Rogue Monk Madness

22 ounce bottle from, mmm, dunno, somewhere in the midwest I think, purchased in December 2006 and consumed from a Unibroue glass around cellar temperature. A frothy off-white foam exudes into the glass, filling half of it and dying slowly leaving thick tufts of lace in its wake, all atop the burnished translucent copper-brass body....the first sniff is all pungent PNW hops, very resinous and oily; as I nose it more, there’s a bit of caramelized sugars, some dry woodiness, certainly no Belgian character, and it’s all quite weak and soft.....toffee is the first note on the tongue, a sort of coffee-cake caramel/mocha-java character which is rather pleasing for a moment but is quickly taken over by dry, dusty woody hops which remain as virtually the only trait on through midpalate to the dessicated, overattenuated and extremely dry finish....the mouthfeel is rough and prickly, with a bit of juiciness at the front making it palatable that unfortunately fades quickly into the dust....overdone, overhopped, over-dry and certainly under-Belgian with a name and description like this, but whatever you call it this is an unpleasant mess and I doubt very much that I’ll finish the bottle.

22 oz. bottle. Pours dark, reddish amber with a small of-white head. Aroma of roasted malt and a little floral hops. Flavor is spicy and a little smokey with noticeable bitterness. Solid but not spectacular.

Pours a clear ruby amber with a respectable light tan head. Aroma is sweet malt and hop flowers as well as a bready quality. Smooth sweet lightly toasted malt flavor along with maple, caramel, and hop bitterness. Very good effort.

bottle. and i have to say i am a bit surprised i did not have to go through three different alias’ to find out i had this before and didn’t like it. lets see here, hazed reddish maroon body with a fat head, that lays on top like a down blanket. well, the best way i know to describe the nose is to say it smells like dry pot. a lot of hops in this, bitter earthy flavor that is like iced tea gone bad. weird cinnamon finish. a bit of caramel on cardboard taste to this too. there is something like eating dirt in the flavor that just turns me off here. i can’t get past it, i can’t describe it very well, but i don’t like it.

a nice beer sweet and smooth eas to drink not my fav style but id say try one if you can!

I had this beer from the beer engine at Roman’s in Milwaukee, and despite being disappointed by my previous experience with Rogue beers, thought it excellent. I think that the "American" in "American Brown Ale," gives you a pretty wide berth style-wise, and this beer is attractive to look at, hoppy in the mouth, and (at least from the beer engine) wonderfully smooth in the mouth. Appearance is a deep mahogany red, with a silky-smooth head imparted by the hand pump. Aroma is of Cascade hops, which I didn’t expect from a brown ale (but American Brown Ale is a pretty wide category, I think). Not much caramel malt in the smell, but the flavor is fairly malty, and not representative of the hop in the aroma. Flavor is (oddly) the weakest component of this beer, but is still above average, with some plum and raisin notes. Mouthfeel is great (beer engine) and I thought this beer quite drinkable.

Slightly hazy copper with a fluffy, quickly diminishing off-white head. The aroma is not bad, but not overly enthralling either. Sweet caramel, pine resin, light grassiness, whole grains, Earthy notes, light fruit (like raisins or cherries), dry biscuits and a hint of grapefruit zest. The body is big and full, almost surprisingly so. The bubbles are soft, but it doesn’t help the body all that much. The flavor is kind of odd, actually. It’s disconcerting to find that just as you’re about the grab the essence of the malt profile, it’s totally obliterated by the too-intense hop bitterness. I think this could be interesting if you could get some more malt goodness to come out. Or maybe if the yeast was a little more Belgian-y. I don’t know. I think I can imagine the hope for this beer, but I just don’t think execution really brought it to fruition.

Eh, not much to write about on this. Nothing to special happening here, bland flavor. Nothing stood out that I can recall....