Sesquicentennial Ale
Rogue Ales

 

 

 

 

This ale has strong, malty notes, with aromas of brown sugar, toasted grains, and wheat fields after summer rain. Accompanying these are light hoppy aromas, with hints of grapefruit and rosewater. A noticeable yeastiness rounds out the nose.

On the tongue, bright citrus flavors abound and dominate, including piney grapefruit bitters, accompanied by the more sugary and fruity beckoning of oranges, apricots and melons. Hops play a large role in the initial phases of the mouthful, but sugars are still present, and become more complex as the ale sits on the tongue, revealing caramels, brown sugars, and some vanilla, and in this sense taste slightly like cookie dough without the chocolate chips. All of these flavors carry through into the aftertaste, with hops still taking the leading role.

Overall, this is a well-balanced and delicious ale, offering a wide range of flavors without any one of those flavors dominating the rest to the ale's detriment.

22oz bomber (I think?) bought from Slowbeer in Melbourne.

Pours a reddish-brown colour with fairly thick haze throughout - very decent head, ochre in colour and quite dense. Decent retention with some really delightful lacing. Fair carbonation as well, yeah everything here is decent.

Nose is very malty and hoppy, really nice aromas coming off that. A lot of west coast hoppiness and a large amount of sweet toffeed barley, with some nice spicy notes being given off by the hops as well. Overall, standard really, lots of malt and hops but still, nicely handled.

Taste is predominantly malty, a lot of rich, earthy tones with toffee, molasses and soil. Some hops come through late, with a bit of a woody bitter tone at the end. Slight citric character on the bitterness, but not aggressive as in Old Crustacean, for example. Look this is quite a standard beer, lots of malt, slight hoppiness, but it's really well-handled and balanced superbly.

Foamy and fairly well-textured, quite creamy but with a bit of roughness from the hops. Not ideal but certainly manageable.

This is an extremely drinkable, sessionable beer. The balance is brilliant and I could just quaff this all night.

Pours a cloudy reddish amber colour - deep and heavy looking with a robust frothy head of yellow-white. Good lacing. Looks a bit murky, otherwise very fine indeed.

Nose is a deliciously full blown West Coast hop aroma, lots of citrus, tropical fruits and pine. Sharp but resonant, full of juicy hop flavours. Very robust and full-bodied. I love it.

Taste is slightly disappointing, but only slightly. It lacks some fruit sweetness - lacks some of the big IPA characters. It has a slight crystallised sugar character on the back, and a thin bitterness following it up. Bitterness is muted, but it's also somewhat isolated, given the rather void sweetness. So it stays balanced, but also a bit empty. Not bad though. Mouthfeel is thick, with low carbonation.

It's a very nice beer, and for its somewhat empty palate it's more drinkable. Very clean, crisp and very enjoyable.

Got it off the cask at Rattle 'n' Hum in NYC.

A: Served in a pint glass, this has a reddish-amber body with no head and no visible carbonation. It looks kinda dead.

S: Faint -- I get generic fruitiness and a bit of woodsy or earthy funkiness. Not my cup of tea.

T: First impression: apple cider-like. Yeasty earthiness over some nutty sweetness and overripe apples. There's some sort of spice at the finish - is it the alcohol? I do feel some heat in the belly. There is lingering bitterness at the finish and into the aftertaste.

M: Call it medium heft, totally flat carbonation-wise.

D: OK. I've definitely had better offerings from Rogue.

Picked up a bottle on a trip to Portland this past summer. My bottle has a picture of the Portland Theatre on it. Pours with a dark orange color. Nice sized white head. Plenty of hops in the nose, though seemed a bit soapy. Flavor was straight up IPA. Much hoppier than other amber or red ales I've had. Mouthfeel was mostly clean and balanced. ABV was noticeable about two thirds of the way through the glass. A well put together beer, but a bit too hoppy for what I was expecting. Wish that was toned down a bit and was somewhat more smooth.

This beer pours a nice copper hue with nice carbonation that leaves a creamy one finger head that slowly dissapates to a frothy mound in the middle with heaps of nice lacing everywhere,it has a real caramel malty aroma to it with some feint fruity hoppy notes right at the end,it has a nice full mouthfeel with the caramel flavours first on the palette with a passionfruit laced bitter hop taste right at the end and for me this is very drinkable and quite a good beer for a celebration brew for a top brewery good on ya Rogue cheers.

22oz. Bomber

Pours a really nice cloudy amber color, nice carbonation, very nice two-finger creamy off-white head, with some nice creamy/thick sticky lacing left behind. The nose is hoppy, malty, with some slight citrus, and caramel. The taste is sweet, bitter, hoppy, malty, with some nice citrus notes, and some caramel. Medium body. Drinkable, another awesome brew from Rogue, but alot of them are very similar though.

Autumn amber color poured from a Portland bomber.

Has a certain earthiness, slightly grainy/bready maltiness, and fruity hops on the nose. Fairly subtle.

Wow! The flavor is an unexpected hop explosion, with barleywine characteristics. Stemmy (I dont know it just felt right), slight alcohol bite, bitter hops with a touch of malty sweetness burried underneath. Not to say it's out of balance, it just favors the hops.

Flavors meld together more for a while after it warms.

Overall, if you like a well put together hop bill then give this one a try

Thanks Dan, for lugging this treat all the way back from Oregon.

On tap at the distillery in Portland. Jack Joyce was there. I introduced myself; probably seemed like an idiot. Oh well...

Delivered to the bar from about 4 feet away with a hazy deep amber body with an orange cast beneath a frothy head of bone white foam. The head retention was pretty good, but unfortunately the lacing was limited - perhaps a slightly dirty glass?

The aroma displayed a softly caramelish malt, flowers, some grass and earth, a bit of subtle spiciness, and soft fruit (apples, etc.).

In the mouth it was medium bodied and gently crisp with a delicate tingle on the tongue.

The flavor appeared much more hoppy at the outset, but it softened to become more malty as it warmed. Everything in the aroma was present, and upfront it was incredibly rounded with the malt and the hop and the yeasty fruitiness all coming together in one focused ball of flavor. Across the middle the hop flavors broke free, and they were spicy, grassy, leafy and earthy. More floral notes appeared in the long, lingering, dry finish. Lots of leafy and spicy hop notes were left behind, as well as a thin coat of lingering malt, and a solid bitterness.

I really liked it. It's nothing exciting or crazy, but it's a damned good, and very drinkable hoppy amber ale. And I think that perfectly nails most of what Portland brewing is about. There's a little bit of experimentation going on, but there's also a solid focus on making drinkable beers as well. So, cheers to Portland, Oregon for 150 years, and to many, many more!!!

Appearance: Yes sir, there's nothing like some Saturday afternoon drinking. Served up a very dingy-looking, muddy brown body with a thin, whitish head. Good Heavens, what did they do, play monkey in the middle with the cask before tapping it? As my dear friend Natalie put it simply -- "It's ugly." You're tellin' me, Nat! This would be a blind man's delight.

Smell: Folded scents of hops, malts, and yeast: at times it's nutty, woody, toasty, caramelesque, and citrusy.

Taste: Malts displaying tastes of toasted breadiness and some near-dry caramel and even lesser hints of earthy grains. Spicy, woodsy hop flavors with some slackened citrus coming in a distant third. Medium-high bitterness. Yeast, yeast, yeast all the while with a slight nuttiness to it. Finishes bitter with some persistent toast and dark caramel hints and, yeah, all that yeast.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation.

Drinkability: Congrats on Oregon's sesquiyeastennial, and here's to like, what, four or five more! Now, I'm off with a belly full of Rogue's proprietary PacMan yeast to slowly ferment away while I catch up on some DVR'd episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Purchased in Portland at Saturday Market:

appearance: golden color with nice bubbles

smell: getting notes of biscuit, and gingerbread

taste: nice hoppy flavor, tastes very fresh, hints of citrus, tastes like a nice pale.

mouthfeel and drinkability: could be the heat back here in Sacramento, but this beer is super drinkable. This is a great beer.

Picked this up yesterday at Woodstock Wine & Deli. I was surprised to see it there, so I grabbed it and brought it home. The bottle has nice design work, as usual. Plus, as an Oregonian born and raised, I have a feeling I'll like this brew, which was made especially for the sesquicentennial.

This ale pours a dense red-gold, which is surprisingly dark. The head is about a finger high, but thick and creamy. Terrific lacing down the sides, with frothy clumps too.

The aroma is bread-like on the foreground, with slightly citrus-scented hops in the background. The malt also exhibits some roasted character expected from the style. The nose is a bit more faint than I would like, but still strong. It opens slightly as it warms.

The immediate flavor that washes over the tongue is a bready-then-roasted malt combination that plays out very nicely. Following colsely are some light, citrusy hops that add a wonderful bitterness to the brew. This is a balanced brew, first and foremost. I'm not quite sure this is an Amber, but perhaps a standard (?) ale (they used 2-row and Maier Munich). The mouthfeel is nice and full, almost perfectly so for this particular beer.

I must say, I'm a sucker for Rouge, but this is a very decent, albeit standard, beer. It's not overly complex, yet it manages to stand out for me. Highly recommended. I wish they sold this in a 6-pack.

The Sesquicentennial Ale poured a more red than orange color with a solid 2-3 finger foam head. It was whipped egg white formation.

The aroma was malty-bready with a faint hopiness to it. It was malt pretty much all the way through with the peppery hop finish to it. That wasn't all that apparent though. I really loved the feel of this. It was smooth and silky and a comfort to drink. Overall a pretty decent brew and was especially cool since all of ingredients came from the state. Nice work Rogue.

Bought this at the Portland, OR airport. The only bottle of beer I've ever seen for sale at an airport!

Pours a nice bright orange/gold with a very thick, full, white head that is about an inch in thickness.

Smell is a bit of grass/hay, some citrus notes, a little sweet and sour and a bit yeasty. There is also a bit of sweet caramel.

Taste is nice and malty right off the bat with a very smooth bitter hop finish. Quite a bit of citrus bite to it and a little dry. Very crisp and refreshing.

I really dig this beer. Its very, very drinkable and complex enough to be more than your usual amber ale. The bottle makes a nice collector's item as well.

Great stuff.

Pours a cloudy orange copper with a big ole tannish head.

Aroma is earthy, not really a big hop kick, which surprised me, being both a Rogue and an Oregon tribute.

Taste has plenty of flavor to make up for it. A lot of high alpha bitter hops, lemon rind, bit of spicy pepper. Has almost a sour/lactic note to it, which is kinda putting me off. It's just hanging out between a pale ale and an ipa, without committing either way.

It's a good drinker, but nothing remarkable. A lot of breweries in the state did something for the state celebration...saw fruit beer with marrionberries and other unique one-off's to celebrate the occassion. Rogue's OR150 Sesquicentennial brew is just kind of generic and forgettable...
oh well.

a: This was a clear coppery amber color. It poured with a fairly long lived, foamy head.

s: Not a lot to find here. A little earthy, grains and some flowery hops.

t: Much better than the smell. Some light caramel malt flavor and sharply bitter finish that tastes of grassy lemons.

m: Soft overall, with gentle carbonation.

d: Pretty good overall, but the hop bill could have used a bit more than the single variety used.