Rogue Review

The rain has subsided for a little while. After work yesterday I did a little gardening on the side of the house before going to Ken's softball game. You've probably noticed how many of the adult teams have sponsors -- to pay for jerseys, etc. I think it's safe to say that Ken's team scored the best sponsor in the league.

Rogue Brewery

I am impressed. Their jerseys are red with Rogue written down the left side. But more importantly, this is where they go after their games. I had never been before. I was excited.

For those not familiar, Rogue has a pretty good reputation around here; started in Newport, Oregon (on the coast) and has expanded from San Francisco to Seattle. Some of their beers can be found in the grocery store and I thought I'd seen them all -- since most breweries don't have a big selection of beers. I was wrong; Rogue's selection is big. They offer a description of their beers on the back page of the menu (including beer chemistry specifics), although my best part was how they showed which beers paired best with beef, pork, chicken, fish and dessert. Pretty cool. For example, the chocolate stout pairs best with beef and dessert. Good to know.

Ken started with the Mocha Porter. He liked it enough to get another one despite the large selection of other beers to try. Being a little nostalgic for Tucson, I had the Chipotle Ale. I thought it was very good. Not too smoky, not spicy at all, but you could still taste the flavor of peppers. I let some others try it, but most weren't interested. Some's tasting was just for show since two people announced how they hated spicy beers before even taking a sip. Arrgh; my pet peeve. Not surpisingly, they both made a face in disgust. However, since we were trading sips, I got to try his Chocolate Stout. Wow. Before you even take a sip you get totally seduced by the intense chocolate aroma. Great creaminess; you can't taste the chocolate but you know it's there. No wonder he drank these all night. I asked the waitress what she recommended next and she listed off three (inclucing Ken's mocha porter and Kell's Irish lager, which I wasn't interested in at the time) before she mentioned the Smoke Ale. Bingo. I remember Brian loving this beer so much that he rushed back to Tucson to make it. Actually, I was there when he brewed it. Not surprisingly it turned out awesome so I was more than eager to taste the beer that inspired it. Great amount of smoke without being overpowering. But what I liked about it more that it was refreshing rather than tasting stale. Even the guy across from me who doesn't really care for beer liked this one.

As I was drinking my beer and looking over the menu, I was surprised that they didn't list the original and final specific gravities, which Brian's lessons have taught me that the difference between the original and final indicate the amount of alcohol. However, Rogue's labels looked like this (for the Chocolate Stout):

Measurements: 15 degrees Plato, IBU 69, Apparent Attenuation 77, Lovibond 135.45 degrees.

I asked the waitress (who was awesome) what the numbers meant and she told me that if you multiply the plato number by 4 (in this case 15x4=60) and then move the decimal point to the left by one, that will tell you the amount of alcohol in the beer (i.e. 6.0% in this case). Fun! So the Imperial Stout (which they were out of last night):

Measurements: 26 degrees Plato, IBU 87.5, Apparent Attenuation 77, Lovibond 258

packs a punch with (26x4=104) 10.4% alcohol. Yowzers.

It was now last call, so Ken & I split the Shakespeare Stout, which paled in comparison to all the other beers, and headed home. What a fun night. It's so close to our house that I think we'll definitely be frequenting that place, especially on Thursdays now. Taryn & Paul - it looks like we'll be coming here after you arrive on a Thursday night in a couple of weeks.

Can't wait to go back.