Rogue Farms Pumpkin Patch Ale

Rogue Farms Pumpkin Patch Ale (2013)
Limited Autumn Seasonal Release.

25.4 fl. oz. / $7.99 USD / ABV??? (either 5.6% or 6%)

About: "The newest addition to the Chatoe Rogue series is Pumpkin Patch Ale, a beer made using fresh pumpkins grown in a patch that borders Rogue’s 42 acre hop yard. The pumpkins are picked, loaded into Rogue’s farm truck, driven immediately 77 miles to our brewery in Newport, quickly roasted, and pitched into the brew kettle to create a batch of Pumpkin Patch Ale.

INGREDIENTS: Rogue Farms Pumpkins, Great Western 2-Row, Carawheat, Weyermann Carafe Malts, Rogue Micro Hopyard Rebel Hops, Ginger, Cloves, Vanilla bean, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, Free range coastal water and Pacman Yeast."

Thoughts: I found this fucking bottle hidden in a walk in fridge, next to all the junk, the half used jar of relish, someone's iced coffee and some random bottles with no labels. I've never once seen this bottle on the shelf in this store, so what's the fuckin' deal here pal? They hoggin' bottles of the pumpkin ales people haven't tried yet?! Well whoever this was being saved for is in for one hell of a disappointment today my fiends. 

I'm not really all that into Rogue Brewing, but you know how it is when it comes to pumpkin ales, especially those in big ass orange bottles! I don't know what year this is, though I assume it's this year, and also the ABV isn't on the bottle so I'll have to look that up later. Right now though, I'm cracking this bottle.

The cap popped off really easy. Hmm. Had to pour this one straight down the glass to get that head on it. The beer poured a muddy light brownish burnt auburn orange color with a grayish off white head. Some very low levels of carbonation it seems as well.

This smells like a rather average pumpkin ale. It's very earthy... and it's making me sneeze. It's very raw pumpkin heavy. The pumpkin spice is there, but it doesn't come out all too strong in the scent. There's lightly toasted malts, sunflower seeds, day old raisin bread, cinnamon sticks, and dirty water.

The taste is pretty much identical to the smell. It's a little bit fruity, not overly sweet, but not bitter or raw tasting at all, and is overall a gentle one. There's no real pop of anything here, aside from a mild sting at the beginning. Other than that, it's pretty mild all around. Spices are still subdued, when I thought they'd come out more in the taste. It's malt heavy, sweet and mild, earthy, with just a touch of pepper, and it's even fresh tasting. The main flavor here are the pumpkins. Caramel malt helps things along and luckily all the other stuff plays a nice roll of holding the beer up. While I would have loved a lot more pumpkin spice in this, there's nothing wrong tasting about the beer at all, which is more than one can ask for here. It doesn't taste too strong though... for such a big bottle, and what seems to be a sessionable pumpkin ale, perhaps this is meant to be shared at the Thanksgiving table. Then again the suggested food pairing for this is pork and dessert. Guess I should have had it with a Burger King bacon ice cream sundae. Oh well.

This one's really squashy. Nothin' wrong with that. It also cost less then I thought it would. This one gets filed along with all of the other standard pumpkin ales that many independent companies put out, only it's a little bit towards the top of that list since there's no bad flavors here. It's not overly sweet or bitter and it's generally enjoyable to drink.

Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale

Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale (2012)

Limited Release (Brewed Once)

25.4 fl. oz. / $13.39 USD / ?% ABV (BA says 5.6% which seems accurate)

About: "A Collision of Crazies! Rogue Ales has collided with Voodoo Doughnut to create Bacon Maple Ale! This unique artisan creation contains a baker’s dozen number of ingredients including bacon and maple syrup from one of Voodoo’s signature doughnuts. Malts: Briess Cherrywood Smoked Malt, Weyermann Beechwood Smoked Malt, House-Smoked Hickory Malt, Great Western 2-Row, Munich, C15 and C75. Hops: Perle and Sterling. Yeast and Water: Pacman Yeast and Free Range Coastal Water. Specialty: Applewood-Smoked Bacon, Pure Maple Flavoring."

Thoughts: Voodoo Doughnut poured a grainy burnt amber / slightly orange color with a massive bubbly white head atop.

Oh wow! This smells just like maple syrup. It's insane. It's really hard to get anything else aside from this syrup as it smells just disgustingly strong. The applewood bacon follows in the background, but it's not the smell of cooked bacon really, but instead the smell of it right when you cut open a package.

The taste is absolutely nothing like the smell at all. It's very, very malty with a ton of smokey wood flavor. It's a little doughy too. Mainly though, what I'm getting is heavy smoke, wood and some rather unexciting malt flows. The maple and bacon make way for a decent aftertaste that's long lasting and isn't bad at all... but that smoke-bomb really clouds up the mouth. The warmer it get and the more you drink it, the more bitter it becomes. Agonizingly bitter even, for something that smells so sweet.

Mouth feel is extremely thin. It's weird after smelling such heavy syrup that it was become a light and fluffy watery affair.

The bacon is hidden pretty well, but once you taste the beer and then smell and taste it again at the same time you get a hint of it. It's in the background, just lingering around. I've never had a maple bacon doughnut from Voodoo, but I did see them featured in a show on the travel channel and the place looks interesting to say the least. Personally, I don't eat doughnuts. I've never been a pastry guy. When I was a kid I hated cake and never wanted it at my birthdays (in fact, I destroyed quite a few of them)... I always liked ice cream way more! To me, doughnuts are just bland as fuck. And this beer tastes pretty damn bland too. It's a shame too. When I first smelt this I was so excited, but those scents are nearly nowhere to be found in the taste and the beer just comes off as pretty boring.

Rogue Dead Guy Ale

Rogue Dead Guy Ale (2011)

Year Round Release.
64 fl. oz. (1/2 Gallon Growler) / $17.99 USD / 6.5% ABV

About: "In the early 1990s Dead Guy Ale was created as a private tap sticker to celebrate the Mayan Day of the Dead (November 1st, All Souls Day) for Casa U Betcha in Portland, Oregon. The Dead Guy design proved so popular with consumers and especially Grateful Dead fans, that we made it the label for our Maierbock ale. Even though the association with the Grateful Dead band is pure coincidence, we have gratefully dedicated Dead Guy Ale to the Rogue in each of us." Malts: Northwest Harrington, Klages, Maier Munich and Carastan / Hops: Perle and Saaz / Yeast and Water: Rogue's Pacman Yeast and Free Range Coastal Water.

Thoughts: When I cracked this growler open I took a look inside and noticed creepy, swirling smoke that reminded me of dark nights creeping through the graveyard. Very plan 9 like fog. Poured a very amber looking amber that settled into an almost orange tone but not really with a one inch slightly off white head that stuck around for a few minutes. The brew is really hazy, but I can make out tons of carbonation bubbles rising up the sides of the glass.

This smells pretty incredible. Heavy bits of sweet malted toffee candy bars. Cold and smokey like a dark Halloween night. It also very slightly reminds me of those chocolate cereal straws that you drink milk through. After a while of drinking it smells like straight up Graham Crackers. Nice!

That's pretty damn good. Sweet honey-like malts flow forward then retreat and afterwards these peppery hops start to bounce their way in and tingle around. Bitter hops resonate on the back of the tongue after breathing in for a while. Something cool about this beer, keep it in your mouth for a while and the process repeats itself once before settling down to that lingering bitterness. This beer is really sweet. Not super chocolatey, but a minor chocolate touch on lovely biscuity malt with a touch of honey and sugar.

Medium near almost-heavy body. Leaves behind a bit of filmy aftertaste.

This is my first time drinking Dead Guy Ale. I bought this, not only because I wanted to try it for so long, but also because I wanted the Growler with that cool ass artwork. Seeing as I was slightly unimpressed with the last two Rogue ales I had tried, I was a bit worried. Well that thought was put to rest when I drank this. Dead Guy is brewed with Saaz hops, but I didn't taste any funk this time around. Strange that the few beers that I seriously disliked, I later found out all had Saaz hops in them. Perhaps it was a mix of Saaz and overly strong Belgian yeasts that was the problem, or bad batches. No matter. This beer tasted perfectly fine and I finished this growler off in a single sitting, leaving me feeling comfortably swell.

Take a look at this great artwork!

Rogue Yellow Snow IPA

Rogue Yellow Snow IPA - India Pale Ale  (2011)

Brewed and Bottled by the Oregon Brwing Co., in Neewport, OR. USA.

Winter Seasonal (Yearly Release)

12 fl. oz. / $2.99 USD / 6.2% ABV

About: "Yellow Snow IPA was originally introduced for the 2000 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City as a tribute to winter sports everywhere (downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross country, ice hockey, ice fishing, snowmobiling, and even curling). Malts: Cara Foam, Melanoiden and Rogue Micro Barley Farm Dare & Risk / Hops: Amarillo and Rogue Micro Hopyard Revolution / Yeast: Free Range Coastal Water and Pacman."

Thoughts: Poured an über light and pale straw yellow with a very slow to form head that puffed up twice its size and spilled over a bit. I may have poured somewhat aggressively. There are bubbles of varying sizes all over the top that bubble down into a frothy stark white head.

Getting some sweet smelling hops first off. Little bit piney, with a touch of lemon zest.

Starts off pretty bitter and gets even more bitter afterwards on the first gulp. Citrus hops demolish the roof of my mouth while grassy hops crawl under the sides of my tongue. The malt is so light it's almost non-existent. I'm not getting much of a taste aside from massive hops and bitter. While I like how strong the hops are here, I'm having trouble identifying with anything else about the beer that I really like... aside from the mouth feel, which is pretty amazing:

It's thick and seriously creamy. Creamy like a warming milkshake.

Finish is dry and mellows later into a grapefruit tone. That's about it. This is offically my second Rogue Ale. Surprisingly I've never tried their Dead Guy, which seems like it would be right up my dark alley. That didn't sound right. Uh... this is a decent brew, but not memorable at all for me. This has four malts and two hops? Could have fooled me and I guess they did.

Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale

Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale (2011)
Brewed and Bottled by Rogue Ales in Newport, Oregon. USA.
Winter Seasonal (Limited Release)
22 fl. oz. / $7.49 USD / 6.0% ABV

About: "Rogue’s annual holiday offering, Santa’s Private Reserve, is a variation of the classic Saint Rogue Red, but with double the hops - including Chinook, and Centennial, and a mystery hop called Rudolph by head brewer John “more hops” Maier! 10 Ingredients: Carastan 30-37 and 13-17, Crystal 70-80 and Rogue Micro Barley Farm Dare™ and Risk™ Malts / Chinook and Rogue Farm Revolution & Freedom Hops / Free Range Coastal Water and Pacman Yeast." 

Thoughts:  Poured a auburn red with a light puffy head that resembled yellow snow. As the yellow bubbles fizzled away they looked a bit like the snowflakes just like on the bottle, clumping in a few areas.

Smells of hops. They're sweet. It's like a very cold room where a fire had been extinguished a few hours prior. A short while later I'm getting some pine needles, and a little bit of crusty day old bread.

It's got a very distinctive taste to it. It's sweet and malty, and nutty. The hops only lightly shine through at the end of the gulp, and there's no bitterness at all when you first start drinking. A very well balance of malts and hops here, that all taste pretty damn good. As a normal brew, I'm not disappointed at all. As my first Christmas brew, I'm pretty fuckin' let down. It's nice that the snowflakes glow in the dark and all, but these guys owe me some milk and cookies after this unwrapping of LIES! I actually don't eat milk and cookies. I drink beer and eat meat.

A little heavy with the froth, but there's nothing else holding it back. It's all pretty smooth.

It's an alright IPA, or uh, American Amber Ale, but I was kind of expecting at least a hint of spice. Does it remind me of Christmas? Meh! Not really. It's a pretty good Seasonal brew... for the Season. Finish is citrus, little bitter, piney, and the slightest bit smokey. I wouldn't mind this bottle under my tree if I happened to actually celebrate Christmas, but you won't see me going nuts like N64 kid.