DBB – Rogue, Dead Guy Ale

Drink Better Beer

Rogue – Dead Guy Ale

6.5 abv (nb, nb)

For a while I’ve been trying to find some place near my house with wings that can live up to Carmichael’s in Cumberland, Md. Every Wednesday the last few years of high school my friends and I would go out to Carmichaels for wing night. Now, we have a few good wing places here, there’s a Buffalo Wild Wings about 20 minutes from my house, and a place called Buffalo Wings and Beer that’s about 5 minutes away. Today I decided to pick up an order of wings from a place called the Timeout Sports Grille, it seemed like a pretty cool place, of course, the wings weren’t great, they weren’t bad just not what I’m looking for.

You might be asking yourself “What does this have to do with Rogue Dead Guy Ale?” Well it really doesn’t except that I was drinking Dead Guy Ale with the lackluster wings.

Dead Guy Ale has nice golden color with a sweet scent, it starts out with a sweet malty almost honey-like flavor then finishes off with a dry hoppyness that I never expected. It’s a very interesting beer not quite like anything I’ve had before. Dead Guy Ale is a German Maibock Wikipedia describes it as:

The maibock style is a pale version of a traditional bock. It is a fairly recent development compared to other styles of bock beers, frequently associated with springtime and the month of May. Alcohol content ranges from 6.3% to 7.4% (18% Sam Adams Triple Boch) by volume. The flavor is typically less malty than a traditional bock, and may be drier, hoppier, and more bitter, but still with a relatively low hop flavor, with a mild spicy or peppery quality from the hops or alcohol content. It is a clear lager, deep gold to light amber in color, with a large, creamy, persistent white head, and moderate to moderately high carbonation.

According to Rogue:

In the early 1990s Dead Guy Ale was created as a private tap sticker to celebrate the Mayan Day of the Dead (November 1st, All Souls Day) for Casa U Betcha in Portland, Oregon. The Dead Guy design proved so popular with consumers and especially Grateful Dead fans, that we made it the label for our Maierbock ale. Even though the association with the Grateful Dead band is pure coincidence, we have gratefully dedicated Dead Guy Ale to the Rogue in each of us.

Rogue Ales was founded in 1988 Ashland Oregon and is currently headquartered in Newport Oregon. They have currently have 11 locations, 4 in Newport, 2 in Portland, 1 in each Independence, Astoria, Eugene, Issaquah, and San Francisco. They’ve, also, recently branched out into Distilling, they have Micro-distilleries in Portland and Newport.