I'm all about Rogue Nation. If I see a new brew from Rogue Brewing on the shelves or on tap, I'm definitely going to try it. I was happy to see this unique offering from my favorite brewery, the Dirtoir Black Lager. This beer is part of the GYO (grow your own) trend, meaning all of the malt and hops used for this beer were grown on Rogue's premises. Though I haven't had a chance to try the first one, this was the second offering from the Chatoe Rogue series (the first being a Single Malt Ale.)A local beer I had with a similar sustainable effort to this was Weyerbacher's Harvest Ale, which against all odds, used hops grown nearby in its Easton, PA area farm with great results. Other than that, you mostly only see West Coast breweries like Sierra Nevada and Stone growing their own hops. This beer, however, was the first US microbrew I've seen that does the whole shabang.
The appearance lived up to its name; as you can see, it was blacker than black. Though black lagers (schwarzbiers) are old-style beers originating in Germany centuries ago, you don't see many US craft breweries producing them (Sam Adams, Saranac and Shiner are the only few that come to mind). This lager had a nice dark roasted flavor and I tasted some earthiness dirt flavor in it, which you normally would only associate with wines (and though it may sound odd, it's refreshing). There is a subtle bitter taste, but at 6% ABV, this beer is ultimately pretty smooth.
There's a Rogue in each of us...cheers.
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