This is Bananas

Day #694 Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Banana Ale / Rogue Ales, Newport, OR
Previously from this brewery:  Plenty

Up for review today is a beer I had a small sample of, the Voodoo Doughnut from Rogue.  This beer pairs two Portland institutions, Rogue and Voodoo Doughnut, famous for their works of art in doughnut form. Last year, Rogue produced a bacon maple ale, which I avoided as all the beer geeks I talk to told me it was incredibly smoky, which is not a phrase I use to describe beer I enjoy.  This year, with chocolate, peanut butter, and banana on the ingredients list, it seemed more my speed.

The beer poured with a mahogany color and wispy tan head, with a light chocolate aroma.  The beer itself was very thin, with some toasted malt flavor, some chocolate, some cocoa, some sweetness.  But not much of anything, to be honest.  This was a beer better in theory than in execution.

Voodoo Doll

This beer pays homage to Voodoo's "Memphis Mafia" doughnut; I can vouch that this is a delicious, if wildly unhealthy, doughnut.  Shame it didn't work out for the beer.

Thing to Think About Today:
With doughnuts on the mind, I present some Mike Doughty, with an acoustic version of Janine.  Youtube not cooperating, so just click the link.  Good night, friends.  See you soon.
Link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92gIyJyXYPI

Day 688: Rogue Voodoo Doughnut

Several weeks ago I found out that my local Whole Foods got in a shipment of the Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate Banana  Peanut Butter stout. I like Rogue's beer. I really like Voodoo Doughnuts. And despite having heard from many people that the first iteration of the Rogue/Voodoo beer was a terrible, smoky mess, I could not resist the siren song of a stout with flavors of chocolate and peanut butter. (See evidence here, here and here.)

Can someone come over and rake all those leaves?
Mr. Blog and I are too busy drinking beer.

It poured an almost black brown color with a deep tan, full head. It smelled strongly of bananas that faded nicely into strong dark chocolate aromas. As it sat on the table next to me, I could easily smell the chocolate scent wafting over to me. I took a sip and my first thought is that it is kind of watery. Another sip. Yup, watery. There's some chocolate in the flavor but it's light compared to the smell. There is a lot of coffee, which I wasn't expecting. There was also something perfumey in there and I can't describe it any better than that. Sadly I'm not getting any peanut butter and I had to work hard to get any banana. I wavered between rating this one average, but the more I tried to drink it and then sleeping on it overnight, I decided that it was getting a poor rating. 

Beer stats

Style: Stout

ABV: 5.3%

IBUs: Unknown

Rating: Poor

Previously reviewed from Rogue

Beard beer, more Beard Beer, Eugene City Brewery Honey Orange Wheat Ale, Juniper ale, the sampler 

Day 660: Rogue Beard Beer

A couple of months ago, I heard that my local Whole Foods got in an order of Rogue Brewery's latest installment of their Voodoo Doughnut beer--the chocolate, peanut butter, banana ale. Having been on a chocolate and peanut butter beer kick this summer, I figured I might as well try it.

As I came dashing into the beer cooler at Whole Foods, my impatience and harried self could only spot the Rogue Beard Beer. Thanks to Whole Foods' lovely beer guy on duty that evening, he pointed me in the right direction. He also asked if I was going to try the Beard Beer.  Umm, no. It's made with critters living on some dude's face. Eww.

But it wasn't just some guy. The beard belongs to John Maier, brewmaster for Rogue Ales. And after declaring my love of Belgian beers for the past two years, which rely heavily on airborne critters to give beer character, I felt challenged and quite honestly couldn't not buy a bottle.

Fast forward to last week and I finally found myself at home and ready to open my very own Beard Beer.

I perused the label for ingredients:
Water

Hops

Barley

Beard yeast

Yup. Right there in all it's cootie-fied glory was evidence of what I was about to drink. I thought to myself,  this is basically going up to Mr. Maier and licking his beard. Let's just file that away in the "Things I Will Never Think About Again" file. Sorry.

For the glory of Blog Named Brew, I pressed on. It poured a hazy, oranged-tinged light brown ale. It had a think white head. Based on looks, I was doing all right. It smelled fantastic. I may or may not have anticipated it smelling like hairy man. Again, sorry. I pressed on and took a big inhale and got orange and caramel and general beer hoppiness and maltiness.

After envisioning the boiling wort and telling myself that the critters were sterilized, I took a sip. It was light and refreshing. I wrote summery in my notes. There was light citrus fruit, grain and a nice mild hop finish. After some initial trepidation, I happily finished my beer!

Beer stats
Style: American wild ale
ABV: 6%
IBUs: 25
Rating: Good

Previously reviewed from Rogue
Another take on Beard Beer
Rogue's family include Eugene City Brewery and I reviewed the Honey Orange Wheat Ale
Juniper ale
Rogue sampler teaches me not to hold grudges

Beards and Beers

Day #659 Beard Beer / Rogue Ales,  Newport, OR
Previously from this brewery: Juniper Ale, and a sampler.

It's Sunday.  Yay.  Feel the excitement.

Enough sarcasm; you get a quick beer review because it's sunny outside and you shouldn't be reading the internet anyway.  Today's beer is the Beard Beer from Rogue.  In your glass, you spot an amber color with a quickly dissipating white head.  There's a sweet, floral, malt aroma, and when you drink it down, you pick up a mix of honey sweetness and floral notes.  It's relatively light and refreshing, with some apple, some grass, and a touch of bitterness on the end.  It's good, but certainly not on par with some of the other delicious offerings from Rogue.

The story behind this beer is that it's made from yeast cultivated from the brewmaster's beard.  Harvesting and cultivating yeast that exist naturally in the world around us is nothing new in the beer community. Harvesting and cultivating it from beards, that might be new.

I'm too lazy to get the picture of this beard out of my phone, so instead here's a picture of ZZ Top. Just because.

Beards, no beers

Thing to Think About Today:
Not much.  Something quiet for a quiet day.  Vampire Weekend, Hannah Hunt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOwFLTwvXHc

"Count the seconds/watch the hours"

Beer 207: Eugene City Fake Out...and Ninkasi Double Red

You get two reviews for the price of one today. I got the fake out from Eugene City Brewing. It's part of Rogue's family, which I reviewed last week but I really liked the beer and feel compelled to tell you about it.

But first I'm going to wax poetic about the Ninkasi Believer Double Red Ale.. It poured a deep red-tinged amber in the glass with a thick tan head.


I couldn't smell anything...I think my allergies had finally found me in Portland after a day hiking outdoors. Rats. I think this one is best described as a slightly hopped up Irish red. It drank nice and smooth...tasted of caramel malts and finished hoppy. Very good.

I didn't get the toffee and figs that Ninkasi mentions in its description. I do, however, agree that it is incredibly drinkable and full flavored.

***



And just because I really enjoyed it, here is what I thought of Eugene City Brewery's Honey Orange Wheat Ale. . It poured a hazy, dark straw color with no head and was served with a totally superfluous orange wedge. 

Smelling it reminded me of orange blossom honey. The taste had orange undertones...wheat...and a smoothness and light sweetness from the honey. It was awesome!




p.s. This is how hot it is right now....








...Totally necessary for survival.

Cheers!

Several Beers, Fireworks, Bruce

Beer #207 Juniper Ale / Rogue Ales, Newport, OR

Happy Birthday, America!  Hopefully everyone will get the chance to relax with family and friends and enjoy a mid-week break from work.  The beer blog, however, keeps on truckin'.

Today's beer was going to be the Eugene City Brewery's Honey Orange Wheat, one of their Track Town series of beers.  This would have been appropriate, as the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials just wrapped up last week and I'm a little bit of a track and field geek.  However, Eugene City is a division of Rogue, so instead you get the Rogue review I was planning on writing next week.  Oh well, one more brewery I need to drink somewhere else down the road.

Rogue has a number of outposts throughout the greater Portland area, and we hit up the Rogue Distillery and Public House, which resides in the Pearl District.  The bartender started us off with a sample of their Chatoe Rogue Single Malt Ale, which was a blonde ale, with malt aromas and an earthy yeast flavor.  Light and easy drinking.  My official pour was the Juniper Ale, which poured a hazy golden color with a wispy white head. There are aromas of hops and light citrus fruit, and when you take a sip you get subtle hop bitterness and the piney flavor of juniper.  I mean, it definitely doesn't taste like gin (also made with juniper berries), but you can see the flavor connection.  The hops aren't overbearing, and this is actually a very mellow, enjoyable beer. Well done, Rogue.

Looks delicious.  Is delicious.

While I drank the Honey Orange Wheat elsewhere (on draft at Henry's), I might as well give you the write up - it shows off a hazy orange hue, and your nose instantly picks up the orange aroma.  Honestly, if I closed my eyes the aroma reminded me of Tang (in a good way, of course).  You can pick up flavors of orange and a light sweetness from the honey, with a bit of spice thrown in as well.  Very enjoyable summer beer.

Rogue's Eugene City brew

My only regret?  Rogue has collaborated with Voodoo Doughnut to brew a bacon maple ale.  It wasn't on draft, and I didn't think I needed my own 22oz bottle of beer at the time.  However, they don't ship this one (yet), so I'll have to wait until I return to Portland to sample one.  Mistake on my part, I know.

Thing to Think About Today:
We'll leave you with this to close out the Fourth of July.  If it's your birthday, America, let's sing you a birthday song.  Bruce, the floor is yours:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St_ppgWT8I4

Beer 201: Back to Portland...Next Stop Rogue

Day #2 in Portland involved a trip to Rogue Brewery's outpost on NW Flanders. At the time I didn't realize it, but Rogue has a number of outlets. The Distillery and Public House on Flanders was fantastic and exactly what I expected.

What I didn't expect is for Rogue to also support a number of nano-breweries (exactly what it sounds like), a hop yard, barley farm and bee farm. The commitment to being local, sustainable and green is outstanding in Portland.

While visiting Rogue, I opted for the sampler and had the following:

Hazelnut Brown Nectar. It poured a shade of chestnut and smelled woody. The taste was nutty with lots of malt. Delicious.

Next up was the Chocolate Stout. Big aromas of chocolate. It was pitch black in the glass with a dense head. It had a great balance of roasted malts, chocolate with a touch of vanilla. Delicious but in a way totally different than the Hazelnut Brown.

The final beer in the sampler was the MoM Hefeweizen. This one was a slightly cloudy straw color and had no head. The scent was lemon and sweet. It was effervescent and lemony with wheat flavors. It's brewed with rose petals and honey, which don't lend overwhelming flavor...they just make it all the more tasty.

There was one more "beer" in my sampler. It was labeled kid beer. I'll leave you with my notes from that afternoon regarding my thoughts on being served root beer in my sampler...

Then the kid beer. I feel insulted. Dick.

Evidently I was none too pleased with that development. I'm also not holding grudges because Rogue is going in my top 25!

Cheers!