Rogue Brutal IPA

Brewed by Rogue Ales
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Newport, Oregon USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

Very pronounced hop presence,good body. Excellent bitter!!!

Hoppy,Bitter and nice citrus flavor. Pretty unique brew, and very enjoyable. I agree with cathcacr on the Grapefruit taste/smell.

sunburst in a glass: with soft canary tones at the thin part of the goblet, radiating up to a fiery teak. nice lacy white head flashes like a welcome smile. this baby has one of the most conspicuously fruit scented aromas that’s ever bopped my ’old-factory’: it’s apricot nectar and orange zest; plus a little colorado pine forest (one of the ones thats not on fire at the moment). on the palette is where it shifts to texas ruby red grapefruit. still, when i think brutal, i think cape buffalo on steroids with an angry hornet lodged in his nostril. this aint like that, this is hoppy and lovely, tastes like it’d be nutritious for growing children. this is brutal more like a slightly petulant koala bear, it’s got a hiss, but overall a gorgeous coat and character.

UPDATED: JAN 20, 2006 22 oz bomber-pours a hazy orange hue with a hue rocky off-white head that lasted quite a long time. many rogue beers pour with this head for some reason. floral hop aroma with some toasty notes from the maris otter malts. has some slight lager charactersitcs due to the crystal hops. smells like "beer" to me. Nice balance of the crystal hops and toasty malts-kinda reminds me of a bigger version of the honey cream ale, which i thought was a decent brew! Not the hop bomb i was expecting, but a very balanced beer that I would love to have again. The finish is piney and hoppy, but not astringent. I still haven’t had a bad beer from this company. Thanks Secret Santa for this one!!!!!!

UPDATED: DEC 19, 2003 Strong crystal hop/grapefruit aroma nicely balanced by malty sweetness. Not unpleasantly bitter like too many of its strongly-hopped cousins (not so much english bitter styles but west coast brews). Only brutal when compared to bud/miller/coors. Otherwise, this is just plain delicious.

A beautiful and bright auburn with a dense head. The hops are not imperial but balanced very nicely with the malt, which is imperial, smooth and sweet. The malt backbone to this struck me as very similar to Rogue’s Imperial Pilsner. Both wonderfully hoppy beers with deliciously juicy malt backgrounds. This is what a bitter should be and I savored the whole bomber. I had this a while back on tap at the Blindtiger in NYC and remember it being just as wonderful.

draft and bottles. I’m not sure when this beer went from just good to amazing. in the vein of classic british real ale bitter (maris otter / two-row pale) it has a golden hue with slight haze from light filtration (centrifuged?), medium-high apparent attenuation, and a classic rich, snappy cracker and nut flavor. made entirely with crystal hops, it’s appropriately spicy, pungent and floral, with vibrant (and highly acidic) dried citrus rind. exceptionally frothy and full while also delicately soft. the pacman yeast has a light to moderate doughiness, and the phenols add to the hop spiciness. perhaps my favorite IPA (if we’re calling it that, which we should) of the moment. damn shame distribution is so limited.

This one never ceases to amaze. Hopp Hopp Hoppy and delicisous. Long finish that doesn't have that lingering sour that some bitters have. Clean and delicious. I'd love to have this one on tap.