Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale

Brewed by Rogue Ales
Style: Specialty Grain
Newport, Oregon USA

Received for my birthday. Certainly not a typical Rogue beer. Would probably go best with a light meal, as the texture of the beer is weaker than normal. This beer is not very complex and leaves a lot to be desired in taste.

Tap. Pours a deep golden with a light red hue. Just a little white head. Very melony, mostly cantaloupe, medium malt, floral notes, and a light spice. Very flat mouthfeel. A little bit of a hop bitterness. A fairly nice refreshing beer for the track.

hazy amber copper with as frothy bubbly head. aroma was a blend of floral hops and a musty note that I asumed was the buckwheat. malty start with a smooth tart body and a dry finish with a lingering hop aftertaste. good in an unexceptional kind of way.

I am so underwhelmed. Pours a could maize with a big fat thick head. Things are looking good. Let’s take a whiff. Hmm. I don’t really smell anything. Oh What, there is a bit of nuttiness in there. Let’s take swig. Umm. Where’s the boy? Where’s the flavor? This is a Rogue right. Yup, it is. This is a very mild ale with a balanced but ultimately unexciting flavor profile. There is a bit of nuttiness on the sides of the tongue but that’s about it. Its like a pale ale with less flavor. Try again guys.

veggie/hop nose kinda makes me cringe right after the pour but settles down, nice light orange appearance with big frothy head, very odd/full flavor that makes you take a step back and wonder if its good or awful, I’m leaning more towards good.

Light malty and chocolate aroma. Large frothy initial apperance. Off-white head. Good lacing. Mostly diminishing longevity. Clear orange body. Moderate sweet initial flavor. Medium palate. Watery texture.

On draught at Bar 101 in Charleston, WV. My choices were the spent keg bottom pour, or the first pull off of a fresh tap. I chose the latter. The pour was cloudy and muddy-amber in color. The head fully diminishes leaving no lace nor retention. Interesting mix of sour cream and sweetness in the bouquet. Flavors of unleavened bread and rice pudding (perhaps from the buckwheat). The pale malts might be a little underdone here, as the mix of former flavors with the unspectacular pale malts don’t add the good toast or biscuit I was hoping for. In fact, everything seems a bit too dry. The finish does seem decently dry-hopped, which adds crispness to the mouthfeel (that otherwise seems a bit thin). It’s smooth enough, I guess, with a light embodiment. Nothing really awesome. In fact, my thoughts are that this offering is not complex enough to be doubled as a "signature brew" (brewed under Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale). Maybe I should have taken the final pull from the spent keg.

Cloudy yellow with a white head. Sweet citrus aroma. The taste starts with some banana, then moves to sweet lemon, and finally finishes with nothing. You get hit with flavor right away and then it just fades to nothing. Pretty watery overall.