Hazelnut Brown Nectar - Rogue

Ok, even though it is still too dang cold to do anything useful outside I made sure I would review a non-stout beer this week. Now, it is a dark beer just not a stout or a porter, but a brown ale. The Hazelnut Brown Nectar from Rogue to be exact. This will only be my third Rogue beer, the first was Dead Guy Ale which I was none too impressed with and the other was their Chocolate Stout that I purchased at the same time as this brown ale. Don’t worry, it will not be in a future review although it was very, very good, so they are batting .500 with me.

Hazelnut Brown Nectar – Rogue 

It pours a little reddish brown, very similar to a glass of sweet tea sans the ice and with a nice white head. I pick up some nutty flavors but not really an overwhelming ‘hazelnut’ scent, more of just a general roasted nuts flavor, maybe I’m expecting too much. Very interesting first taste, I immediately get a sweet flavor that I assume is from the hazelnut that quickly turns bitter and then just as quickly turns to a smooth creamy finish. Not real sure if the bitterness is from the hops or the roasted malts, checking the IBU’s I would have to say it is from the malts. I really can’t say that I have had a beer that goes from sweet to bitter to smooth before, usually the bitterness will be the last thing you get. It has a very nice nutty flavor throughout though that really makes this an interesting beer. For such a smooth creamy taste it’s mouthfeel is a little thin, not that that is a bad thing just something else very interesting about this beer. So I guess now Rogue is a slick .665 with me, I will have to give some of their other beers a try now, I was really staying away from them based on the first experience.

So beer friend, make sure you pick up enough beer tomorrow for the SuperBowl, unless you live in one of the cool states that allow beer to be sold on Sunday, we here in GA aren’t so lucky. And is there anyway both teams could lose? Not really a fan of either team, maybe I should find a drinking game to play along with the game, at least that would keep my attention. Cheers!

FourBoysBrewPub!