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Not to be confused with Dead Guy Ale or Dead Guy IPA, you should also not confuse it with the myriad other DIPAs offered by Rogue. I recently revisited the Dead Guy Ale, and it was a tremendous beer. That said, the pilsner was really not good. So, that sets the stage for this to go either way. Will it wind up somewhere in the middle like some forgettable brewery would produce it (looking at you Benford)? Let's do this.
The color is kind of an amber that is flowing into copper, if you follow me on that. The head is restrained enough that I wasn't worried about spillage, but it is robust enough that a quarter inch of bubbles still sit atop the beer even now. The aroma is honey and molasses malt with tropical fruits heaped on top. DIPAs have strong character, and this one's is self-evident.
First sip is a rejoinder against the statements made on the can. The can claims that this is balanced, and I am getting all kinds of bitterness from the hops and a kind of musty, stale bread from the yeast; and it doesn't seem all that balanced. That is, unless you mean that you have extracted the worst from both of the main flavor profiles. This is coming off as worse than it is, but it's not a great first sip. Let's hope a swig fixes things.
Tip-in is buzzing carbonation with the heavy bread and molasses malt inviting bitterness in for a chat. The middle rises with the balance that I longed for - tropical meat mixes with the malt in a slurry of delicious goodness. The finish isn't the bitter hit that the sip had, as bitterness leans into the malt, but the bitterness isn't allowed to take over.
Bottom Line: Worthy of the Dead Guy moniker.
4.0/5
