger malt brûlé, lactique, café, finale en malt torréfié avec présence de café, corsée, moyennement amère, légèrement lactique, légère âcreté agréable, texture légèrement huileuse, carbonatation moyenne; en résumé : bien bon