Rogue "Dead Guy" Ale

I did a review of this beer in 2015. The website was only 2 years old at the time, and I like to think that I have learned quite a bit about beer and my tastes have, demonstrably, changed. Does that mean the beer earned its very good 3.25 rating? Is it possible I underrated it - or maybe I overrated it. This is where the rubber meets the road. I'm looking forward to this.

What I have found is that other people either have some special way of looking at beer or there is some cabal that gathers to decide how to describe the color of a particular beer, as I find my description is often at odds with other people. I'm calling this dark amber, but anyone who disagrees can go away feeling vindicated, as I won't argue with them demanding that it's "cornflower." There isn't much head right away, and none is coming. The smell is sweet, grainy malt and light flowers. The sweet caramel is coming for me, and I want it to take me. 

First sip is a strange combination of smoothness and bite. Flowers and grass float atop a honey and caramel malt that brings sweetness, but this isn't a milk stout, so it's not aggressive. At the same time, bitterness is brought by the hops, but it's really being balanced by the sweet. It's flavorful and nice. It's thick, but not too filling. It's just about perfect. 

Tip-in is caramel malt with gentle pine. The middle is a glorious thickness of caramel malt, flowers, pine, and the malt starts to lean into bread with sweetness and bitterness intertwined. The finish is a little dry with a touch of bitterness before a bread and bitter trail off that hangs on a long time.

Bottom Line: This is really, really good.

5.0/5