Quite often throughout my many years as a beer enthusiast, I have met countless individuals who would tell me they liked to take a drink now and then, but they just could not appreciate the taste of beer. “Ah,” I would exclaim, “I think perhaps you simply have not tasted the right beers.” And its true. Beer is so much more than Budweiser, Miller, Coors, or Heineken. At its worst, it may be watery and bland, but at its best it is complex and the equal to any fine wine or liqueur.
Beer is also very diverse. There are sweet beers and bitter beers, light beers and dark beers, fruit beers and spice beers, weak beers and strong beers. There are beers made with smoked malt, beers brewed with honey, and beers made with fruit. In sum, there’s a beer for everybody. You just have to know where to look for it. In fact, there are many brews today that most people would not even think of as being beer, or at least not what they normally perceive beer to be.
One such beer is Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar. For many, the first sip is sure to be a surprise, but if you happen to enjoy hazelnut coffee, you’ll absolutely love this brew. It has the unique spicy nuttiness of hazelnuts combined with the dark bitterness of coffee, and you’ll be surprised how closely the coffee and the beer resemble one another.
Nut brown ale is a long-standing English style, though it does not actually use nuts as an ingredient. Rather, the name refers to the nutty taste that lightly roasted malts can impart. Rogue, however, has gone a step further with the addition of Hazelnut extract to their brown ale. Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar is brewed with an impressive grain bill:
Beeston Pale Chocolate malt
Carastan malt
Crystal 80 malt
Crystal 135 malt
Hugh Baird Brown malt
Great Western 2-row Pale malt
Munich malt
It is hopped with Perle and Saaz varieties. Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar has won many awards, though its category placement seems confused at times. Should it be a brown ale, or a fruit/spice beer? As recently as May 31st of this year (2002) it took a bronze medal in the Experimental beers category at the Australian International Beer Awards. At the California Brewers Festival, on the other hand, it is judged as a brown ale, where it took second place in 1999. However you judge it, it’s a fantastic and delicious brew.
Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar pours to a dark brown color with a light creamy tan head formation and a nutty sweet nose. The palate is a sheer delight: creamy with a touch of brown sugar sweetness, toffee, caramel, chocolate, coffee, and of course hazelnut. The bittersweet chocolaty notes combine nicely with the hint of caramel to suggest Toffeefay candies from years past that combined hazelnuts chocolate and caramel. The finish is slightly bitter and gently coffeeish with subtle roasty notes.
Just a wonderful, innovative beer that would serve nicely in place of coffee with a rich dessert. Take my word for it. Even if you think you don’t like beer, you may just love Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar.
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