Rogue 21

Brewed by Rogue Ales
Style: Old Ale
Newport, Oregon USA

Serve in English pint, Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Sampled at Raleigh Rare and Vintage 2013. Clear brown pour with reddish highlights. Sweet candi sugar aroma was nice, but it went downhill from there. Just maltiness on top of more maltiness. Kind of a muddled mess. Didn’t like this one. Maybe it was good fresh, but age has dropped out all the hop presence, and I couldn’t really pick out any specific flavors.

In short: A sugary-sweet, very spicy and very wild/bretty mess of a beer. Fun mess. Strangely entertaining accident.
How: Ceramic 750ml bottle, capped + flip-top. Consumed when probably over one year of age. Shared at a Montreal tasting.
The look: Cloudy dark amber topped by a large beige head with medium retention.
In long: Nose is very wild and spicy, out of control brett in some kind of weird mix of spices. Taste is sugary crunchy cereals, a whole lot of spices/herbs/plants (buckwheat, coriander, cooking herbs), an overload of brett. Obviously this so-called Old Ale didn’t turn out as planned, this beer was a total mess, but a mess I found somewhat enjoyable. If it was made by a more experimental brewery (Evil Twin or others) and sold as a sweet-spicy-funky beer it could probably get good ratings. But this beer, at least the bottle I opened, was an out-of-control accident. Drink at your own risk. And to think I paid big $ for this one-shot Rogue in a fancy ceramic bottle, however know that because you are not wasting your money on overpriced beers doesn’t make you smarter than me, you probably are anyway, most people are, for many reasons other than me buying overpriced beers, for instance apparently most people never forget how to operate shoes.

Bouteille de grès de 750 ml, avec bouchon de liège, partagée lors d’une dégustation Ratebeer Montréal. Arôme: Odeur d’épices avec une pointe chocolatée. Apparence: La couleur est ambrée voilée. Présence d’un moyen col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Léger goût d’épices et de brett. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement minérale. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Légère présence d’épices en arrière goût. (Rating #4599)

Draft. Aroma smells like closeted raisins. Not impressed and don't ever need to try this again ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

My Bottom Line:
Brettanomyces pierces through this strong ale’s still sugary profile, sharing spicy and herbal flavors with the resident hops.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A touch of foam sits atop the cloudy dull reddish brown.
-If I rely on the label, the wild yeast was not wanted in here. It was present from nose to finish though...
-As a result, the mouthfeel is relatively flabby. Something’s still working in here...
-Rogue, Dogfish Head, Lagunitas... Seems like I can’t tell them apart sometimes. So many sugary, rough brews trying to be salvaged by characterful hops or exotic ingredients....

Bottle.

750ml swingtop bottle pours a reddish brown color with a 2 finger light beige head that settles down to leave some spotty lacing on the glass. Aroma is slightly sour with some caramel and licorice and floral notes. Taste is caramel malty sweetness with some licorice and a mild hop bitterness with a bit of a sourness in the finish. Medium bodied with some light carbonation. A very interesting brew that is quite tasty and surprisingly easy to drink.

750 ml flip top shared by Tmoney99. Pours a hazy copper brown color with a small off white head. The aroma has sweet caramel, dark fruits and a hint of tea. The flavor is caramel, dark fruits, tea, some green leafy notes and a splash of chocolate. Overall, not terrible, but far from worth the price you pay because of the bottle.

Date: August 21, 2010
Mode: Draft
Source: Taco Mac, The Fred
Appearance: opaque dark brown, fine beige head, drippy lace
Aroma: sweet malt aroma, touch of chocolate, lots of fruity esters
Flavor: rich malt flavor, lots of chocolate, brown sugar sweetness, touch of dark fruits, balancing earthyness
Overall: should age nicely
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *** /4

Cool 750 ml flip-top ceramic bottle purchased fourteen months ago at Holiday Wine Cellar (10.99). Pours a deep red-purple hue with really big creamy beige head. Aroma of mild dark fruit, bready malts, and some anise. And it has a distinct aroma that is very similar to a typical sour ale with notes of leather, barnyard, and dank overripe fruit. Is there brett in here?? Complex flavor of toffee, molasses, stewed dark fruits, some chocolate, anise, spice, and more dank sour/lambic notes. Finishes very dry with some lingering hoppy bitterness that I had not picked up before. A very interesting (actually, quite strange) beer that I was not expecting. (63, 626)

Dark and somewhat hazy reddish brown with a spicy aroma. Very complex flavor with spice, sweetness and malt, licorice, cherry, and oak. Very full bodied.