Rogue Monk Madness

Bottle. Pours hazy brown with a small fizzy light brown head, diminishing, spare lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (bread, caramel, roasted), light hops (herbs, grass), average yeast (dough) with notes of cola. Average duration, moderate sweetness, heavy bitterness and acidity. Medium bodied, sticky texture, average carbonation and metallic finish.

pours a light brown with lots of hop aroma.I am not a hop head but this wasn’t bad.Lots of hop and makt flavor.A slight hint of caramel.It had that hoppy dirt aftertaste.

Well, this beer didn’t make me think any Friar would be pining for it, but nonetheless here we go. Poured a brow/ruby color with a slightly tan head. I’ve read other appearances that said "hazy yellow" or "light amber" and I just have to wonder what they were looking at! While not opaque, this beer was defintely dark. Aroma is light for me, but there’s herbs (basil, and a general plantiness) and dirt. The taste balanced its elements surprisingly well. There was a mix of dark chocolate, rye bread, yeasty funk (in a not Belgian way) and some vague tanginess that seemed like raspberries. Finshes roasty, rye, and kind of dry, with a nice liquorice taste as I swallow. Very creamy texture, making a medium beer feel thicker. I really was wondering about the initial 108 IBUs, but it’s acually 68, which sounds about right for what this tasted like. I thought it could have used more caramel sweetness, then I would really have thought this was awesome. The complexity was pulled off well. I don’t get the hints at any Belgian charcteristics though.

Okay, I can see where this used some Belgian malts and hops (combined with American hops) but an American ale yeast. As I was drinking this, I kept trying to imagine these flavors with a Belgian yeast strain it was not a far stretch at all. It’s funny how easy it is for a Belgian Strong to be an American Strong, just depending on the yeast. Still, this beer would be really awesome if it only used a Belgian yeast.

The beer came in a 22 oz. bomber with silk-screened label and info with a typical Rogue flair. When poured, the clear light brown body topped with a generously foamy head looked pretty good. Aromatically, this was not very interesting. The primary smell was that of piney PNW hops, and that was about it. The taste indicated the hazards of attempting a multilayered ale using Pacman Yeast. The yeast had pretty much wiped everything out, and all I was left was with was a simple, hoppy, brown ale. I just didn’t find any of the Belgian inspiration hinted on the label inside the bottle, and all I could think was Sierra Nevada Brown Ale is nearly the same as this, but without any of the pretentiousness.

Some caramel aroma, with some hops, and some rogue aroma. Pours a translucient brown. A lot of caramel, toffee, with piney hops. Light on the palate.

22oz typical Rogue screen printed bottle. Nice looking dark bronze ale with a gorgeous frothy bubbly tan head. Very strong hoppy/piney aromas, with a dash of spice and some intrigueing sourness. Odd and unusual clash of flavours, very piney resinous hops , clash with a smooth underlying malt base with some chocolate tones, and in the back ground a spicy herbal tone tries to break through.I also for some odd reason get a dash of liquorice. Ok on the palate , not bad, long lasting after taste. Overall a weird beer indeed. But I enjoyed drinking it and thus gave it a slightly higher score.

22oz bomber. Reddish/copper color with a sand colored head. The aroma is biscuty with a bit of roast and some light floral, spicy, and, to a lesser extent, fruity hops. Taste is initially bitter with pine, breadiness, some light roast and a warming alcohol finish. I think I know what they were trying here, but it seems like a bit of a jumbled mess. Somewhat enjoyable, but seemed like it missed the belgian yeast at the expense of strong hops. A fun experiment.

smells good...brown with reddish hues...hoppy yet malted...just perfectly nice....the finish actually reminds me of a baby baby baby double bastard...baby cubed...tried this on tap also and it actually wasn’t as good...it was overwhelmed by bitterness and the only slight aromas were maple syrup and a hint of raspberries