Thursday, November 12, 2009

Rogue: Patron Saint of Beers

Upon my last trip to ol' Papago Brewing, I ended up purchasing a number of red/IPA hybrid beers completely on accident. I could potentially get into a debate on the ethics of playing God with two such wonderful types of beers, but I'm going to just embrace the tastiness that I would expect would happen with the blending of these two styles.

The Rogue Dry Hopped St. Rogue Red Ale is an interesting blend of a hoppy pale ale with a red ale. The dark red, lightly cloudy beer has a nice foamy head and a lightly floral hop smell mixed with the malt. The hops definitely take front stage, but you can get the smell of both. The taste had some bitterness, but not as pronounced as what you'd expect in an IPA or other pale ale. The floral sourness hits ya later into each sip, but it's very enjoyable and good for a mixed audience (i.e. a group that doesn't want a full-blown IPA, but wants a bit more than a mid-range beer). The beer was pretty smooth and had a subdued, but flavorful aftertaste. I really enjoyed the blend of hops and the style of the red. A great compromise to having an IPA or a red.

Appearance - 4.0/5.0 - dark red, cloudy, nice foamy head
Smell - 4.5/5.0 - lightly floral hop mixed with malty, hops more pronounced
Taste - 4.0/5.0 - medium bitterness but nice - less hoppy than ipa but like it, enjoy the sourness, hit of floral
Feel - 4.0/5.0 - smooth, aftertaste is subdued but flavorful,
Drinkability - 4.5/5.0 - really enjoy the blend of hops and red ale, good for when you want the hop flavor without the ipa

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