Rouge
Rogue Ales
- From:
- Rogue Ales
- Oregon, United States
- Style:
- Brut IPA
- ABV:
- 7.5%
- Score:
- 85
- Avg:
- 3.72 | pDev: 16.94%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 11
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Sep 11, 2025
- Added:
- May 13, 2019
- Wants:
- 1
- Gots:
- 3
SCORE
85
Very Good
85
Very Good
We don't joke about beer. So while many thought it was an April Fool's joke when we announced Rouge, a Brut IPA blended with Pinot Noir juice and dedicated to typos, we knew it was real and it was spectacular. The label is an anagram of our name: Rogue. And it's been the most common misspelling of our brand since day one.
We can't count the times we've received phone calls for a "Rouge Alés" and we relish the opportunity to recount that one time our brewer's yeast was accidentally delivered to the gentleman's lounge, Club Rouge in Portland instead of Rogue Eastside Pub & Pilot Brewery. Heck, we've even been guilty of misspelling our own name once or twice. It's such a common gaffe, we've even given it a term: "getting rouged."
After 30 years of "getting Rouged," we felt it was time to embrace our rougey roots and brew something delicious in honor of it.
Rogue Innovation Brewer Michael King started with a brut IPA, a dry but aromatic example of the IPA style, combining 2-Row Malt, Corn Flakes and Rolled Oats. For hops, he selected Mosaic, Chinook, El Dorado, Strata, Rogue Farms Alluvial. He of course used our proprietary Pacman Yeast and Newport's own Free Range Coastal Water. And for a real Rogue (Rouge?) twist on it all, he blended it with Oregon Pinot Noir juice.
The result is a crisp and semi-dry brut IPA co-fermented with Oregon Pinot Noir juice for a unique flavor and an added rouge hue. The finish is hoppy and delicious.
We can't count the times we've received phone calls for a "Rouge Alés" and we relish the opportunity to recount that one time our brewer's yeast was accidentally delivered to the gentleman's lounge, Club Rouge in Portland instead of Rogue Eastside Pub & Pilot Brewery. Heck, we've even been guilty of misspelling our own name once or twice. It's such a common gaffe, we've even given it a term: "getting rouged."
After 30 years of "getting Rouged," we felt it was time to embrace our rougey roots and brew something delicious in honor of it.
Rogue Innovation Brewer Michael King started with a brut IPA, a dry but aromatic example of the IPA style, combining 2-Row Malt, Corn Flakes and Rolled Oats. For hops, he selected Mosaic, Chinook, El Dorado, Strata, Rogue Farms Alluvial. He of course used our proprietary Pacman Yeast and Newport's own Free Range Coastal Water. And for a real Rogue (Rouge?) twist on it all, he blended it with Oregon Pinot Noir juice.
The result is a crisp and semi-dry brut IPA co-fermented with Oregon Pinot Noir juice for a unique flavor and an added rouge hue. The finish is hoppy and delicious.
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Reviewed by DraftMonger from Denmark
3.51/5 rDev -5.6%
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
3.51/5 rDev -5.6%
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Copenhagen 26/1 2020. 47,3 cl can from Meny, Østerfælled Torv, Kbh. Ø. Metal can with the name of brewery and beer entering on pillars of pink-ish red. Matching pin on the can.
Pours unclear pinkish rouge with a small bubbly white head. Settles as thin, flimsy remnants of foam unable to cover the surface of the beer. No lacing.
Aroma is fairly intense, vineous, sweetish with a light acidic touch. Grapes, peach and pineapple. White wine-ish sourness. Acerbic.
Medium carbonation. Slightly thick, oily, lightly tingling texture.
Flavor is medium sweet followed by a slightly stronger citric sour bitterness. Aftertaste is sourish and citric. Lingers for a bit. Dry finish.
Decent take on a brut IPA although grapes taste a bit strange in a beer.
Sep 11, 2025Pours unclear pinkish rouge with a small bubbly white head. Settles as thin, flimsy remnants of foam unable to cover the surface of the beer. No lacing.
Aroma is fairly intense, vineous, sweetish with a light acidic touch. Grapes, peach and pineapple. White wine-ish sourness. Acerbic.
Medium carbonation. Slightly thick, oily, lightly tingling texture.
Flavor is medium sweet followed by a slightly stronger citric sour bitterness. Aftertaste is sourish and citric. Lingers for a bit. Dry finish.
Decent take on a brut IPA although grapes taste a bit strange in a beer.
Reviewed by Smakawhat from Maryland
4.08/5 rDev +9.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4.08/5 rDev +9.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass.
What a neat body color out of the can. Pours a translucent light pink, then fills the glass with a light reddish orange body color and highly carbonated. Excellent clarity and a very soapy three finger head bright white. Minimal retention, lots of pop and dissolve with only a light leggy sheen and no lacing. Very beautiful unique color, really like the look of this, head creation aside.
This is a very enjoyable aroma. Hop hits of grapefruit and wine grapes. Light tannic notes but with everfescent bold crispness, and even some sweet malt depth to match as well.
Real nice palate. Crisp but slightly muted mouthfeel, with touches of light red grape and hops. Mid palate hits a mix of well, grape and grapefruit which is a real neat combination. Mild astringency and more of a sense of light touching herbs and faint marmalade like bitterness. The finish contains more of this fruit oily zest and mixing grape real nicely together, with airy charm and almost sophisticated.
Not going to be like your average IPA, but one unique bird and a lot fun to drink.
Jun 04, 2021What a neat body color out of the can. Pours a translucent light pink, then fills the glass with a light reddish orange body color and highly carbonated. Excellent clarity and a very soapy three finger head bright white. Minimal retention, lots of pop and dissolve with only a light leggy sheen and no lacing. Very beautiful unique color, really like the look of this, head creation aside.
This is a very enjoyable aroma. Hop hits of grapefruit and wine grapes. Light tannic notes but with everfescent bold crispness, and even some sweet malt depth to match as well.
Real nice palate. Crisp but slightly muted mouthfeel, with touches of light red grape and hops. Mid palate hits a mix of well, grape and grapefruit which is a real neat combination. Mild astringency and more of a sense of light touching herbs and faint marmalade like bitterness. The finish contains more of this fruit oily zest and mixing grape real nicely together, with airy charm and almost sophisticated.
Not going to be like your average IPA, but one unique bird and a lot fun to drink.
Reviewed by joaopmgoncalves from Portugal
3.72/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.72/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Bought and drank at Café Académico, Coimbra.
Poured into a Anchor tumbler.
A: Body is midway between a fainted yellow and a amber beer, having some red hues that I thought that would be much more prominent. Head is half an inch thick and shows reasonable retention.
S: Aroma is very interesting with the tones of a fresher and lighter IPA with the pinot noir juice tones resembling more red fruits, like strawberry, raspberry and so on.
T: Taste is crisp and light with a more fruity tone that is all you need to make this a perfect afternoon drink. Light and red fruits with a slightly hoppy tone.
M: Body is medium to low. Carbonation is good. Bitterness is medium to medium high. Alcohol is unnoticeable.
O: I believe this is my very first non-Macro Brut IPA. Despite not being a standard beer for the style, it is very light and drinkable.
Jul 10, 2020Poured into a Anchor tumbler.
A: Body is midway between a fainted yellow and a amber beer, having some red hues that I thought that would be much more prominent. Head is half an inch thick and shows reasonable retention.
S: Aroma is very interesting with the tones of a fresher and lighter IPA with the pinot noir juice tones resembling more red fruits, like strawberry, raspberry and so on.
T: Taste is crisp and light with a more fruity tone that is all you need to make this a perfect afternoon drink. Light and red fruits with a slightly hoppy tone.
M: Body is medium to low. Carbonation is good. Bitterness is medium to medium high. Alcohol is unnoticeable.
O: I believe this is my very first non-Macro Brut IPA. Despite not being a standard beer for the style, it is very light and drinkable.
Reviewed by Jennespe from Iowa
4.35/5 rDev +16.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.35/5 rDev +16.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
This beer was a single in a pick six single section at HyVee and so I gave it a shot - I really like this beer! I went back and cleaned out the inventory that was left after trying it. The wine tames the bite of the brut-ness of the IPA with the hint of jam, it is very balanced to give this beer a provocative easy sipping taste.
Dec 31, 2019
Reviewed by mactrail from Washington
4.17/5 rDev +12.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.17/5 rDev +12.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Attractive clear brew the color of a pale rosé wine with a big foam in the Belle-Vue Gueuze glass. Pleasantly fruity aroma. Lively mouthfeel with a mildly acidic touch. The carbonation lives up to the "champagne" claim more here than most of the Brut IPA entries. Hints of rhubarb, orange, and plenty of red grape.
Dry finish after the fruit, and it's even lightly winey. This is actually one of the better fruit-flavored beers I've had. Grapes + Brut zing makes for a highly drinkable but entertaining brew. From the 16 oz can purchased at Mt. Vernon Co-op.
Sep 25, 2019Dry finish after the fruit, and it's even lightly winey. This is actually one of the better fruit-flavored beers I've had. Grapes + Brut zing makes for a highly drinkable but entertaining brew. From the 16 oz can purchased at Mt. Vernon Co-op.
Reviewed by monkist from Hungary
4.46/5 rDev +19.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.46/5 rDev +19.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Still don’t quite get it what makes a Brut IPA. Similar to NEIPAs but... but what?
Is it that rawness, that excessive hoppy resinous aroma and feel to it? If that is what it takes then I am loving it.
Rogue is a master brewery and I like all their brews. Funny that they made a pinch at such a typo but this way they turned it all around and made the beer almost red - well, rather like a rosé - using pinot noir juice. And the beer became not only a super hoppy something, but yet something that reminds me of - stum. I mean the grape juice that is just starting to ferment. This feeling of both wine and beer is quite unusual, sometimes strange but it is interesting enough. It is very slightly tart with a body feel similar to sours, you also have almost no head and a very subtle maltiness to it. On the other hand you get a punch of resinous and pine hops in your nose, a slightly hop-bitter flavor and some funny booziness that I’m not even sure if it is there of if it is the play of the aromas together.
I COULD imagine the beer in a bit more ideal way (bit more tart or spicy yeast) but then it would become a sour or a farmhouse ale or a saison and not a Brut IPA. Hey, I even forgot that it’s supposed to be one...
Anyway, here are the real notes from the can:
Every day we get letters and emails that misspell our name, heck we even do it ourselves sometimes. Fed up, our brewers decided to make a beer to fit the name. They started with a brut IPA and blended in Oregon pinot noir. The resulting beer is pleasantly complex and dry with a rouge hue. Here's to beter spleling threw bere!
Sep 20, 2019Is it that rawness, that excessive hoppy resinous aroma and feel to it? If that is what it takes then I am loving it.
Rogue is a master brewery and I like all their brews. Funny that they made a pinch at such a typo but this way they turned it all around and made the beer almost red - well, rather like a rosé - using pinot noir juice. And the beer became not only a super hoppy something, but yet something that reminds me of - stum. I mean the grape juice that is just starting to ferment. This feeling of both wine and beer is quite unusual, sometimes strange but it is interesting enough. It is very slightly tart with a body feel similar to sours, you also have almost no head and a very subtle maltiness to it. On the other hand you get a punch of resinous and pine hops in your nose, a slightly hop-bitter flavor and some funny booziness that I’m not even sure if it is there of if it is the play of the aromas together.
I COULD imagine the beer in a bit more ideal way (bit more tart or spicy yeast) but then it would become a sour or a farmhouse ale or a saison and not a Brut IPA. Hey, I even forgot that it’s supposed to be one...
Anyway, here are the real notes from the can:
Every day we get letters and emails that misspell our name, heck we even do it ourselves sometimes. Fed up, our brewers decided to make a beer to fit the name. They started with a brut IPA and blended in Oregon pinot noir. The resulting beer is pleasantly complex and dry with a rouge hue. Here's to beter spleling threw bere!
Reviewed by NeroFiddled from Pennsylvania
3.87/5 rDev +4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
3.87/5 rDev +4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Rogue Ales "Rouge"
one pint can,"CANNED ON 05/04/2019 10:10:24"
$3.99 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ
Look: Hazy dark-amber/copper with a pink sheen. Short head of lightly pinkish white foam.
Smell: Hoppy with resin, flowers, pine, and citrus followed by a kind of generic fruitiness from the Pinot Noir grapes.
Taste: As the aroma suggests with more fruit (grape, berries, apple). Stiffly bitter and dry in the finish.
Feel: Medium to medium body with a moderate carbonation that leaves it soft and smooth.
Overall: For some reason I thought this was going to be a disaster, but in fact it actually works great. First, it's a Brut IPA, no questions asked. Then the flavor from the Pinot Noir grapes comes in, giving it additional character without swinging it towards becoming a full blown fruit beer. Flaws would be that the hops on the Brut IPA side are a bit muted, but they obviously had to do that to balance it to accommodate the fruit; and the carbonation is low to accommodate the fruit in that anymore carbonation would increase the perception of bitterness and add a bit of an acidic bite. The limited carbonation also affects the head retention and lacing, dropping its score on appearance. In the end if you simply look at it as one "rouge" beer, rather than breaking it apart, it's quite good.
Review #6,668
Aug 26, 2019one pint can,"CANNED ON 05/04/2019 10:10:24"
$3.99 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ
Look: Hazy dark-amber/copper with a pink sheen. Short head of lightly pinkish white foam.
Smell: Hoppy with resin, flowers, pine, and citrus followed by a kind of generic fruitiness from the Pinot Noir grapes.
Taste: As the aroma suggests with more fruit (grape, berries, apple). Stiffly bitter and dry in the finish.
Feel: Medium to medium body with a moderate carbonation that leaves it soft and smooth.
Overall: For some reason I thought this was going to be a disaster, but in fact it actually works great. First, it's a Brut IPA, no questions asked. Then the flavor from the Pinot Noir grapes comes in, giving it additional character without swinging it towards becoming a full blown fruit beer. Flaws would be that the hops on the Brut IPA side are a bit muted, but they obviously had to do that to balance it to accommodate the fruit; and the carbonation is low to accommodate the fruit in that anymore carbonation would increase the perception of bitterness and add a bit of an acidic bite. The limited carbonation also affects the head retention and lacing, dropping its score on appearance. In the end if you simply look at it as one "rouge" beer, rather than breaking it apart, it's quite good.
Review #6,668
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