Brewer: Rogue Ales
Location: Newport, Oregon
Type: American Porter
ABV: 5.1%

Welcome,denizens, to a new week of my continuing exploration into the darkest depths of our beer-heavy refrigerator. Welcome to Darktober, Week 3.

First, this week’s theme: I realized in my latest batch of purchases that I had a group of beers that trailed a relatively nice path from one coast of the United States to the other (minus one or two…or most states, of course). So this week and part of next will be dedicated to making the journey across the country, one randomly located beer at a time.

We start on the West Coast with today’s beer. In my last review, I sort of took some potshots at the “King of Beers,” for being a producer of blandly ubiquitous mega-beer offerings. Are there such breweries in the craft beer business? By no means are there any on the same mass-produced level as an Anheuser-Busch product, but there are definitely several instantly recognizable brands within the craft beer fandom. I would point to today’s brewery as evidence to support this fact.

Oregon’s Rogue Ales brewery has been around since 1988, churning out an enviably large array of beers into the craft market. They were definitely one of the earliest craft brewers I remember noticing as my interest in beer began to grow. It’s kind of difficult to miss their legion of 750 ml bottles, all bedecked with the single-star Rogue logo and similarly posed caricatures, fisting the air with inebriated enthusiasm.

[Loba Tangent: From an artistic standpoint, I’ve always found these caricatures a little off-putting. The heads rarely look proportionate to the bodies, which give me a bit of a no feeling whenever I look at them. Does this impact the taste of the beer though? No, not really. Just something I felt the need to whiny hate about.]

A couple of key ways in which Rogue differs from a mainstream monster like Anheuser-Busch: They produce an impressive and constantly updating array of types and flavors, showing that they are not in any way trying to rest on their laurels. They also sometimes come out with rather odd or just downright crazy flavors, to show that they have no intention of losing their edge. The latest example to which I can point is, of course, their team-up with equally famous Oregon staple, Voodoo Doughnut, for their Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale. Some of you might have even heard me babble about these pink-bottled beauties, shown here:

Some of you may have even been turned into my personal taster guinea pigs on this adventure 🙂 My final thoughts on this particular brew, if you’ll indulge me with this mini review, is as follows:

Definitely way more bacon-y than I was expecting it to be. I’ve had other bacon-based products (bacon latte?!? YES PLEASE) that sort of copped out on the bacon level. Rogue definitely did not do this. Bacon all the way through, almost to the point of drowning out the maple syrup flavor, which really didn’t hit you until the very end. Almost like an afterthought, really.

I definitely would have liked this beer more if there had been more of a balance to the two flavors. As it was, it was just a little bit too much bacon. I’d read reviews that compared this beer to drinking bacon grease. It’s not *that* bad, but it’s also not something that I would want to drink on a regular basis. Definitely a limited-release experience to be shared. Watching everyone’s reactions was probably more fun than the actual tasting 🙂

In some ways, their more daring offerings remind me a bit of the daring behind Dogfish Head’s always intriguing line-up. Beyond their crazy flavor ideas and their eye-catching bottle designs, however, my general reaction to Rogue’s mainstay beers is probably what’s fueling my mental comparison to a large-scale bland beer maker. My reaction, to be blunt, is typically meh. Their standard brews, to me, taste rather subdued and “one-note.” And so it went with my first taste of their Mocha Porter.

Rather flat and practically headless, even with my ongoing attempts at more vigorous pouring, this leather-tinted brew presented a uniform blandness: Both the nose and the taste were decidedly singular in their similarity to the smell and taste of a strong cup of coffee. The disappointment of this fact doesn’t even really stem from how one flavor overpowers anything else. It’s the fact that the “strong” coffee notes weren’t indicative of a fresh, properly made cup of joe. More like a cup left for a few hours on the burner before finally poured. Bitter, acidic, and burnt, with an aftertaste like the last cup of coffee from the office carafe (you know the one…the cup that sat in the pot for HOURS because no one wanted to be the one to pour it and then have to make a fresh pot).

Because of the impressive number of beers that Rogue is able to offer, I can’t say that my personal impression of them is in any way all-encompassing. Truth is, I’ve only tried about eight of their different flavors, and I remember that a couple (Hazelnut Brown Nectar and Chocolate Stout) were quite enjoyable. However, my general impression is such that they would more than likely only be my “preferred choice” if they happened to be the only dark brew on tap that night. Similarly, I will tend to pass right by their section when perusing liquor store shelves for new taste experiences (minus when they produce something in a saucy pink Pepto Bismol bottle stamped with the words BACON MAPLE and DOUGHNUT).

Bottom line is this: According to industry estimates quoted by the ever-reliable Wikipedia oracle, Oregon is home to the nation’s fourth largest tally of craft breweries. Whether or not this is actually true, the list of craft breweries generated by a search on craftbeer.com generated a hella amazing list. Rogue is just one of many that Oregon has to offer. I’m not saying that it’s not worth it to give Rogue a go. Only you can figure out what suits your palate best. Don’t be fooled by ubiquity though. Just because it’s everywhere, doesn’t mean it’s the best. Look at how many Starbucks and McDonald’s are out there…