Rogue Double Dead Guy Ale

Brewed by Rogue Ales
Style: American Strong Ale
Newport, Oregon USA

750ml uncorked bottle. Mild, mellow, minimal alcohol for the ABV. Cloudy, orange-brown color. Truly captures the essence of Dead Guy and builds upon it. Mellow vanilla flavors, perfect balance. Perfect balance of alcohol makes it reminiscent of great Belgians. Enjoyable mild hoppy aftertaste. The malt flavors really shine on this one. Expensive, but worth a try.

Bottle from Holiday Wine. Color is a medium mahogany with a firm layer of foam for a head. Aroma is sweet and strong toffee/caramel malt similar to the regular dead guy ale but instead doubled. The flavor is dense with malt and also carries a medium load of bitter hops while the sweet caramel flavors over dominate the beer making it so obvious this is an imperial red ale.

“Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.”
That phrase and the fierce, scraggly, dirty image of a pirate is what usually comes to mind when I grab a bottle or draft of Dead Guy Ale from Rogue Brewing out of Oregon. A delicious craft heller bock, it is Rogue’s most recognizable and highly demanded beer. It’s not too hard to miss at the bar; an aged blackened and gray skeleton sits on top of a beer barrel, frothy mug in hand as his empty eyes stare ominously at you. One need not fear the Dead Guy, and my shivers were timbered this year when Rogue announced their Double Dead Guy. At first I figured it to be mischievous lore, stories told late at night to raise ones hope before it comes crashing down the next day as the sun rises instead. But no, Rogue brought to me and to Dead Guy fanatics all over the world their limited release strong ale, Double Dead Guy Ale. I missed out on buying a few bottles, but I was able to enjoy it on draft a couple times.
My Double Dead Guy was a deep amber-orange with a tall head white-capping the brew below. She lazily fades away, leaving foamy trails of lace. Her nose is a siren’s song of apples, fresh wheat bread, toasted sweet malts, lemon, nuts, and caramel. Seduced already, I wait not and raise my glass for a quaff or two. A sweet mouthful of toasty malts, sticky caramel, and toffee pulls me under where crisp apples and a bitter lemon finishes me off with hints of yellow grapefruit. Each quaff is marked by more lace, as pleasing warmth lingers thanks to the high alcohol content. Further in, some caramelized sugars add to the already thick mouthfeel. A bit of dryness on my palate with a pleasant lemon and grapefruit hop bite. Succulent, full-bodied, sweet and toasty with pleasing warmth, Double Dead Guy from Rogue was a pleasant success. I only wish it wasn’t a limited release.
Like a pirates treasure, Double Dead Guy was a jewel of a brew which was here and then gone all too fast, and those who lusted after her bounty wept over their loss. I was but one of the blessed few, and for that I am thankful. Rogue doesn’t always have a high success rate with their specialty and one-off beers, but Double Dead Guy proved me wrong and herself a worthy successor to the Dead Guy name.

Deep amber in colour with a very hazy look and a large tan head. Aroma of malt, alcohol, fruits and some hops - decent. Medium to Full-bodied; Strong malty flavour with a large amount of alcohol, yeast and bread thrown in the mix. Aftertaste is way too malty, showing alcohol and bread like nothing else. Overall, a decent beer - but way too malty, thick and overdone for my liking. I wouldn’t recommend this at all - since there are far better beers for the style. I sampled this 750 mL bottle purchased from Dean & Deluca in Washington (Georgetown), D.C. on 01-October-2008, sampled on 26-November-2008.

Hazy dark amber pour with big, firm, off-white head and good lacing. Nose is full of malt, toffee, caramel, hops. Flavor was rich and complex. Big malt profile with caramel and toffee sweetness that was tamed by an aggressive amount of hops to provide a complementing bitterness. Full bodied, rich and a chewy texture. This is one beauty of a beer that just keeps getting better as it warms a bit. Rogue has created a monster of a Dead Guy. A must try!

Pours a deep orange into the glass, with an eggshell head that reduces to a thin cap and leaves soapy lace. Some caramel and Crystal malt to the nose. The flavors are not "in your face" at all, with some caramel malt, esters, and some peppering, nutty hops. The finish lingers with a tad of sweet caramel and bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium, lightly chewy, with decent carbonation levels and a touch of alcohol for peppering the back-palate. All-in-all, this is extremely reminiscent of a higher ABV "Dead Guy", just not quite as dry. Not bad, but certainly not the best ASA in its class.

22 oz. bottle courtesy of a trade with dirty martini. Pours a hazy orange amber with a moderately large linen white head that lasted to the end of the glass and left a layer of foam with each sip. Pleasant albeit a bit mild aroma of oranges, grapefruit and just a bit of malt. Flavor is mild malt up front followed by some orange and grapefruit. The fruit flavors are a bit mild as well. Medium-strong bitterness at the finish. Surprisingly bitter relative to the amount of flavor imparted by the hops. Overall not a bad beer, I just was expecting something a bit more flavorful.

This beer poured an absolutely stunning copper color with a buttery yellow head. Simply beautiful. Aroma was hops and a bit of dustiness. Flavor was a little hoppy, but with some nice malt characteristics as well. There was more of that strange dustiness in the back end, but this was a nice beer.