Rogue Brutal Bitter

Brewed by Rogue Ales
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Newport, Oregon USA

Cloudy. Light amber. Huge, long head. Aroma: Grapefruit, roasted caramel. Flavor: Same. Smokey. Dry, bitter finish.

Bottle from Whole Paycheck - I mean Whole Foods. A great ESB, not "brutal" at all. Cloudy golden color with a two-finger white head. Aroma is malt and floral hops. Flavor is a nice mix of malts with lots of Crystal hops and citrus notes. Bitter on the finish. Highly drinkable with a smooth palate.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy copper golden color with a small frothy white head that diminshes quickly. The aroma is a strong hops with floral and pine. The taste is a very strong hop but still smooth with citrus grapefruit and pine. A very good ESB from Rogue.

I didn’t know what the Brutal in Brutal Bitter meant until I tasted it back-to-back with the equally hoppy but more refined Southern Tier IPA. Brutal Bitter, which I had second, came up much more earthy and lingeringly bitter than the Southern Tier. Not more bitter, it’s just that the bitterness in the Brutal stuck to the tongue much longer than that of the IPA. If I was asked to guess, I’d put it down to late and aroma hopping in the latter, and continuous hopping in the former. I can’t imagine how much Crystal you’d have to put into a brew to arrive at the advertized 59 IBU from a relatively low-alpha, aroma hop like that. I should imagine you’d have to put in one heck of a lot and put it in steadily throughout the boil. (As mentioned in the commercial description, there is no aroma hopping.) Come to think of it, Brutal Bitter bears more than a passing resemblance to Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA, which supposedly does use continuous hopping. In all, Brutal Bitter is a good solid ESA/APA for hop heads who aren’t looking for too much finesse.

Bottle. I’d had this one before and forgotten to rate it. I’m glad I did, because I think reevaluating it helped me rate it better. Pours a perfect, opaque copper with a small but dense head. The aroma is of ameriacn yeast and some noble hops. Body is soft and highly carbonated. The flaver is overtly bitter and dry, just perfect for this type of beer. The hops are all in the punch though. I don’t get much in the way of aroma. Maybe a little back woods pine in the finish. The yeast quality shows perfect fermentation. These guys know what they are doing. Overall I’d say this is just about my favorite session beer, if you can call it that at 6.2%.

Bottle from Cracked Kettle. Amber body with nice, rocky head. Super hopped up nose. Taste of hops and pine. Prickly texture. But smooth. Warming. With a hoppy finish.

650 ml bottle, probably my third offering from Rogue. pours an orange-caramel brown with a puffy white head. it’s got a nice fresh scent, tastes citrusy, and of a medium bitterness. above all else, i enjoyed the pine finish best.

650ml bottle from the LCBO pour a hazt orange with a good sized white head The aroma is amazing citrus hops and orange The taste is slightly bitter hops and citrus Pretty damn goos actually