Rogue FestiveAle

Bottle. Pours an orange amber body with a tan head. Spicy with hints of herbs, grass, apples and ginger. Lightly spicy and doesn’t come together to great. Eh not so good.

22oz bottle. Pours orange amber, topped with a big frothy white head. Sharp, spicy aroma, with wheat, grain, and citrus, especially orange. Flavor is somewhat musty, with notes of spice, grain, earth, herbs, citrus, and white pepper. A bit thin bodied. Not bad, but it really doesn’t stand out.

Super super hazy muddy brownish, golden coloured body with a dense whitish head. Odd looking, a bit too murky for the style or for any beer. Aroma of hay, grass, hops, wheat, yeast and alcohol. Medium-bodied; Strong overpowering wheat & yeast flavour with some funky barnyard tastes. A bit too overpowering in the taste with the yeast - definitely noticeable. Overall, a pretty odd beer - not good, and a bit too much for rogue - the colour, scent and taste. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from Chevy Chase Wine & Liquors in Washington, D.C. on 24-December-2005.

65cl bottle from Countryside Liquors (Tampa, FL). Pours a hazy dark amber color with a massive off-white two finger pillowy head that settles fairly quickly but heavily laces the glass. Aroma is sweet and spicy with notes of bready yeast, apple, pear, cider, faint hints of citrus and pepper. Flavor is sweet and malty and not like most saisons we have had. Strong notes of honey and caramel with notes of vanilla, cream, marshmallow with slighter notes of spice, yeast and bread. Generally light to medium body with a somewhat greasy, oily mouthfeel. Slightly floral and hoppy toward finish but that fades quickly to slightly sweeter notes.

Bottle: Poured a deep dirty orangey color ale with a large foamy head with good retention and no lacing. Aroma of spicy yeast with a good Belgian style malt and some weird conflicting spices. Taste is also a weird mix between some Belgian style malt with some weird spices mix and a spicy yeasty finish. Full body with average carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Definitely lacking some typical Saison ester and very unfocused (seems to be a cross between a Saison, Tripel, Wit and a Belgian Strong Ale). Not the best from this usually good brewery.

Pours a very murky unfiltered apple-juice like body with a fizzy white head. Aroma of cider with a fair amount of acidity and a concophony of spices. Body is thin and fizzy. Flavors are med. sweet with a ton of apple-like acidity. Phenols are everywhere and are not pleasant at all. Finish is heavily acidic. It hink ferment temps. must have gotten away from them.

22oz from Sam’s, Durham. Orange to golden pour, slightly cloudy, with a relative dearth of carbonation that makes me worry about the palate. Slightly spicy aroma, some sweet flavors mingling there with mild hops and yeast. The body is in fact very thin, with mild buttery tastes and some sweetness from the additions. Slightly slick, and a bit too one-dimensional. Rogue’s definitely out of its element here.

Sampled with Frank, hazy orange pour with a thick head. Has a sour/bitter aroma and a slightly sour and bready finish. It’s ok for the style, I am not a big Saison fan.