Rogue Dead Guy - After A 10 Year Hiatus

"After A 10 Year Hiatus" ???

It's shown up here in Connecticut at random times over the past year or so. The price was right, so maybe it was old stock? It tasted good to me.

P.S. - I love the Dead Guy can's art work

 

Always tasted like it was made with actual dead guys. Maybe that's why Newport didn't have a homeless problem.

 

Didn’t they drop the ABV some years ago?

 

I purchased locally one of the DG growlers similar to below (not my pic) way back when. Haven't had the beer (nor seen it) recently but seemed a decent beer to me at the time.

 

The one on the right might have been the first growler I ever owned.

 

Solid beer. They now have a Dead Guy IPA which is apparently actually quite good

 

When did Rogue open up a Rhode Island spot?

 

Which Rogue Dead Guy are we talking about now?

There's a Dead Guy Ale, the OG (and for some reason called an ale when it's a maibock ), and now a Dead Guy IPA.

Because that won't confuse people.

 

I had a mix pack I got from Costco this summer and I was surprised that I liked everything they had assembled in it. It was also a few years between tasting anything from Rogue for me as well. I guess they may be onto something?

 

The funniest thing about Dead Guy has always been the pricing. For roughly a decade Dead Guy was priced roughly 30% higher than comparable 6-packs. At least around here. Then roughly 3-4 years ago everyone else caught up and passed them, but Dead Guy stayed the same price. Now it's actually a borderline value beer, although the freshness isn't always ideal.

 

As befits a brewery founded by an ex-Nike guy, Rogue has always muddied the waters around DG. It's always been labeled as "Ale", but the brewery has insisted on calling it a Maibock, while (I believe) it uses their house Pacman yeast.

 

Rogue for the longest time took pride in having the highest prices. They were the first to reduce keg sizes from the standard U.S. 1/2bbl (15.5 Gallon) to the Euro 50 litre (13.something Gal) keg, while maintaining the old price.

 

A lot of that downsizing occurs with other consumer goods in lieu of a price hike, and it kind of goes unnoticed. But downsizing to a Metric-sized keg forces customers/bars to adapt the keg connections to different fittings, doesn't it?

 

Sometimes. IIRC, Rogue still used the U.S. standard couplers. Anchor always had a different one though, and that was the main reason the bar I used to work at stopped carrying them. Too much hassle to swap it out when it was busy.

 

I was out running errands for a couple hours, and for some reason this thread popped into my head. It dawned on me that it's been years since we've had a good Rogue-bashing thread. Which then lead to me to realize how irrelevant they've become if even we don't bitch about them anymore.

 

Never understood why this brewery got so much love. But Dead Guy was a solid beer.

 

Newport OR. As background, the Rogue name comes from the Rogue River Valley where the original brewpub was located (Ashland, OR). I believe a flood wiped out the original pub, so the operation for some reason was relocated to Newport.

 

DG was one of the first craft beers I had circa 2006. Then didn’t have it for nearly a decade, and when I did, I found it cloying, sickly sweet, and heavy. Fast forward to last fall, I had a can in Nashville and it was rich, balanced, heavenly. I think freshness was the issue before, as the can this fall was new. Great beer with dinner. Struck me is being very much an ale, not a maibock. Similar to Palm (which I had for the first time a few weeks later), strangely enough.

 

I know, I know another ipa…but did anyone see they now have dead guy ipa. I may give it a try, appears to have a nice malt background, high IBU, and clean; they use the dead guy ale yeast.

Since it’s new the cans this week should be nice and fresh. I will report back if I try it.

 

They're just using their house Pacman yeast, which I believe they use in all of their Ales: https://www.rogue.com/shop/beer/core/dead-guy-ipa/

https://beermaverick.com/the-complete-guide-to-the-pacman-strain-of-yeast/

 

Rogue always tried to claim the increased pricing was due to their screen-printed bottles.

 

Yes…I'm just pointing out because it’s another +1 for me, it should actually be a clean finishing beer. Not some hybrid that leans hazy, if I try it I guess I’ll find out for sure though.

 

Same boat. When I got into craft about 2011ish, Rogue was all over the place. I had a one or two, went "eh", and never drank one again. Once in a blue moon when I'm at a bottle shop, I will see one and think "They are still around?".

 

They actually made some really good beers back in the day (although, I never thought Dead Guy was among those). The Old Crustacean Barleywine was a favorite. The whole XS series was good. And, for a while, they were putting the high ABV brews in 7oz bottles, perfect for a night cap brew.

 

The can artwork is way better than the beer itself, particularly the flat-black ink. Much cooler in person, picture doesn't capture the effect of the flat-black.

 

Old Crustacean was pretty fantastic, not gonna lie and the ceramic flip-top bottle was neat. I think the only beer I still enjoy from them is the Hazelnut Brown, but even that is a rare purchase. Just never been a huge fan.

 

True

 

Wish I had gotten a chance to try Old Crustacean. I only ever saw it at one bottle shop here and it sold out before I got my hands on one. I was apprehensive about it at first because of the price but changed my mind when it was too late. I enjoyed Hazelnut Brown back then but the one I really liked was the old Mocha Porter. I guess that was retired some time ago as I haven't seen it in years.

 

oooh, I completely forgot about the mocha porter. That was a good one too.

 

They were all over the place back then and I passed on them and their goofy looking labels with the cartoon people every single time. Nowadays Dead Guy is their only beer I see. I still never had it.

 

Supposedly the 33rd largest craft brewer by sales volume in 2021... which possibly speaks more to "relevance" and presence than BA chatter.

 

I would seem that Rogue is in the "underrated" category on BA?

Cheers!