Rogue Farms Pumpkin Patch Ale

Brewed By: Rogue Ales in Newport, Oregon  

Purchased: 750ml (1 pint, 9.4oz) bottle bought at Binny's in IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: Pumpkin Ale, 5.6%

Reported IBUs: 25

For all the reasons to have scorn and wrath and hell fire for Rogue, they do occasionally do good things. Tonight's beer is brewed using fresh pumpkins grown at Rogue's 42 acre hop yard. The pumpkins are picked, taken to Rogue's brewery in Newport, roasted, and pitched into the brew kettle to make this very beer. Even a douche canoe clock is right twice a day. About Rogue:

Rogue has been around forever, and if their beer was more widely available, and not so damn expensive, I'd probably drink more of their stuff. The brewery was founded in 1988 in Ashland, Oregon by Jack Joyce, Bob Woodell, Rob Strasser, and home brewer Jeff Schultz. Due to increasing space and distribution limitations, Jack Joyce went searching in Newport for a location for the new Rogue pub. It was at this time that he met Mohave Niem, founder of Mo's Clam Chowder. She offered Jack space to brew in her building, and in 1989 the Bay Front Brew Pub was built. Rogue's headquarters currently reside in Newport to this day. In May 1989, current head brewmaster, John Maier, joined Rogue after a brief sting brewing with Alask Brewing. John was a former Senior Technician with Hughes Aircraft Co, and a graduate of the Seibel Institute. To learn more about Rogue, check out their website HERE.

As previously noted, this beer is brewed using fresh roasted pumpkins from the brewery's pumpkin patch. In addition to the fresh pumpkin, the Pumpkin Patch Ale (formerly the Chatoe Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale) is brewed using a list of 13 ingredients, including Rogue Farms Dream Pumpkins; Rogue Farms Dare, Risk, Carafa II & Crystal Wheat Malts; Rogue Farm Independent Hops; Orange Peel, Cinnamon, Cloves, Cardamom, Vanilla, Ginger & Nutmeg; and Rogue's infamous Free Range Coastal Water & Pacman Yeast. Punching in at 25 IBUs and 5.6% ABV, this beer is modest in its execution like many of Rogue's ales, despite the huge grocery list of ingredients. 

Rogue Farms Pumpkin Patch Ale

This beer pours with a fizzy, effervescent, and rapidly dissolving sand/tan-colored head. The head starts out with two fingers that rapidly drop off, leaving some lacing on the edges of the glass when you swirl the beer. The body of this beer is a darker amber/brown/orange in low light. In bright light this beer is a vibrant dark orange, has a semi-transparent appearance, and features lots of carbonation rising upwards with mid-to-large sized bubbles. Good times.

The aroma on this beer is really awesome...I'm getting lots of ginger and cardamom, some nondescript sweetness (maybe from the yeast?), and lots of vanilla. Swirling the beer and stirring it up brings pumpkin spice, vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon to the forefront. The aroma is too mild to point in the direction of a mulled wine or Winter/Spice beer, but I'm not really getting tons of pumpkin spice or pumpkin seed or pumpkin. 

You do get more pumpkin in the taste...I'm picking up soda-like carbonation and spices working in tandem with lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, spritzy ginger, and some pumpkin spice. There are actual notes of baked pumpkin and pumpkin puree in the taste, though subtle they are (/yoda). There's also mild malt sweetness, with toffee/vanilla and some breadiness. It's not overwhelmingly spicy like many Pumpkin beers are.

This is an easy-going, well-made Pumpkin beer. As the beer warms up, you pick up more and more of the pumpkin and vanilla in the taste, which is awesome. The beer has good palate depth and complexity for the style, and the drinkability is super high (especially at 5.6%). The mouthfeel is medium-light, with lots of carbonation and spritzy spices helping things along. You get blasted with malt sweetness, vanilla, and pumpkin up front; that rolls into baked pumpkin and spices; the back end is trailing spices and malts. It's actually a really nice, well-balanced, Pumpkin beer. Especially at the ABV.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

This is a Strong Above-Average, and jives well as far as Pumpkin beers are concerned. The subtle use of spices coupled with the big vanilla and pumpkin that starts to pop as this beer warms up is what makes this beer work. Additionally, this beer isn't overly boozy, so you get a lot of flavor in a reasonable package. 750ml bottles of this go for around 10 or 11 dollars, which is more or less a good deal. I'm about to pair this beer with some potato and leek soup, but this beer would pair well with any pumpkin foods, Thanksgiving foods, or Fall trimmings. I rarely say it about Rogue, but this beer comes highly recommended. 

Random Thought: Or for you folks in Chicago, highly Wreck "O" Mended.