Rogue Honey Cream Ale: Not sweet, not creamy, definitely Rogue-ish
Sep 04 '01
The Bottom Line Not an exciting brew but a satisfying twist on a style. Much drier and hoppier than I would have expected although seemed to lack a little in flavor. Worth trying.
Apart from Samuel Smith’s, Rogue Ales is probably my most covered brewery here at epinions. It’s not surprising when you consider that it’s one of my favorite breweries and the fact that they list 24 beers on their website. Tonight I decided to tackle a Rogue Honey Cream Ale that my wife had caught at a bargain $1.19 on one of her visits to Trader Joe’s.
I have to admit to not being all that excited by the thought of this one, but at the same time I am willing to try anything different, and that’s certainly something that you can count on from Rogue’s headbrewer John Maier.
I’ve had a couple of cream ales but not enough to really form a theory on what the style should be. Many will tell you that Steam beer is the only beer style indigenous to the United States, but there is argument for cream ale’s inclusion too.
The idea behind this style, just like Steam is a hybrid, originally brewed with both ale and lager yeasts, with the ale yeast fermenting at the top and the lager yeast fermenting at the bottom. Typical examples are golden in color, mild and sweet, with low hop bitterness.
Now as I started out by saying, you shouldn’t expect Rogue to play by the rules. Guidelines suggest 10-22 IBU’s, Rogue states 29, much more bitter. Another point to note is that Rogue only mentions top fermenting ale yeast in their specifications.
The use of wildflower honey is also something of a twist. The suggested sweetness of cream and honey were really my main reason for initial hesitancy, however in their official description Rogue say that: “Honey imparts a dry, refreshing character to the beer because it ferments almost completely.”
Tasting Notes
Honey Cream Ale pours out to a pale golden color, and as the name would suggest honey-like. Carbonation and head formation are both fairly light, while there is a distinctive haziness to the body.
The nose suggests signs of pale and caramel malts (I wasn’t aware of what malts were used at the time), while a honey sweet aroma is evident as well as little lemon. The citric hops sit in the background, and it seemed that every time I was detecting them the honey quickly suppressed them.
The palate is lightly carbonated and remarkably smooth. It’s somewhat light to medium bodied, just thickening slightly in the finish.
If the nose had suggested something sweet, I was about to be corrected in the flavor. There’s a lemon fruity tip that turns a little malty. The middle is smooth and expectedly honey-like although this latter quality is much briefer than I would have expected. There’s a detectable hop dryness throughout the palate while it does turn very tangy and citric bitter in a crisp finish. The middle honey sweetness does provide a slight balance against the more bitter finish, but this is remarkably well hopped for the style.
Verdict
Those who know Rogue, know of their heavy handed pour on the hops, and although not a heavily hopped beer style, they certainly made this one a little more tangy than others would have been willing to.
The end result in this one is something that could be comparable to a lighter IPA, very refreshing and quenching. I would say that thanks to the extra tang from the hops, I enjoyed the beer more than I thought but was still slightly disappointed by the lack of depth in flavor.
I don’t think it’s Rogue’s most exciting or adventurous ale, and although recommended not worth everyone rushing out to buy. True beer fans should give it a go as a twist on the style’s norm and something typically Rogue-ish.
Rating: 3+ Stars
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
andaryl
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Andrew Smith
Location: The Desert, So Cal
Reviews written: 219
Trusted by: 174 members
|
|
|
© 1999-2008 Shopping.com, Inc.