Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pilsner

Brewed by Rogue Ales
Style: European Strong Lager
Newport, Oregon USA

Draught. Hazy yellow-orange body with a small creamy white head. The aroma is orangey and yeasty - reasonably fruity with nice subtle cookies, and soft grassy hay. Excellent drinkability, no doubt. The flavour has some alcohol warmth but doesn’t really detract anything from the flavour. Yeasty palate and the flavour is something I really love. The hop bitterness is in full effect and it’s that nice soft grassy flavourful stuff. It doesn’t punch you in the face (which I like anyway) but it’s just straight out tasty stuff. Very nice. 10oz sample at Mr. Goodbar in Buffalo on June 24, 2006 for $2.

Draft @ Goodbar Hazy golden yellow, small white head. Grassy hops in the aroma. Fairly strong grass and European style hops in the flavour. Some notes of toasty pale malt. Average to medium palate. Decent, alcohol is deceptively restrained but becomes more noticeable as my PINT goes on. Served up on tap by an Ice Cube lookalike at Goodbar in Buffalo.

Had a bomber of this last night while my boys, dad, and I feasted on steak and watched Carolina put away the Oilers in game seven to hoist Lord Stanley’s cup. Nose of spice, yeast, dough, wheat, cereal, flowers and a hint of medicine. Cascades like a stout upon the pour. The brew is pale golden honey with melon highlights. The generous thick off-white head is creamy, mostly lasting, and leaves good lace. The brew has a large malt profile that presents itself right from the get go. Some alcohol warmth and sweetness is detectable near the middle. The slightly bitter finish is floral. Absolutely no acidity to speak of. The full body is soft and syrupy.

On tap.
Pours a slightly cloudy light amber that’s pretty dark for a pilsner. Big PNW hop aroma much like a West-Coast-style IPA; grapefruit, pine, herbal and spicy. Flavor is similar, with great big bitter hops dominating, their floral and fruity notes playing bit parts only. About the only thing that makes this remotely like a pilsner is that the hop bitterness overwhelms the malt support (appropriate for a pilsner) and the fruity notes are more background noise than prominant features (also appropriate for a pilsner). Unusually thick palate for a pilsner with long bitter finish. Not at all what I expected based on the description as a pilsner (imperial or otherwise), this beer actually tastes more like an American IPA than many beers purporting themselves to be American IPAs.

Pale gold- cereal, floral, hops, and alcohol nose- sweet, grapefruit, malt, grain, taste – medium to heavy body- sour aftertaste but a good bitterness as well

Pretty decent drink, pouring a golden, effervescent body with a billowing, bubbly head. The aroma consists of sweet, bready malt topped with a serious grassy/herbal hopping and hints of alcohol. Pretty smooth to drink, the alcohol takes more of a prominent role in the flavor. Nice sweet malts with a drop of honey are well balanced by the hoppy bitterness. Pretty good stuff. Rogue Ales could probably sell a lot of this if it was fairly priced.

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Poured a murky dark yellow color with a very nice head that lasted quite a long time. The lacing was nice. The aroma was typical for a pilsner with alcohol and some grassy hops. The flavor was sweet, rich, full of honey and some grassy hops and citrus aspects. The alcohol was at just the right level, relative to the rich malts. Mouthfeel was somewhat syrupy and carbonated.

Hazy yellow color, white head, goes quick. Taste is sweet and hoppy. The 8.8 creeps up on you and you dont notice the buzz is there until the beer is gone. Not something I would drink again for 12.50 a bottle. Its good, and worth trying, but not worth the money. Think I will seek it out on tap if I want to have it again.