Rogue Brewery Event at The Drafting Room

Last Saturday I had the distinct pleasure of sampling some beers from Rogue Brewery and even some imported (from Oregon) cheeses from the Rogue Creamery with a lovely friend of mine and the newest recruit to The Ferment Nation, Citizen Elizabeth.  If you have never been to The Drafting Room in Exton, PA, be on the look-out, because you just might miss it.  I know I did!  It is nestled in a strip mall on Route 100 (the Pottstown Pike).  But don't let the unassuming location fool you.  They mean business.  They had a lot of great Rogue beers on tap, a nice bottled beer list, and even a full-page selection of single malt Scotch!  Yowza!

Photographs are compliments of Citizen Elizabeth

We started off the event with a flight of 5 beers of the 14 they had on tap.  The beers we sampled ranged from the uber-chocolately Double Chocolate Stout and the crisp and hoppy XS Double IPA to the cloudy yet satisfying Chatoe OREgasmic ale and Rogue's tried-and-true Shakespeare Stout (on nitro) and Double Dead Guy Ale.  I think I can name the Double Chocolate Stout and the XS 2x IPA as the winners of the day, because they were truly tasty and bold in flavor (Citizen Elizabeth does not tolerate wimpy beers!).  In fact, compared to those two beers, Double Dead Guy seemed a little washed out.  But beware!  Double Dead Guy sneaks up on you.  Don't be fooled by its smooth flavor - it packs a punch.

You can see from the photo above that the OREgasmic Ale as well as the Double Chocolate Stout were very cloudy in appearance.  That didn't stop them from being quite tasty.  Double Chocolate Stout looked and tasted like a wonderfully adult chocolate milk.

The cheeses from the Rogue Creamery were noteworthy as well.  The sampler consisted of a cheddar, an outrageously delicious blue cheese, and a chipotle cheese, which went quite nicely with Rogue Chipotle Ale (HINT: If you are looking for a nice chipotle flavor, skip the ale and dig into the cheese).  They were accompanied by an apple chutney and an apricot jam.  We rounded out the beer tasting with a glass of The Drafting Room's 17th Anniversary Lager, which was brewed by Troegs.  Tasty, but nothing spectacular.  Overall, this was a very nice event.   There were at least 5 or 6 Rogue beers we did not try that day, and we skipped on the Oregon imported oysters (shipped overnight express), but I would say that there was not a bad beer in the bunch we tried.  The food was tasty, and the service was great, too.  Drinking good beer on a sunny Saturday afternoon is always nice, but enjoying those things with a friend made it great.  Many thanks  to Citizen Elizabeth!

Rogue Shakespeare Stout

Rogue Shakespeare Stout:

"A beer, a beer, my kingdom for a beer!" William Shakespeare (according to the customs of the day regarding christenings) was born on April 23, 1564.  He also happened to die on April 23, 1616, so you can imagine that April 23 holds a special place in the hearts of Shakespeare fans.  So, what better way to honor The Bard than write a beer review on a beer blog, right?

I actually had too many options.  Would it be better to review all British beers, from London?  Or maybe beers made in the style closest to what would have been brewed in Elizabethan England?  Or maybe a beer from Oregon?  Right!  So, I went with a beer with Shakespeare in the name: Rogue Shakespeare Stout.  From the first whiff from the bottle, this is smelling good, very much like a true and proper stout.  Methinks I will like this one.

The beer is black, as black as the heart of yon Cassius.  But I won't be going lean and hungry drinking this stout. It is smooth, and has a nice lingering taste on my tongue and in the back of my mouth.  It has an odd bit of sharpness, too, which might be enhanced by the effervescence of this stout, which I find interesting.  Rogue writes on the bottle: "Ebony in color with a rich creamy head, an earthy flavor that comes from oats, and a mellow chocolate aftertaste."  This is interesting.  I would not have at first described the aftertaste as "chocolately" but I did find it enjoyable.  You know, some stouts can be a little overwhelming in the roasty, toasty, chocolate flavors, and some can be so boring that they put you to sleep (perchance to dream?), but this walks the tightrope nicely.  It smells like a proper stout, tastes good, and has a pep to it.  You don't normally hear stouts being described as "refreshing," but I might just do that with this beer.

As I drink this beer more, I am liking the aftertaste even more, so it will score well in Personal Preference for sure and Style points will be fairly high, because of that "refreshing" combination of bubbles and pep.  Representation?  It still can't hang with my personal favorites like Samuel Smith, but I think this is solid, and would be a good stout for the casual as well as the advanced stout drinker.  I am pretty sure I had this at The Good Dog Bar in Philadelphia, and I enjoyed it there.  I also find it interesting that Rogue seems to have dropped the word "Oatmeal" from this beer.  So, it used to be Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout and is now just Shakespeare Stout.  "Liar and Slave!" Not sure if I would score it or treat it differently if it had the word oatmeal in it.  I like it, though.

Rogue Shakespeare Stout:

Representation: .80
Accessibility: .90
Style: .90
Personal Preference: .90

Total Score: 3.5 Flags

Rogue Santa's Private Reserve

Rogue Santa's Private Reserve:

I believe it. Santa may very well have sixpack of this brew in his fridge right now. And why not wind down after a long day of list-checking and elf-wrangling? Santa's Private Reserve packs a lot of flavor into a medium bodied brew that's pretty easy to drink.

There is a slighly malty base that is outdone by a nice bitter hoppy finish. After reading the label, I was expecting more of a sprucey hit but for me it doesn't come until the very very end - like the after-aftertaste.

Actually, I'm thinking this brew reminds me a little bit of Sierra Nevada Celebration. Santa's Private Reserve has a just a bit less effervescence and overall carries the Rogue stamp as opposed to the Sierra Nevada stamp. I feel that if you like on you should at least try the other. Taste the difference for yourself and kindly report the results. It's your civic duty!

- Like other holiday beers in that it's kind of a "Winter Warmer."

- Unlike other holiday beers because its something to drink with Santa rather than remind you of Santa.

Rogue Santa's Private Reserve:

Representation: .95
Accessibility: .90
Style: .975
Personal Preference: .95

Total: 3.775 Flags

[Read other Christmas Beer Reviews]