Thursday, August 5, 2010

Rogue Brewery - Chocolate Stout

In a few short weeks, we will be embarking on our trip up to Oregon for the Hood to Coast. In case we have some extra time up there, I looked up some of the breweries in Portland and found that Rogue has a brewhouse right in downtown. Score! Not only that, but the airport happens to have a bar in it that is run by Rogue. I don't know for sure yet, but something tells me this trip needs to be extended a few days.

To get in the spirit, I've decided to try and get my hands on a few of their beers before we go up there. So far, I've only tried their Dead Guy Ale and their Hazelnut Brown Nectar. Then, a few weeks ago, I spotted their Chocolate Stout in the market and had to pick it up.

Rogue's Chocolate Stout pours a deep and thick brown with an almost Abyss-like dark brown foamy head. The head had really great retention and left a lot of lacing down the glass. When you smell the beer, it smells like cocoa. And not like Swiss Miss cheap cocoa, but the best cocoa you can imagine.

While the smell of this beer pretty much sticks to "chocolate," the flavors locked in it are a bit more complex. There is definitely a lot of chocolate in this beer, but it's not as sweet as the smell leads you to believe. The chocolate is definitely bittersweet with a slight hoppiness coming through about midway in the taste. The finish is a hard hit of bittersweet chocolate that is perfect. The mouthfeel of this beer is really smooth and almost milky. A very smooth beer and a solid offering from Rogue. I'm excited to try more of their stuff before I head up there.

Final Grade: A

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