Beer - #172 - Rogue - Brutal IPA

yes indeed, Rogue Brutal IPA, Brewed by Rogue Ales IN the style of a India Pale Ale (IPA)  and that all takes place in Newport, Oregon USA

Brutal combines Oregon hops with English Malts. The Oregon grown Crystal hop is a triploid variety developed from the German Hallertau aroma hop variety with contributions from Cascade, Brewers Gold, and Early Green. Crystal is the only hop used in brewing Brutal and it provides a massive amount of aroma without dry-hopping. The English malts used are floor malted Pipkin (a mellow cross of Maris Otter and Warboys, from an English company called Beeston), Cara Vienna and Cara Wheat.


A 650ml bottle of a 6%ABV beer (3.2 standard drinks), and at 59 IBU it can be expected to be "bitter"

It definitely has a bitter aroma on opening, pours a lovely ambers and has a decent fluffy and light head. Still has a grassy hop aroma and it appears to be on a solid malt base, I get lemon/grapefruit.

Gosh that's easy drinking with a lovely front of some soft sweetness and after a long note ends nicely and softly bitter.  It has a really nice mouthfeel it's sort of fluffy as best I can describe. I'm not so sure that such a punch of malts makes this a beer that is comfortable to drink. And "Brutal" isn't quite what I got delivered.

However this isn't dry hopped and therefore has to carry what it has as it is. I was expecting more bitterness, and less maltiness. I'm really enjoying this though, despite my misgivings I stand by 'easy drinking' but I also think that you'd struggle to drink this in a session.

The pdubyah-o-meter though, always controversial, an unpredictable says 8 - making it very good on the arbitrary nature of the scale. I'd buy this for you in a pub, but only if I knew you and we'd had been out drinking before. I'm not sure that it's a beer that I'd stand up and say to someone who was used to more commercial beer flavours that this was a shining example of why they needed to change. They might find it too sugary and a bit flat on completeness.

For me though, this isn't bad, and I've yet to have a Rogue beer that's really let me down. If I had a bucket list it would for sure contain a visit to the brewer to shake the hand of a master, and then 6 months later to leave and do the next thing on the list :-)

If I had a mind (or wallet) that had a stocked beer fridge, and I had the sort of friends that popped around for a beer or two, I'd be ok with serving this to them without fear that they wouldn't like it.

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Beer - #120 - Nøgne Ø - India Pale Ale

Nøgne Ø - India Pale Ale. Brewed by Nøgne Ø this in the style of an India Pale Ale (IPA) and they get their groove on in Grimstad, Norway.

A rich, malty, and very bitter ale. Cascade hops provide a long, fruity, and spicy after-taste. Recommended serving temperature 10°C/50°F. Ideal with barbequed or smoked meat dishes.

Ingredients: Maris Otter, Munich, wheat and caramel malt; Chinook and Cascade hops; English ale yeast, and our local Grimstad water.

17.5° P, 60 IBU, 7.5 ABV, in a 500ml bottle (that's about 3 standard drink units).

I remember enjoying the Two Captains Double IPA, so I'm inwardly quite excited. And because I'm a rebel this is the lad-in to a prawn curry. Go on have a word. It's also the background to the Led Zeppelin LP that I'm playing. It's all go here.

Traditional beer coloured beer, with a really nice head. A flash of hoppy aroma too. It's a good start. The aroma tails off though to a dough/yeasty note, masking any hoppy that might have been there.  The head dies away.

There is a lot of caramel sweet taste in this, not a lot of bitters that you could expect, they are there, but there but overshadowed somewhat. Expecting a bitter tasting tang and getting a malt warmth might put you off somewhat, but it's nice.

Other tastes I get or think I get are a citrus and a soapy note. There is a melange of tastes going through this. making it difficult to get a real handle on what it's trying to be or do.

In general though I think the sweetness of this makes it a bit odd, for an IPA it really does have a sweet tooth that's not expected. It does take it back to being a beer that has a taste but no definition. The pdubyah-o-meter makes this one a 7 and 3/4  on it's thing of things.

It might be that I misunderstand this Nogne  Ø thing, they appear to have become every beer type available brewer,  and not a fanciful in my head little place that turns out some class acts. That said I'm enjoying this less bitter IPA than the last beer I had, because sometimes the hops shouldn't be the main event and the backing band. An easy beer to drink though, and that is a good thing.

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Beer – #18 in a series – Marston Pedigree

Wow, it's been like drink a beer a night week. Tonight I have a pleasurable guest in the name of Marston Pedigree, a 500ml sized bottle of Classic English Pale Ale.

This is a spectacularly nice beer, and I'm as happy as my picture looks, well that's not true because I look a bit of weirdo in the picture but let me tell you I am smiling away like a smily thing.

It's rich and Golden, and has a taste that really hits the spot for me. With an ABV of 5% this is  something that I would be happy to hanker down over a game of dominos with, or more correctly over Game of thrones with. This really works for me unless you hadn't worked it out already.

We only use natural Burton spring water and traditional varieties of barley and hops (Maris Otter Barley, Fuggles and Goldings hops), rather than less expensive, commercially grown, modern hybrids. Unique in this world, it is still brewed in the oak casks of the Burton Union to preserve its unique character, consistent quality and taste. 

Needless to say this is at 9.5 Arbitrary stars on the equally as arbitrary Pdubyah-o-meter, which is just as well since I have a fridge full of more exotic things left to drink, and they're going to have to be good to beat this and get a 10.

In and of itself a fine beer, and thanks to the fine people at WineCircle in Huapai who keep me on the straight and narrow. Twitter them @winecircle

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