CulturAle Press

Brewing All Stars #6: Rogue Straight Outta Newport…Oregon, Newport, Oregon. Plus: Brewer John Maier retires from Rogue Ales.

Date:  July 21 , 2019  —

The Stories—          News Flash-– John Maier, the brilliantly talented head brewer at Rogue for the last three decades has announced he is retiring this month.   You can read details at Brew Republic here and scroll down to the comments for my favorite John Maier story

I was talking to a home brewer and fellow Beer Geek the other day who said his favorite beer to brew was a New England IPA.   My face delivered a message that was more candid than my verbal reply.  We talked on about the “style” and without actually making the connection between his earlier and later statement as he said that he’d about had enough of the New Englanders and thought the fad would fade soon.  In fairness, he’s not the first homebrewer I’ve known whose favorite style to brew was not his favorite to consume.

In any event, a goodly number of those of us who’ve been around a bit are getting more than a little tired of the “Try to Top the Heddy Topper” craze.  Alchemist did a great job of giving us something new to drink and think about, and hats off to them.   However, copy-crafters followed, of course, and have used up so much lactose I worry that America’s children may not be getting enough milk for healthy bones and strong teeth.  Some of the copies, we’ve heard, have even used flour to cloud up batches than came out too clearly.   Beyond that, we’ve encountered “New England” IPAs with IBUs ranging from near zero to 70 or more.  That’s not a style, it’s a wet sponge of cloudy paint thrown at a wall.

So there’s no surprise that some of the West Coast guys who did so much to put the modern IPA style on the world map, are pushing back.   Some of the newer danker hops have extended the flavor range of IPAs without pushing the essence of the style over a cliff.  Comet is one of our favorite for its earthy and– so we’re told– marijuana-like dankness.  Ironically, Comet is not a new hop — it was developed decades ago as a bittering hop for big brewers, but the big guys shunned it — it had actual flavor after all– and it almost disappeared from the planet.  Some enthusiasts, most of them home brewers we understand, reclaimed it from obscurity and now a number of commercial brewers are playing with it for single hop beers and in combination with other fruitier hops.

This is a big West Coast IPA – it’s 8.7% alcohol could nudge it into the Imperial range if John had chosen to brand it as such.  Whatever the name, it’s a glorious beer.  It’s probably the last John Maier beer we’ll get to taste; what a wonderful swan song.

The Beer–  Rich and dank and chewy.  Very ripe fruit leading to a long bitter.  It has a slightly chalkly feel and a slight haze that’s a haze and not a Newport (either coast) fog.   The dank aroma informs every return sip and helps frame some very nice herbal hops in the taste.  the long bitter helps bring it all into focus as it drinks.

Value —  Very good to excellent.  It’s hard to imagine getting this much pleasure– and change from a five dollar bill— from anything else.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

It’s All-Star season.  MLB has finished theirs, but it seems like a new sport is showcasing exceptional talent almost every day.  So we’ll be presenting our own all-star brewing line up.  We don’t claim to present– or even know– what the best beers in America are, but out of the hundred or so that we taste every month, some are indeed special.   For the second couple of weeks in July, we’ll share some recent standouts in  a very crowded craft beer field. .

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”