Rogue Kells Irish Style Lager

Enjoyed at the St. Pat’s party uptown Gadsden. Thanks to Book M Dano. Golden Straw yellow color with a light haze and no head. Aroma is musty grain with some light spice and alcohol but not really very inviting. Light grainish malt with a light citrus hint (apple or white grape). Clean and somewhat floral tasting. Sadly I read the label on the and could not get the “apple” comment out of my head. Adequate body. Not sure what was Irish about this other than the label.

Wasn’t aware that Rogue Ales brewed Lager. This one wasn’t spectacular. Golden color, small head, the aroma was pretty crisp and fresh. Not overly carbonated, with a strong, subtley bready malt finish.

Bottle. Pours deep hazy yellow with a thin to non existent white head. Aromas of malts, slighty fruitiness and sweetness. Taste like cereal, like Wheaties. Grain, malt, etc. That’s about it. Finish is slighty sweet, but more grains. Body is light to medium. Fairly drinkable beer.

Head is initially small, frothy, white, mostly diminishing. Body is clear medium yellow. Aroma is lightly malty (cereal, grain), trace hops (herbs), with a note of DMS. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly to moderately bitter, slightly unclean. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. This is my first 100% blind rating (at first I did not even know what style the brewer/RateBeer suggested, though I asked that info before the final numbers were assigned so as not to dock it too hard for having characteristics considered acceptable for the style). I don’t think I would have rated it much differently had I known it was Rogue; this is a crap lager, quite frankly. Lots of cooked corn stink.

Beer pours a clear light-golden amber color with a small, white, frothy, mostly and quickly diminishing head. The aroma is vinous but kind of a snooze: Lightly malty with a note of husky toasted grain, toasted bread crust; a trace of hops in an herbal/grassy note; Trace miscellaneous notes of honey, peach and mellon and a moderate note of corney DMS. The flavor is moderately bitter, heavily acidic, lightly sweet with a short, moderately acidic, slightly bitter finish. The body is light, the texture is watery and the carbonation is sofer-than-average. This one—not so much.

Tyrpical lager with a strong gold body and a thin fizzy layer of head to start off. Aroma is lacking and shows minimum amount of substance used. Flavor is light and crisp but also bland and boring which is understandable if they intended to duplicate a real Irish lager. I had this on St.Patrick’s day.

Kells produced a strong green apple aroma upon opening the bottle, followed by light pale malt and pilsner yeast notes. It produced light carbonation with little head retention. Kells has a intriguing malt flavor; Rogue has integrated the wheat and acidified barley beautifully. The acid dominates the palate, then the pale malt, then a slight hoppiness. Very dry finish; Rogue’s yeast and long fermentation process is very efficient. Not quite enough malt and hop body to typify a pilsner, but a very enjoyable lager just the same, as long as you don’t mind its "outside the box" characteristics.

Light gold body, moderate white head. Very sweet aroma, cotton-candy like almost. The yeast is very evident in the taste, almost some corn like accents... probably due to the yeast and malts. Sweet apricot ending.