So, tonight while Amy and Grace are hanging out with the fams in Mobile, I opened a bottle of Rogue Smoke Ale that I’ve had in the cabinet since probably 2004. This is a big-ish beer at 5.8 ABV, that should have withstood the extra lagering time in a cool, dark environment.
To my palate, it is a passible American interpretation of a German Rauch Bier (Smoke Beer). For the life of me, I can’t detect even a hint of smoke. Like most Rogue beers, I really want to like this beer but I don’t. And I think I know why. I believe (and have for some time) that it has to do with their yeast. According to the Rogue website:
Yeast: Rogues proprietary ale yeast is PacMan. “Pacman is really great yeast; everything about it is good. Pacman attenuates well, is alcohol tolerant, and it produces beers with no diacetyl if the beer is well made. Its very flocculent, which makes it a great choice for bottle conditioning. I ferment almost all my beers at 60deg.F; once in a while for certain styles Ill ferment as high as 70deg.F, but never higher. Use lots of oxygen, and a high pitch rate. I never repitch past the 6th generation, and I always use Wyeast Yeast Nutrient.”- John Maier, Brewmaster, Rogue Ales
Wha? Attenuation is good. It converts sugar into alcohol and CO2. Alcohol tolerant is good. That means that the yeasties can work their magic for longer before the alcohol puts them into stasis. NO diacetyl? I think we have a problem! Diacetyl is the chemical responsible for putting butter and butterscotch flavors into beer. Now, style guidelines say that the presence of diacetyl is verboten in Classic Rauch Bier. However, Classic Rauch Bier is a lager, and Rogue’s PacMan yeast is an ale yeast. According to the style guide they nailed it. But I like diacetyl in my most of my beers(dry stout is obviously the exception)! Perhaps what I really wanted was another Bass Ale, but it was all gone.
Rogue’s PacMan yeast just doesn’t work for me. From “Dead Guy Ale” to “Shakespeare Stout” I really WANT to like these beers, but I can’t. I just don’t like something in the flavor profile that I can’t yet define. It has been said that most breweries develop “house” flavors. These are flavor components that are common to all of the various styles any brewery makes. Young’s has theirs. Fuller’s has theirs. Give me a new beer from either brewery, and I can probably tell you which it was from (if either of these were more available in Alabama, I promise I’d have done enough research to be able to definitively tell you). Give me a Rogue beer and don’t tell me where it is from, and I will tell you “This is from Rogue!” Their house flavor is that distinct, and again I think it is because of that yeast.
What Rogue does right is that most (if not all) of their ales are bottle conditioned. This is quite important. It makes the beer taste better, and gives each beer a better texture. Essentially, this means that Rogue is kind enough to leave us live yeasties in the bottle. That is good for a number of reasons, not the least being that it makes the beer quite healthy for you to drink. It isn’t a beer for beginners, nor for lightweights because it ships in 22 oz bottles. It certainly has a flavor, and plenty of it. Almost enough for me to like, but not quite.
7/10
