Home Brew

So, I may be shooting myself in the foot here (when it comes to getting free beer from Rogue), but I often consider Rogue to be a brewer of high expectations and often mediocre delivery. Rogue has stylish bottle art, interesting styles, and a pretty cool name. But, often, it seems that the end product isn’t as good as it could be. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed lots of their beers – their products are generally better than the masses. But, given their potential and the surrounding packaging and personality, I always feel like the flavor can come up short. In fact, I feel like the flavor of the beer is maybe the ONLY part of the Rogue delivery that comes up short. Unfortunately, that’s a pretty big part of the equation. I’ve often wondered if maybe Rogue is a bit too prolific. If you look at the stable of Rogue beers, they make a LOT of brews in a LOT of different varieties. Perhaps they’re not concentrating enough on the quality of a smaller selection. You have breweries like Shmaltz or Dogfish Head or Duck Rabbit who only make a handful of beers of very high quality and refinement. To me, this is more valuable than a brewery that makes a pile of beers, none of which really blow my hair back. I could go on, but I’ve already shot myself in the foot, so I’ll just get on with this particular review.

The DD Guy pours a dark amber/brown color with a very thin head that is slightly caramel colored. In the nose, this beer has a solid offering of both caramel malt and hop aromas. The malt is predominant here, but there is obviously a lot of floral and slightly sour smelling hop. In the mouth, this beer has the elements of a big and tasty pale ale, but there is a sourness that I just can’t quite get past. You taste lots of rich caramel and sweetbread, and you get a big dose of floral hop bitterness. However, there is a sour taint to the beer that tastes a bit like hops-gone-bad. I can’t quite place the flavor, but it honestly is reminiscent of burning plastic. This flavor rears it’s head with the hop, around the center of the mouth and further in the aftertaste. Fortunately, the rest of the components are good enough that this beer is still quite drinkable. However, I can’t give any beer a stellar review when it has this sour flavor that doesn’t jive with me. So, I feel like Rogue has slightly missed the target with this one. I’ll keep trying their beers, looking forward to the stray shots that hit the bulls-eye head on (like the regular Dead Guy Ale), and I’ll also keep hoping for better consistency across the line…