Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pilsner

Cloudy golden in colour with a herbal floral hop scent and some sweetness. Flavour is lightly sweet and piney with a bitter finish. I would say neither an Imperial Pilsner not a Strong Lager, but an interesting beer.

Opened up a bottle of this Christmas Day to toast the holiday. I’d picked it up in Memphis and had it stored away for just the right moment. It comes in a 22 oz? flip-top bottle which has a ceramic appearing coating. Neat bottle to say the least. Aroma: Very strong and in your face hop aroma. More of an earthy floral nose somewhat fitting the pilsner style just way over the top. Some nice munich malt character did come through as it warmed. Appearance: Cloudy and just a bit dark for the Pilsner style. Good head stand Flavor: Immense hop flavor. Some malt but nowhere near balance. Hops dominate. Finished dry with a bit of alcohol warmth. Mouthfeel: Carbonation twang and very bitter. There is some body in this brew from the abundance of malt but bitterness definitely dominates. Overall Impression: This is a pilsner on steroids. Very hop dominant. Way too over-the-top to be called a pilsner IMHO. So there you have it. This beer did get better with each sip. My impression on first taste was, literally, what the hell is this! I warmed up to the beer somewhat but probably will not get it again. I guess I’m just too much of a wimp for this Imperial Pilsner.

Expensive, fancy-schmancsy ceramic swing top bottle: Deep golden hue. Puffy beige head. Fruity, citric hop nose, with a definate band-aid-ish scent. Sweet grainy malts, medium to full body, pleasantly bitter, juicy, resinous hop ending. Tastes very Rogue-ish. Well rounded and quite quaffable, this strong lager will get yer pants off in a hurry. Did I mention this is quite expensive in Massachusetts? I would imagine this could find a place at the dinner table quite easily.

The overpriced marvel, I finally didn’t pass it up this time. Honey, hops, hint of caramel, aroma is almost like an APA. Frothy head, gold body. Alcohol is too much, taste is earthy with alcohol sweetness and pine. Malt backdrop is good, but Imperial beers need to be Stouts, or IPAs. But a worthwhile expieriment.

Wonderful cloudy amber color, soft light colored head that dissipated rather quickly. Strong hoppy flavor with citrus flavors. Mildy bitter aftertaste. All in all a fabulous pilsner. A little pricey but well worth it.

I bought a few bottles of this as an accompaniment for a sushi party I was hosting and I am thoroughly impressed by this beer. Pours cloudy. Definitely the favorite at the sushi party.

nice bottle except for the price tag-- big numbers which clash with the peasant quality of the faux crock bottle. alas boys and girls, we’re deeply into the days of hyper high-end pricing for "special releases" -- ostensibly for the gourmet market. they slap an eleven dollar sticker on some ambitious brewing experiment, as if --as a beer geek ever in search of daring new products-- I’M supposed to underwrite these zymurological tinkerings and test products. they want ME to feel like a peasant because i dare to criticize the price-- if i point out that a fine duvel or a unibroue product costs HALF this tariff. well i don’t feel like a peasant: this is six dollars worth of beer in an eleven dollar bottle. and if i EVER visit the rogue brewery, watch out, i’m going to bulge my sweater stealing ashtrays, rolls of toilet paper and glasses till i get that money back. seriously, tho, this is a fairly nice beverage-- it’s not the beers fault that the accountants had a field day with my gullibility. admittedly, i don’t know an "imperial pilsner" from egyptian embalming fluid, i just respond to the taste-- so forgive me if i don’t give weight to the fact that the yeast plunged to the bottom rather than stayed at the top-- the yeast could take a dogsled across the antarctic for all i care. i give no points for the fact that this is a lager instead of an ale. this beer, whatever the hell it is, it pours beautifully, plunging fearlessly into vibrant oranges found only in the hearts of peaches and backlit golden barley fields; this beer sets a crown of white foam atop strong updrafts of vanilla apricot aroma. it has some belgian blonde and tripple effects, with corky yeasts and white wine flavors. it’s sweet and strong, with full-bodied golden malts -- sweet as waffles--with honey and almonds; a mild tweaking of hops, mostly citrus. it has complexities that you can spend time with, and furrow your brow with, and a buzz that can bribe you into affable agreement. a very nice beer, but, but... i STILL want a five dollar rebate!

Somehow the hops are brighter here, more metallic, than I usually get from Saaz. I can get the pilsner malt, the sweetness of which is well-balanced by the high hops. I personally don’t see the west-coastness of the hops that some claim (they’re not piney, for goodness sakes!) but they don’t fit well with the whole package. I agree with some others prior that that the body is aiming for oily bohemian qualities but this is not slippery or soapy enough. hmmm. Weird moster, one I’ve been looking forward to, for, oh, forever. Like biting a battery. Gets sweet later on in the warming process. Big alcohol rears it’s head late. A bummer, but still above average.