Beer: John John Ale
Brewery: Rogue Brewery
John & John. The Distiller and the Brewer.
The Rogue Brewery is one of a select few American Craft Breweries that can put some serious history on the mantle. Opening in later 1988, Rogue celebrated their two decades of brewing a little over a year ago. In my humble opinion Rogue’s brewery is blessed by one of the most talented and creative brewmasters in the United States. John Maier has been at the helm for Rogue since early 1989, only a few months after the breweries first batches rolled out. Maier currently brews nearly three dozen different ales and lagers for the brewery, the most recent release being an interesting take on one the breweries flagship beers, Dead Guy Ale.
Dead Guy is brewed loosely in the style of German Maibock, using the breweries propriety and versatile ale yeast, Pacman. A few years ago the brewery began its spirits line. One of its premiere spirits is Rogue Dead Guy Whiskey. The whiskey is made from the same grain bill as Dead Guy Ale. Naturally the original ale and its whiskey cousin should meet via the increasingly popular approach of barrel aging beers. I have yet to have the opportunity to sample Dead Guy whiskey, but Dead Guy Ale is a classic American craft beer that any interested beer drinker should seek out. Crisp and malty, Dead Guy has a deliciously smooth malt sweetness and touches of minty, herbal hop character. The base Dead Guy grain bill in John John, has some slight differences in that it uses malt and hops from Rogue Farms. This stems from the breweries commitment to both better environmental practices, as well as an effort to control some of their own destiny (there is a story in here about the hop shortage of 2007 somewhere, but that could be several posts unto itself, Google it). Here is an interesting visual view of how John John Ale came to be.
Appearance: Pours golden orange, average clarity with a just off-white color tightly beaded foamy head. The head breaks after a couple of minutes but shows some decent lacing on the glass wall.
John John in the Glass.
Aroma: The nose is predominately the whiskey barrel character, some vanilla, toasted coconut, touch of orange. The base beer of Dead Guy comes through though with a clean subtle malt sweetness. Very hard to pick up any hops in the nose. Some light herbal hop character, Thai basil or lemon zest.
Flavor: The whiskey barrel flavor is more subdued than in the aroma, or perhaps better stated well blended. A nice clean sugar tone malt with slightly biscuit character, balanced with a vanilla and oak note from the barrel aging. Some earthy, woody hop character in the middle with a touch of zesty citrus brightness in the finish and a solid front to back bitterness. Some caramel and toasty malt character lingers in the finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, with a smooth slightly creamy texture, moderate carbonation plays well off the hop bitterness. A touch of astringent wood note from the barrel, but it adds to the overall character.
Overall Impression: A really great idea and well made craft beer, taking a classic and spinning it a bit. The barrel aging provides some interesting depth across the board from aroma to mouthfeel. Barrel aged beers can often have too much borrowed aroma and especially flavor that dominates the character of the beer. For such a subtle base beer that is not the case here. The barrel character is really well honed and the base beer has really been complimented as opposed to out shined. Try it with a light garlic pasta dish or some white pizza. I had a glass with the latter and it had some interesting contrasting and complimentary aspects.
It tastes as good as it looks.
Cellaring Recommendation: Cellar this one? This is where I would have the only negative things to say about this beer. And that does not come as a surprise, I did not grab this beer with anticipation of getting a long look at it through aging exactly. I don’t think the base Dead Guy Ale even aged in a barrel has enough to carry the tune very long. I think you can likely get some interesting things from this beer for up to a year out. Much more than that would be diminishing returns. I am going to check out another bottle in about six months and then either regret not having substantially more in waiting or look forward to what will hopefully be annual releases of this interesting offering from a great American craft brewery.
Tasting Date: March 11, 2010
Next Projected Tasting: September 2010
