Rogue Smoke Ale

[meatball]

I enjoyed the post about the smoked grain for beers the other week. Well, yesterday I stopped by the local beer man and he happened to have a few bottles of the Rogue Smoke Ale...



It was enjoyable, but I definitely could not drink more than one of these bad boys. It was one of those beers that you enjoy tasting, but more than one is a little too much smokey beer. Next time I drink it, I will definitely save it for a day that I'm having smoked food - see if that smokes me out too much or if it compliments the meal well.

Of course, that doesn't mean I only had one beer yesterday - I moved on to some Sweetwater 420 Ale (brewed in Atlanta), some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and some Paulaner Hefe Weissen

 

[brokesmoke]

The Sweetwater 420 is some really good brew!!!!

 

[fire it up]

Sweetwater 420 ale, sounds like my kind of brew...

 

[meatball]

Yes, it is quite a kind beer... As it says on the label, "Drink 'em if you got 'em".

 

[benjaminr]

hmm Im going to have to try and find this. I just had O'fallon smoked porter and it was pretty darn good. Also had a label that said gold medal for best smoked beer... they are a small micro brew out of O'fallon MO so I would tend to believe it. May try to give that a shot if you get a chance, if they even ship out to FL.

 

[trashcan]

Now, are these made with smoked rye, or smoked barley.


I like rogue, but they tend to be pretty up their own a**es with their pricing.

And I also like porters/stouts of any variety.

 

[meatball]

I agree, the Rogue beers get a little pricey, but I have to admit that Dead Guy Ale is one of my favorite beers. The Smoke Ale was just as expensive - that one-pint bottle was around $5. They actually smoke the malt, which is one of the grains that goes into it. They use alder to smoke this particular beer. If you like porters, there are plenty of smoked porters out there too, particularly one from Alaska that is well known as a good smoked porter.

 

[cowgirl]

I've not tried a smoked beer, but it sounds interesting! Thanks for the info Meatball.

 

[trashcan]

I'll assume smoked barley. All grains (at least grass-related grains, the usuals being barley, wheat, and rye, in order of prevalence) are malted before being mashed. The grains are allowed to germinate, and are then kiln roasted to kill off any cellular activity and caramelize to the desired extent. If they use a smoking process to kill germination that's pretty awesome.

But my gut says they are probably smoked after, because malted grains are usually roasted with caramelization consistency in mind

Now, malt can also refer to Malt extracts, -the two types being Dry (granular), or DME, and Liquid, (which is more of a "goo" than a liquid) or LME- which are concentrated sugars/caramelized sugars made from malted grains. These allow the casual brewer to bypass the space/time consuming, and messy process of mashing.

</rant>

 

[mistabob]

I've never had Rogue's Smoke Ale, but the Stone Brewing Company makes a Stone Smoked Porter which is freaking delicious! One of my all-time favorite beers. Their Arrogant Bastard Ale is my favorite beer ever, but I had yet to try the oaked version or the double bastard ale. :) In my wishlist...

 

[trashcan]

Arrogant Bastard Ale is the Bees Knees. I wish I was working more hours so I could blow even more of my check on this God-Nectar.

 

[the iceman]

I had a half barrel of Stone Smoked Porter a couple months ago. Good stuff. Also one of my favorites. I just blew a keg of Alaskan Amber Ale (not too impressed with that) & still have a little left in my sixth of Fat Tire. I think I'll order up some Arrogant Bastard next for my kegerator.

 

[mistabob]

Arrogant Bastard in a kegerator?! Awesome. I'm jealous.