Dad's Little Helper Malt Liquor
Rogue Ales

Dad's Little Helper Malt LiquorDad's Little Helper Malt Liquor
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From:
Rogue Ales
 
Oregon, United States
Style:
Malt Liquor
ABV:
7.2%
Score:
77
Avg:
3.37 | pDev: 16.32%
Reviews:
270
Ratings:
339
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Feb 21, 2022
Added:
May 12, 2006
Wants:
  30
Gots:
  3
6 Ingredients:
Malts: Harrington & Klages.
Hops: Crystal.
Specialty: Flaked Corn.
Yeast & Water: Czech Pils Yeast & Free Range Coastal Water.

17º PLATO
25 IBU
77 AA
10º Lovibond
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by scuppers:
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Reviewed by scuppers from Ohio

3.4/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3
Got this on sale for 1.99 at Kenny Road Market in Columbus.
Seems like the right drink for hard times.

Served in a plain, clean water glass at 47 degrees F.

Appearance: it's the color of honey. Almost no head retention. It's not particularly fizzy. Real minor lacing.

Smell: there's something familiar about this smell. It reminds me of the smell of Macallan Scotch whisky with a hint of radiator coolant. The malt kind of hides the corn, so it's not that corn city-watery-chlorine Anheiser Busch smell.

Taste: wow, this stuff tastes sweet. To me, it seems just as sweet as Coca-Cola. Zero bitterness as far as I could detect. What a strange thing to drink. A little roasty-toasty thing going on toward the end. A faint little medicinal aftertaste. To me, almost zero hops in the taste.

Mouthfeel: it's a little syrupy.

I'm not certain what the ABV is on this one. The web's contradicting itself... Depending on who you talk to, it's either 5.3%, 6.9%, 7.2%, or 8.5%. Judging by the buzz-factor, I don't think it's 5.3%.

The bottle says it's 17 degrees plato. If 1 degree plato is 1% sugar in the wort, that says this has around 17% sugar in the wort. I guess that explains the sweetness if any of that remains unfermented.
Mar 20, 2009
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.02 by TMoney2591 from Illinois

Feb 21, 2022
 
Rated: 3.74 by smi69 from New York

May 26, 2020
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

3.93/5  rDev +16.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Indicative of my backlog, apparently this beer has been retired for a while. I became inspired to run through my Rogues last night as I had a couple from them, one a recent CAN, the other an aged bomber. Hey, no shame in my game. Some of these have stayed good while others have actually improved with their unintended age.

From the Bottle: "6 Ingredients: Harrington and Klages Malts, Flaked Corn, Crystal Hops, Free Range Coastal Water, and Czech Pils Yeast."; "No Chemicals, Additives, or Preservatives"; "Dedicated to Dads"; "After the death of his wife, Henry Jackson Smart was left to raise his 6 young children alone. HIs courage, love, selflessness and dedication inspired his daughter, Sonora Smart Dodd, to organize the first Father's Day on June 19th, 1910. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. President Nixon, in 1972, established it as a permanent day of national remembrance."; "Oregon Brewed*Established 1988*Oxygen Fixing Caps"; "17° Plato*10° L* 77 AA*25 IBU"; "100% Pure Rogue".

I Pop!ped off the oxygen-fixing cap & was left with no real choice but to begin a slow, gentle, C-Line pour. I was happy to see that the cap had done its job & it created a small cap of a finger of foamy, rocky, tawny head that hung around as long as it could before becoming wisps. Color was Amber to Deep-Amber/Light-Copper (SRM = > 9, < 13) with NE-quality clarity. Nose smelled like malt liquor with the usual corn silage, but it was a) not as sharp as in some & b) the malt seemed to be of a higher quality with a pleasant sweetness cutting the corn. Hmm. Mouthfeel was medium, solid for an AML. The taste was pleasant, not as sharp as I usually encounter in AMLs. Had my inadvertent ageing caused this or was it by intelligent brewing design? I liked the way that the malts balanced well with the corn, since the latter is my real bugaboo. Drinking enough AALs and AMLs has taught me exactly what corn in beer tastes like & it is not pleasant. It tastes like silage & I would prefer NOT to taste silage since it is meant for the hogs during the winter, having fermented in the silo all summer. 8=p
This was still a little rough & tough, but still head & shoulders above most examples in/of the style. Finish was rather dry, almost biscuity with a slight honey sweetness, perhaps thanks to the extended opportunity for the yeast to do its thing. Was this more mellow/less harsh than on its initial release? I don't know, but it was certainly smooth. I was cool with what I had & I am not really mourning its passing. YMMV.
Oct 03, 2019
 
Rated: 5 by OzmanBey from Massachusetts

Oct 22, 2017
 
Rated: 4 by afsdan from Colorado

Sep 15, 2015
 
Rated: 2.91 by Hellpop65 from Kansas

Dec 26, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by wrightst from Maryland

Nov 23, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by a77cj7 from South Dakota

Nov 20, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by GRG1313 from California

Sep 20, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by DrBier from Pennsylvania

Aug 07, 2014
 
Rated: 2 by cd34 from Illinois

May 20, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by harpus from Alabama

Mar 20, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by jaydoc from Kansas

Jan 05, 2014
Photo of Brenden
Reviewed by Brenden from Ohio

3.78/5  rDev +12.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
This beer is gone? When did that happen. Oh well, here's to what may be the only reasonably well-made Malt Liquor ever brewed.

This take on the beer that's made homeless drunks and their brown paper bags famous looks like the others, a clear sort of pale-medium yellow color. There's actually a nice little foam on top, just barely off-white, that settles in time and leaves pretty good spotting on the glass.
It's to style with the exception that it lacks the gasoline notes in the aroma. Doesn't smell like gas...interesting. What it does have is some corn, but not the vomit-inducing creamed corn, lightly sulfuric notes, a little leaf, and some husk on a crackery malts backbone. It could be stronger, but not if strength meant what the other guys mean.
The taste is clean, and there's actually some hoppiness to this one, a little floral and herbal to balance the dry malt. There's a mingling of citrus as well, some zesty lemon and maybe orange peel. A little sweetness and some corn is there too with some fusel notes leaning toward the fruity side (think red apple, sweet but a little tart), it actually is surprisingly less than disgusting. Who knew it was possible?
The feel is clean in about a medium body, a little thick just at the end so that it leans toward syrupy but stops just short. It has a nice, soft crispness that stays through the whole way and actually adds to the smoother aspects.
Dec 11, 2013
 
Rated: 2.5 by XmnwildX12 from Minnesota

Dec 11, 2013
 
Rated: 3.5 by zestar from California

Nov 12, 2013
 
Rated: 4.25 by Falcone from North Carolina

Oct 19, 2013
 
Rated: 3 by Kopfschuss from Oregon

Oct 06, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by Dapper_Dan_Man from Pennsylvania

Aug 04, 2013
Dad's Little Helper Malt Liquor from Rogue Ales
Beer rating: 77 out of 100 with 339 ratings