Santa's Private Reserve Ale
Rogue Ales

2022 Can from the Advent Box.
Dark brown with faint garnet at the edges and a frothy tan head that slowly recedes. Sweet sugary stout with hints of roast and chocolate. Faint citrus light earthy hops. Odd but it works.

 

Look: It pours very dark brown with a brown head. Head retention is very good.

Smell: It has strong tangerine aroma almost like a liquor with chocolate notes intermixed. The aromas are sweet and candy like.

Taste: The chocolate is more prominent in the flavor with the tangerine being equal. There are some tropical flavors that remind me of tropical skittles.

Feel: It has a medium body with a sweet finish.

Overall, a very candy like and chocolate beer.

 

 

 

 

From old, undated notes. Poured from the bottle.

Deep rust color; barely see-through.

Bright white head; nice lacing.

Citrus hop nose with malt undertones. Smells good.

Medium mouthfeel. Hop forward with a nice citrus bite; slight roasted notes underneath. Tastes like a red IPA.

Unique & quite quaffable, but this is for hop lovers only.

 

From the bottle, it pours a brownish color with a modest light tan head that lasts a bit. Lacing as you enjoy it. In the nose, Scent is light, but the taste is dark fruits and malt predominantly.

 

Here I go off the reservation yet again, but I can't help it. If you like bitter - and I do - this one's for you. Clear, dark amber colored pour, with a dense off-white head that lasts forever leaving tons of pretty lacing. Very well balanced with lots of complexity. Notes of dark bread, caramel, and dark fruit, with a little tart cherry and lots of resiny bitterness that lingers from start to finish. Malty, bitter, and delicious. What more could you ask for?

 

 

From notes 6/17/12: Pours a murky brown producing 2 finger of frothy, short-lived, tan head that leaves only a little thin lacing. Aroma is dark bread, toast, honey, caramel, floral and resinous pine hops. Taste is hop heavy pine/spruce bitterness throughout the sip but especially in the finish and aftertaste. The malt is plentiful with dark bread, fig, prune, molasses,some smoke, alcohol with a vague hint of wood. This review is from old notes and my example was the 2012 version. I understand they change the recipe every so often (not sure it it changes ever year or not). You could be fooled into thinking the 2012 version was a Winter Warmer based on the name and label, its far too hoppy for that (and too hoppy for an American Amber/Red Ale also).