Rogue Smoke Ale

Brewed by Rogue Ales
Style: Smoked
Newport, Oregon USA

1995 Vintage (tasted on 12/21/04), 7 oz bottle picked up from the Stuffed Sandwich on my recent CA trip. Hmm, how would this one age? Poured a dark Reddish-brown with a very small head. Lots of small floaters. Initial smell was of beef jerky dipped in chocolate. Smoky taste. Body was thin, watery and flat (no doubt due to the age). I wonder if that would sell as a bar snack - chocolate dipped, smoked beef jerky (strangely enough, it didn’t taste bad in liquid form).

Bottle poured a dark amber with a good thick head that didn’t last. Good clean aroma . Flavor was first of hopps... then heavy on the smoke!! liquid smoke!! that stayed on the palate long after the beer was swallowed. Not bad, but heavy on the smoke!! ...WOW!!!

At the Brickskellar. Pours a clear copper with an off-white head. Aroma is of smoky BBQ, quite nice. Taste has notes of smoked meats, caramel and dark sugar. Pretty sweet. Medium body which gets watery on the back end. I wish this brew had more thick malty body and a last second punch of smokiness but it never comes back... Overall, solid.

Smokey and floral aroma, reddish gold color, tastes like someone left a bottle of root beer by the burning leaves, zero hop taste, okay for the beginner but doesn’t compare to the German versions

2004 bottle. Oh ya, here we go. Pours a lovely amber-auburn color. But wait, where’s all the sediment? Not saving it right away. But that’s understandable, it takes a while to dig in to the sediment. This one was light reddish-amber to murky beige towards the end. Aroma reeks of alderwood. Nuts, caramel, almonds cashews and then it hits! The hops??? What the hell? This is an APA with smoked malt. At first I’m disgusted at the lack of style guidelines, but then I come to and realize how well they did with this one, and then I also remember that I don’t care about style guidelines. Beautiully balanced. Hoppy? Yes, but it’s perles. You can handle perle hops. Moderately clean finish, light smoke. Great stuff!

At FOBAB ’04 labelled "Smoak". Pours a light brown with a light tan head, which suprised me not being black. Light smokey aroma and flavor which is a welcome relief at the festival since smoke beers can stick with you for awhile.

FOBAB 2004: I had a version of this called "Smoak," aged in French oak red wine barrels. It poured a clear light brown color with the slightest of white heads. The aroma was that of bacon and heavy pork sausages. Surprisingly, the smoke flavor wasn’t real heavy, perhaps caused by the oak barrel aging. Tasty and dry. I enjoy a good rauchbier, and this is that.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eve of Barrel Aged Beers, Chicago, IL 11/06/2004<font size=-1>

This was most like sipping a bottle of liquid smoke. Almost overpowering. The description "like drinking a campfire" is perfect. Even though I wouldn’t have this again, it was easily one of the most memorable beers I’ve ever had. A wonderful new experience. If you like this style, I would imagine it is one of the best- as is most beer from Rogue. Cheers to Rogue for trying something different. Equally memorable was the Chipotle Ale from Rogue. Although I didn’t care for that one either, I put the remainder of the bottle in my homemade chili and it was awesome.