14 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Coast Weekend’s local
restaurant review
Part One: Rogue craft beers showcase innovative fl avors
Review by MOUTH OF
THE COLUMBIA
MOUTH@COASTWEEKEND.COM
We’re doing something diff erent
this week (and next). This review of
Rogue Ales Public House will arrive
in two parts. This week will focus
on the beer. Next week will focus
on the food (and deliver the star
rating).
C
Coming of age in Eugene
alongside the bubbling craft
brewing revolution, Rouge was
an early favorite, perhaps the fi rst
beer whose fl avor I recognized
as something artisan and fi ne. (A
graphic designer at the time, I also
much appreciated Rogue’s art —
the skeleton perched atop a barrel
on Dead Guy, as well as the steady
stream of righteous and revolu-
tionary-themed stencil-style prints
on 22-ounce bottles.) This was
around the turn of the millennium,
and I would announce to anyone
who would listen: Rogue was my
favorite beer.
The world seemed to agree.
At Rogue Ales Public House in
Astoria, the western wall — nearly
the size of a barn’s — is littered
with recognition not only for a
fl agship variety, but damn near the
whole lot. Beer after beer boasts
multiple, often recent “world
champion” awards. In the last
decade, as the industry has grown
exponentially around the New-
port-based brewer, the collection is
ever more impressive.
At the same time, it’s a whole
lot harder to pick a favorite beer
or brewery in 2016 than it was in
2006. The competition has become
equally vast and illustrious. A
few of those competitors — or
is it compatriots? — have taken
root in Astoria. I think fi rst of the
engaged institution that is Fort
George Brewery, then the blos-
soming Buoy Beer Co. Compared
to them, Rogue — whose head-
quarters is in Newport — can
seem a bit of an afterthought on
the North Coast. This fi gures,
in part because Fort George and
Buoy are homegrown, and also
because they’re planted down-
town (Rogue is on the east end of
town at Pier 39). Nevertheless,
Rogue’s beer (and food, which
we’ll get to) are every bit as en-
ticing, thoughtful aspirants as the
hometown varieties. Sometimes
even more so.
My trips to Rogue began —
and will forever begin henceforth
— with a tasting tray. Too often,
breweries get it wrong. Take Peli-
can in Cannon Beach, who earlier
this year offered four IPA varia-
PHOTO BY MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA
tions out of a total seven tastes.
By letting the customer create
Above: A taster tray of four
their own fl ight, with a paper and
beers at Rogue costs $8; a
pencil, fi lling in each cup, Rogue
tray of seven beers costs
gets it right. With some 25-odd
taps there’s plenty to sample from $13.
Right: Rogue Ales Public
— and a whole lot more than just
House is located on Pier 39
hops upon hops.
in Astoria.
I began with the New Crus-
tacean Barley-
wineish Imperial
IPA Sorta. For
BY LETTING THE CUSTOMER
a depth charge
CREATE THEIR OWN BEER
at 11.6 percent
FLIGHT, WITH A PAPER AND
alcohol by
PENCIL,
FILLING IN EACH CUP,
volume, it was
ROGUE GETS IT RIGHT.
astonishingly
balanced. The
molasses fl avor
was much deeper than the light
it touches your tongue, the
color suggested. For that high al-
pepper’s essence pervades
cohol content, it was also remark- your nostrils, pricking
ably smooth. The New Crustacean them up. The sharp, light Helles
out — a beer fl avor I never knew I
was nearly everything at once:
too proffered some back-of-throat wanted until I drank some.
light, dark, hoppy, barley-y, a
spice, yet remained imminently
The one-stop-shop aspect con-
bottomless concoction.
drinkable. It’d be awfully refresh- tinued into the Pumpkin Patch Ale
The description of the Cold
ing on a hot afternoon.
(yes, Rogue harvested the pump-
Brew IPA, a collaboration with
The Rogue Farms Marion-
kins). It’s a dark, sweet, decidedly
Stumptown Coffee, reads as such: berry Braggot, though, was a bit
fall ale that I had diffi culty putting
“(A) marriage of coffee and beer
too thickly sweet for my taste,
a fi nger on. The Issaquah Brew-
that is equally drinkable in the
perhaps a little heavy on the
house Menage A Frog was clear: a
morning or at night.” And it’s
honey. I would’ve preferred more
beast of Belgian inspiration with
true — what a temptation to start
tartness, but I couldn’t help but be a dry fi nish. The Fruit Salad Cider
that day with one. It’s not a hint
impressed that Rogue also grew
— again, made with a melange of
of coffee — the bean is every bit
the berries.
berries and fruits grown in part
as forward as the hops. Nor is it a
Rogue also grew the peppers
on Rogue’s soil (and otherwise in
dark, heavy stout. The bright beer that went into the Chipotle Ale. It
Oregon) — was a crisp pivot from
and bean meet right in the middle. was somewhat spicy like the Jala- the rich beers.
The same can be said of the
peño Hells, but rather than pointy
At $8 for four samples (or $13
Jalapeño Helles Lager. As you
it was smoky and creamy. The
for 7), I found Rogue’s samplers
bring the glass to your lips, before Chipotle Ale was another stand-
appropriately priced. (I also
ROGUE ALES
PUBLIC HOUSE
100 39th St., Astoria
PHONE: 503-468-0923
HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Sunday to Thursday; 11 a.m.
to 10 p.m. Friday and Satur-
day.
SERVICE: Casual and capa-
ble.
DRINKS: Beer and house-
made spirits.
PHOTO BY DWIGHT CASWELL
appreciated the same-sized pours
for some of the stronger, barley-
wine-ish varieties.) I did scoff
a bit at the $6 price per pint. It
reminded me of Rogue’s soaring
prices in the grocery store, well
outpacing their competitors.
Surely quality comes at a cost,
but over the years I’ve essentially
been priced out of Rogue at the
supermarket. That led to a gap in
my enjoyment of the brewery’s
craft that I’ve reinvigorated at the
Astoria public house.
After all these years, Rogue
remains my favorite.
Tune in next week for
a review of the food.