Rogue: Captain Sig's Northwestern Ale

Rogue: Captain Sig's Northwestern Ale

Score: B+

Style: India Red Ale

Malt: 2-Row Pale, Munich, Carastan and Chocolate

Hops: Horizon, Amarillo, Cascade & Rogue Farm Willamette

ABV: 6.20%

Rogue's Captain Sig first intrigued me because of it's style: India Red Ale.  Out of curiosity, I ordered one Monday night at J Ryan's (duh, where else would I be).  I was pleasantly surprised that this beer was actually pretty delicious.  It has a great amber color, which is a little hazy, and it had a nice redish-tan head when it was handed to me.  My first impressions of the beer was that it had a smooth, malty start with an aggressive bitter end.  The super bitter notes at the end where definitely a highlight at the beer and was really balanced well.  I'm a big fan of using Amarillo hops in my own beer and I could taste the floral influence of those hops in this beer.  The hops did, however, leave a bitter taste on my palette for sometime afterwards, which I don't really mind since I enjoy the bitterness of IPAs.  I felt as though the aroma was a little weak, considering there is such a great combination of hops in this beer.  I believe that Rogue could have pushed the envelope just a little bit more on this one.  Maybe produce a better aroma and balance the malt and hop flavors a little more so that both are present throughout the whole duration of a sip.

I did thoroughly enjoy this beer and am excited to see a brewery produce a beer in a less-used category.  I'm not sure if I've ever had an India Red Ale before and if I have then it wasn't too memorable.  Maybe breweries are nervous about using a beer whose initials would be IRA and it could get confused with the Irish Republican Army.  But I'm okay with it.  And it's not just because I'm Irish... or it could be, cause that's probably why I like beer so much to begin with.

Oh... and in case you care... this beer does come with an interesting story.  It's made for Captain Sig Hansen of the Discovery Channel's The Deadliest Catch and part of the proceeds for the beer are going towards the Fisherman's Fund.  I'd blog about it, but the BeerAdvocate has done that for me, enjoy: Rogue Ales Releases Captain Sig's Deadliest Ale

Oh, btw, I'm still a tad confused about why this beer has two names (Northwestern Ale and Deadliest Ale) and whether or not they are two separate beers, but I did drink one of them. 

Written by: Krysten