Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pilsner

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

15 bucks. well im still wondering why a pilsner is coming in a faux-saki bottle. whatever. pours nice with a big head. of course rogue loves to saturate EVERYTHING in hops. so of course i can smell that. and taste that. this is not a pilsner. there is nothing on god’s green earth remotely pilsner about it. they turned it into a double ipa except with lager yeast. india pale lager. not very complex at all, very homebrewish. its just kind of there blasting hops in your mouth until your gums receed from the bitterness.

1 PINT, 10 fl. oz. (best before 1 January 2005, sampled 13 August 2004): hazy orange gold with a wonderful full, creamy off-white, pale yellow head. Wild, spicy aroma, reminiscent of a floral hand soap…also notes of piney hops, bark, and sweet grass. Elegant, tight bubbled carbonation. Light peppery essence over the tongue…grassy bitterness with a good amount of pine. Wonderfully fresh and complex, many breweries have tried to ‘spike’ certain styles and not come through, however, Rogue hits a great kicked up Czech Pilsner on the head: great malt holds the brew together and an even, bitter hop profile gets you on the tongue right were its supposed to, wonderful!

Cloudy yellow color with a small head. Aroma and taste are both loaded with hops. I couldn’t taste the malt backbone the bottle claimed existed; my tastebuds had been burned off by excess hops. Citrus. Very dry. I don’t think it has much to offer other than a killer amount of hops. 80 tons of one ingredient does not a great beer make.

Cloudy Orange Coloring. Small White Head. Aroma: Citrus, Hops. Dominating Hops in Beginning and End of Beer. Very Dry...Almost Like you Can’t Classify it as a Liquid in Your Mouth. Floral Taste Right Before it Hits Your Lips. Extremely Distinctive for a Pilsner...Not my Favorite, But it’s Own Beast.

Pours deep gold and cloudy. Big, nicely lacing, pure white head. Huge sweet hop and antiseptic aroma. Notes of chocolate and light vanilla. Thick mouthfeel, but plenty of carbonation. Wicked bitter, or rather bittersweet as you get past the initial shockwave. Herbacious and mediciney. Some late caramel. Alcohol burn kind of like malt liquor. Finishes clean and dry.

This very nice ceramic bottled brew with a flippy top and marked best before 7/1/2005 poured a very large sized head of large sized white colored mostly lasting bubbles. The body was hazy carbonated and a golden orange brown in color. It had a very nice pilsnerish malt hop aroma with some doughy notes. The mouth feel was tingly and hoppy more like an IPA than a Pilsner. It had a caramel malt hop flavor that was not right for the style. It tasted even more l9ike an IPA after I got to finish the rest of the bottle by myself. What a buzz though!

This is a Good European Strong Lager. Hoppy, malty, and some sweet flavors. Dry, clean, and bitter finish.

Coolest bottle I have ever seen.... definitly adding to the keeper collection. Light golden color. Fruity lemon aroma. A zesty ale with some hops. This was a very enjoyable beer, nothing too hard on the palate. Only problem is the price, but obviously a lot of it is the bottle. I am just glad it isn’t all show with the bottle, there is actually some great beer inside too.