Rogue "Outta Line" West Coast IPA

I don't know why I thought of Rogue as being a California company. I associated it with Stone because I was fairly young (relatively speaking - I was of legal drinking age) when I was exposed to both of them, and the beers that I tried at the time (Arrogant Bastard and Dead Guy Ale) were very similar to each other in the tiny sample of beers that I had at that point.  This is from Oregon.

The copper-amber beer is very hazy, and it has a nice, fluffy head that leaves a little lacing as the light tan bubbles recede. The aroma is sweet and filled with citrus and tropical fruits. It seems heavy and almost burdened with bread and fruit meat. It smells like it is going to be a bit of a personality to try to fit into a sip, but try I will.

I should not have been intimidated by the smell. The aroma is smooth and approachable with a good, solid helping of grains with a little charring going on over tangerines and mangoes doing the tango (Is this the first time I used this line? That's unbelievable.) It's a nice, compact yet complex sip, and I could just sip it for a while if I wasn't doing this review.

Tip-in is toasted bread with tangerines and mangoes doing the cha-cha (see, I'm not going to that one again) over almost no carbonation at all. The middle slithers in with an impressively smooth mix of barley, tangerine, orange, grapefruit, mango, and starfruit. The finish isn't abrupt - it is an abatement of the wall of flavors as a bitter swell rises slightly before a musty trail-off.

Bottom Line: She's a good beer.

3.75/5