Chatoe Rogue First Growth Dirtoir Black Lager
Brewed By: Rogue
Brewed In: Newport, OR
Type: Black Lager
ABV: ~6%
Brewed With: Malts: Melanoidin, Carafe Special II, Black, Chocolate, and Rouge Micro Barley Farm first-growth Risk malts; Hops: Rogue Micro Hopyard first-growth Independent and Revolution hops.
What they say: “Available nationwide on 1-1-2010, Dirtoir Black Lager is the second in the limited availability Chatoe Rogue series. Dirtoir Black Lager and the brews to follow are all GYO Certified, First Growth, Appelation products made with hops and malt from our Department of Agriculture’s Hopyard and Barley Bench.”
Website: Rogue’s website is exactly what you’d think it is—a wellspring of news, information, beers, spirits, and everything else. The page opens enormous with news posts that go all the way back to January 1. Along the side are links to different events. Along the top are links for the beers, the spirits, their locations, news, events, awards, and store. Clicking the “Beers” link takes to the list; clicking on a beer’s name brings up its own page. You could spend all day looking at everything on this site.
Why this one, Show? I found this beer while searching for another local brewery’s limited-time offerings, and it looked too good to skip. It’s essentially a homebrew; all of the ingredients (except the yeast) come from Rogue and only Rogue.
First Thoughts:
Head: Thick, tan, coffee-with-a-tad-of-cream-colored, some lacing.
Nose: Crisp chocolate malt, coffee.
Color: Jet black.
Presentation (5): Rogue bottles are similar to Southern Tier’s bottles in their wealth of information including ingredients, AA, ABV, and icons to indicate what types of food the beer will pair with (fowl and grilled food in this case). This bottle incorporates Rogue’s signature “Raised Fist” in a stylized blocky fashion (think Stern’s logo for Sirius) holding on to some barley and a hop vine. Different from the norm is the “Chatoe Rogue” and the “Grow the Revolution” slogan. 5
Originality (5): According to Rogue, this is the second beer in their Chatoe Rogue “Grow Your Own (GYO)” certified series of beers. These are made with ingredients grown by Rogue on their hopyard and their micro barley farm (GPS coordinates are given for those that want to check them out). The only thing that doesn’t come from their backyard is the German Oktoberfest yeast used to ferment it. 5
Body (10): The label may say lager but this is no crisp pale beer. The feeling in the mouth is all stout, having the body of an Imperial Stout more than, say, a Toasted Lager. There is not a ton of carbonation, which makes for an easy sip. That sip lingers on the palate, though, reminding you that this is a very full-bodied beer. 8
Taste (10): The taste is reminiscent of an Imperial Stout, with big chocolate malt flavors underscored by that unique “iced coffee” bitter flavor that big stouts tend to have. The hop bitterness moves the flavors along through the sip, and the finish is thick and lingering. A perfect dark beer. 10
Efficiency (10): Here’s where it gets weird. The ABV is not listed on the beer’s label, Rogue’s site, or even on the Site That Shall Not Be Named. However, Rogue’s “Beers” page lets me know that an inexact way to approximate the ABV is to divide the PLATO number by 2.5. This—maybe—gives this beer an approximate ABV of 6. I can run with that. 6
Versatility (10): And here’s where we hit a snag. The big mouthfeel, strong flavors,and stout-ness of this beer make it really nothing more than a one-bottler. In fact, if this was found on draught somewhere, it’d be good to try a glass of and then move on to something new. Rogue suggests pairing this with hot and spicy foods; I agree. It’s just not something you can make a night out of. 5
Final Score: 39 – Really Good Beer
Related posts:
- What You Didn’t Drink This Weekend: Rogue Single Malt Ale
- Friday Beer Snob: Saranac 12 Beers Of Winter 2009 — Black Lager
- What You Didn’t Drink This Weekend: Rogue John John Ale
- Friday Beer Snob: Rogue XS Imperial Red Ale
- What You Didn’t Drink This Weekend: Rogue John John Juniper Ale
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
[...] Covered in the last review. Well laid out. Thumbs [...]
[...] As previously stated, Rogue’s site is a wellspring of info, beer geekery, brewing porn, and fun. No [...]
[...] of malted grains for the wort. To give you a point of comparison, the previous GYO beer—Dirtoir Black Lager–used five different malts. This beer is 100% Rogue-grown and [...]