Rogue Ales

Rogue is one of those breweries which people say a lot of great things about. Word of mouth still goes when convincing consumers to buy your product. I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about Rogue so I keep trying their beers in hopes that I'll understand what people see in them. My most recent attempt to understand the Rogue hype is this bottle of John John Dead Guy Ale. This bomber is a collaboration of sorts, it's basically just Dead Guy Ale aged in whiskey barrels. The cool part is that the barrels held Dead Guy whiskey. It's a neat anecdote but I'm not an expert on whiskeys so it doesn't mean a whole lot else to me.

I've heard a lot of good things about this beer from pretty much everyone. I enjoy stouts of all kinds and have been looking forward to this one for a while. This beer certainly didn't disappoint as I poured it into my glass. Rogue's Chocolate Stout is a thick bodied dark stout that smells exactly like chocolate malted milk. It's almost eerie how exact the aroma is. It's eerie because this a stout that doesn't smell like dark roasted grains. This beer smells so much like chocolate milk it's amazing. The flavor is another story...

Oh look, it's another holiday season IPA... Granted, Rogue doesn't market their Yellow Snow IPA as a Christmas beer, but it's still an IPA that's meant for wintertime consumption. Maybe I'm crazy but I just don't see the appeal of an IPA when it's below freezing outside. In the spring, in the summer or even in fall... IPAs are great, but when the rest of the beer in my fridge is a Stout or Holiday spiced ale? I dunno... But enough about preconceived notions, how does this beer look, smell and taste? Does it feel like a holiday beer? How would it stack up against turkey and all the fixings?