XS McRogue Scotch Ale - Rogue Ales

Jason

Massachusetts

4.2/5  rDev +8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Presentation: Tiny 7oz brown bottle with a 2000 bottled on date.

Appearance: Hazy reddish amber colour, tight bubbly off white lace that holds together well.

Smell: Sweet caramel, fruity with a light smokiness, earthy yeast and a slight hop leaf converge to make a complex aroma.

Taste: Big creamy mouth feel, bready caramel maltiness. Low carbonation with a stress smoothness. Smoke flavour is vague and should be, mildly fruit with a noticeable alcohol which seems drawn out by the year+ aging. Maltiness is close to being huge, hops are there but are faded by age yet still have a good balancing twang. Lustrous finish of malt and hops with fruity, caramel and a ghost like smoke.

Notes: First, 7 measly ounces of the stuff is not enough … what a tease. I’d love to sit down with an imperial pint of the stuff but it would be a $12 pint so being that you would have to buy three bottles. Just not fair.

Serving type: bottle

03-04-2002 18:34:37 | More by Jason

Kelp

New Hampshire

3.5/5  rDev -10%

04-27-2013 19:57:35 | More by Kelp

DaPan

Ontario (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev -3.6%

04-13-2013 21:22:00 | More by DaPan

Seanniek91

New Hampshire

3.88/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Served from a vintage 2010 7oz bottle into a St. Bernardus snifter.

Appearance- Dark murky brown with zero head.

Smell- Smells barrel aged. Caramel, vanilla, light peat and scotch notes, light booze. Quite nice.

Taste- Light smoke or woody characteristic, plum(?), peaty/scotch flavor, lots of caramel malts, not a hop to be found. i have to mark down on the taste because of the mouthfeel unfortunately.

Mouthfeel- Super thin. Unbelievably so. Light carbonation, very low viscosity.

Overall- Rogue. This beer had a lot of promise, but unfortunately the mouthfeel with way too light. Wouldn't min trying this "fresh".

Serving type: bottle

04-03-2013 19:21:58 | More by Seanniek91

BYOFB

Wisconsin

4.25/5  rDev +9.3%

04-02-2013 05:52:33 | More by BYOFB

bigbeers84

Minnesota

4.75/5  rDev +22.1%

03-25-2013 08:12:20 | More by bigbeers84

chugamugofsud

Oregon

3.25/5  rDev -16.5%

02-21-2013 18:12:32 | More by chugamugofsud

WDJersey

New Jersey

4.25/5  rDev +9.3%

02-10-2013 04:39:49 | More by WDJersey

jnoelani

Washington

4.75/5  rDev +22.1%

01-23-2013 23:34:10 | More by jnoelani

Beer21

Florida

3.75/5  rDev -3.6%

01-22-2013 01:20:28 | More by Beer21

NilocRellim

Minnesota

3.99/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 2.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

This beer came in a wee 7oz bottle. Aged from 2010. Poured out into a snifter glass. Generally unappealing colour to it; seemed murky, cloudy and brownish-copper. Ale smelled of dark malt with caramel notes and a hint of anise. Heavy scotch nose, yet clean. You could definitely tell that this beer had a higher alcohol content to it.

Upon first taste, the ale seemed buttery, smooth, and mellow with a subtle scotch taste to it (minus the burn/bite of actual scotch). Slight roastiness. Clean finish; very minimal aftertaste.

Would I buy this beer again? Definitely.

Serving type: bottle

01-17-2013 20:35:38 | More by NilocRellim

TheBrewo

Michigan

3.71/5  rDev -4.6%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75

We crack this baby bottle and pour a deep amber brew. It puts up a flash of a white head, giving intermittent spots of lacing around the glass as it goes. Haze is thick, with chunky sediment throughout. Carbonation appears moderate. The nose gives great Scotch ale sweetness, laying heavy with maple syrup, raw honey, and caramel malts, making it smell much like a bowl of freshly sweetened oatmeal. Toffee sugars, brown apples, and lemon candies round out the sweetness, to be balanced by leathery roast, light coffees, bittered pales, and thick tannins. Our first impression is that the flavoring is nicely consistent for the style, but lightens up a bit by the end of the sip. As we sip, sweet toffees, roasty caramel malts, booze, plastic phenols, and melted brown sugar start things off. The middle comes to a head with more of a bitterness. Here we get buttery diacetyls to cut, with tannic dryness, those aromatic browned apples, more caramel sugar sweetness, and the chewiness of salt water taffy. The finish pulls through with more saltiness, dried seaweed, a revival of the plastics, and a wash of lightly citric hops to sit against that dryness of grain. The aftertaste breathes of smoke, booze, lemon tea, chalky grain, flour, and that continue cooked caramel and toffee sweetness. The body is light to medium, and the carbonation is lighter. There is okay slurp and smack to each sip, with very little cream or froth to the lip. The mouth is coated initially with coolness, but quickly puckers and dries with the astringency of raw, unsweetened tea. The abv is appropriate, and the beer drinks easily.

Overall, what we like most about this beer was the aroma. There was such a nice robustness to the nose, with hearty sweetness, warmth, and spice. This, however, did not translate very well into flavor or feel, as both let up some lightness around the edges by the end. This made for a decent beer that was drinkable, but nothing to knock your socks off.

Serving type: bottle

01-17-2013 03:52:31 | More by TheBrewo

JMBSH

Colorado

3/5  rDev -22.9%

01-16-2013 04:02:38 | More by JMBSH

beestes

Missouri

4.75/5  rDev +22.1%

01-09-2013 03:39:29 | More by beestes

iemailjack

Florida

3.5/5  rDev -10%

01-09-2013 02:14:12 | More by iemailjack

jeff96gt

Indiana

3.75/5  rDev -3.6%

01-01-2013 21:44:06 | More by jeff96gt

jzapp

New York

4.75/5  rDev +22.1%

12-31-2012 00:36:03 | More by jzapp

Mounty4Life

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev -3.6%

11-07-2012 20:53:37 | More by Mounty4Life

BanrionMAB

4.5/5  rDev +15.7%

11-07-2012 00:56:12 | More by BanrionMAB

stakem

Pennsylvania

3.55/5  rDev -8.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 3.5

7oz bottle vintage 1995. Poured into a snifter, the brew appears a dark mahogany color that is only slightly lighter in appearance than barrel molasses. A bit of lighter brown hue is noted around the edges and some ruby clarity through the body. Initially a few tan bubbles sit atop and quickly fade to nothing. The brew looks still but a swirl paints some alcohol legs that coat the glass. Despite a careful pour, a bit of trub lands in the glass.

The nose is rich with caramelized sugars smelling of toffee, caramel, raisins, vanilla, chocolate and sherry. There is a bit of cereal or oat-like inclusion present which draws the focus in to more of the scents of chocolate and a bit of oxidation like cardboard.

The taste is like oats and chocolate grain that perisits from the onset straight through to the finish. A mild touch of raisin fruited quality and sherry oxidation is present with mild cardboard hints. The aftertaste is almost like milk chocolate and once you get the flavor of the chocolate inside your mouth, it is impossible to take in other aspects. There is a very mild tingle of alcohol felt that draws a bit of focus back into the raisin quality.

This is a medium to lighter bodied brew that is pretty much still. For being 17 years in the bottle, it is surprisingly full of character. The lack of carbonation and thinned out body distracted a bit from the overall experience but as-is this was not bad. The nose on this was pretty phenomenal, the taste however was a bit lackluster.

Serving type: bottle

10-30-2012 02:27:00 | More by stakem

biscuitroller

Tennessee

4.25/5  rDev +9.3%

10-20-2012 17:19:33 | More by biscuitroller

WastingFreetime

Wisconsin

3.58/5  rDev -8%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

AGED REVIEW

Bottled 2010. Purchased from the 'aged beer' cooler of my local store, so I did not have direct control over the precise conditions under which this bottle was aged.

Pours out a hazy dark brown color with a flash head and no lacing. Fuller side of medium body heft and only lightly carbonated, causing a slightly sticky catch on the otherwise smooth texture in the mouth.

Smells of toasted grains, heavy luscious caramel and toffee with a solid dark cherry aroma presence. The flavor is bready and sweet with medium-light dark fruit presence and very lightly smokey around the edges... ABV hotness presence (and noble earthy hopping) is minimal and toasted / nutty presence is MIA.

The main criticisms I can muster on this one is that the price point is too high per volume offered, and the carbonation / head seems to be more cellar-fragile than normal levels of aging reduction. In terms of flavor and aroma, however, it's -really good- for what I expected from a 2 year old bottle of a beer that directly prints on the label that it is best experienced at 1 year old.

Perhaps a year ago there might have been a heavier influence of earthy hopping than this, and I can speculate all I want about how that *could've* been somewhat better in terms of complexity and sweetness balance than this, but I'll have to make do with what I've actually got in the real world.

Serving type: bottle

10-13-2012 22:13:22 | More by WastingFreetime

Klif

Indiana

3/5  rDev -22.9%

08-27-2012 00:48:23 | More by Klif

bonez05404

Pennsylvania

4.25/5  rDev +9.3%

08-26-2012 00:43:53 | More by bonez05404

duff247

Texas

3.5/5  rDev -10%

08-25-2012 23:40:14 | More by duff247