Rogue Beard Beer
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Rogue Ales Beard Beer is an American wild ale
brewed Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...
by
Rogue Ales Rogue Ales is a brewery founded in 1988 in Ashland, Oregon. Rogue has pub locations in Oregon. History Rogue Ales was founded in Ashland, Oregon in 1988 by three Nike, Inc. executives: Jack Joyce (businessman), Jack Joyce, Rob Strasser, and Bob ...
of
Newport, Oregon Newport is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. It was incorporated in 1882, though the name dates back to the establishment of a post office in 1868. Newport was named for Newport, Rhode Island. As of the 2010 ...
using wild yeast originally cultured from nine beard hairs belonging to Rogue Ales'
brewmaster A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
, John Maier. Following media coverage in 2012, the beer went on sale on April 1, 2013. When reporting on the introduction of the beer in 2013, ''
The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...
'' newspaper originally stated that the ''
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...
'' had been taken in by an
April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. ...
joke, but the ''Oregonian'' writer was contacted by a Rogue employee, and reported a few days later that it was not a joke. During development, the beer's working name was ''New Crustacean''.


New yeast strain

Rogue set out to find a local wild yeast to complement the locally sourced hops and grains used in their other ales, to "increase the
terroir (; ; from ''terre'', ) is a French language, French term used to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat. Collectively, th ...
" of the finished product. Unsuitable samples were taken from various places, including the company's hopyard in
Independence, Oregon Independence is a city in Polk County, Oregon, Polk County, Oregon, United States, on the west bank of the Willamette River along Oregon Route 51, and east of nearby Monmouth, Oregon, Monmouth. It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Ar ...
, before the brewmaster's beard was tried. Isolating and cultivating a new wild yeast or strain of bacteria can be difficult, resulting in "rediscovery" of already utilized organisms. Analysis of the yeast cultivated from Maier's beard showed that it was a new strain, perhaps a hybrid incorporating genes from Rogue's house yeast called "Pacman". Beverages produced with local American native yeast are collectively known as the American wild ale style, of which Beard Beer is an example. Other American breweries have been successful in developing lines of brewer's yeast from a number of local wild sources, including
Dogfish Head Brewery Dogfish Head Brewery is a brewing company based in Milton, Delaware founded by Sam and Mariah Calagione and, as of 2019, owned by the Boston Beer Company. It opened in 1995 and produces 262,000 barrels of beer annually. Select brews (inclu ...
(cultivated from skins of Delaware peaches), Lost Rhino Brewing (captured at Janelia Farm) Mystic Brewing (Massachusetts plums), and Linden Street Brewery (cultivated from San Francisco sourdough).


Critical reception

''
Willamette Week ''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture. History Early history '' ...
''s reviewer said "The beer itself is quite normal: a sweet, bread-y American wild ale without much to distinguish it beyond a notable pineapple flavor." Writing for ''
The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...
'', another reviewer praised the beer's "smooth finish and citrus notes". ''
xoJane ''xoJane'' (also known as ''xoJane.com'') was an American online magazine from 2011 to 2016 geared toward women and founded by Jane Pratt and co-published by Say Media. Pratt was the founding editor of '' Sassy'' and '' Jane'' magazines. In l ...
''s reviewer questioned Rogue's "gimmicky" beers in its lineup, but concluded its "sweet and bready and kinda pineapple-y" taste was reminiscent of a Belgian single. A review from the website ''Flavor 574'' described the beer as having a funky flavor. ''Details'' magazine included the brew on their "Best Weird Brews of Summer" list in 2013; and '' Gayot Guides'' lists it among its top ten weird beers, profiling it as "reminiscent of a Belgian
saison Saison ( French, "season," ) is a pale-colored ale that is highly carbonated, dry, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high leve ...
, with a hazy orangish hue and flavors of bready malt, spicy peppercorn, tropical mango, passion fruit and pineapple". ''
Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...
'' magazine listed it as "really weird" along with beers including pickle, meteorite dust, and scorpion. ''
The Massachusetts Daily Collegian ''The Massachusetts Daily Collegian'' is an American daily newspaper founded in 1890, and the independently funded, student-operated newspaper of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The ''Collegian'' is a non-profit funded entirely throug ...
'' reviewed it at length, noting it "meld odors of smoke, olives and nebulously Belgian-influenced yeast... funky aromatic notes... initial citrusy sourness is balanced out by the fullness of toasted bread laced with a tangy sweetness... a simultaneously sour and sweet flavor complexion... traces of some distinctly Belgian elements... more closely aligned with saison and farmhouse ale styles". Daniel Tapper from the UK daily ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' reviewed five wild beers and called Beard Beer "the weirdest beer I've ever tried" and described it as containing notes of banana, passionfruit and pineapple. An article from ''
The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...
'' published in 2014 listed the beard hair used in Rogue Beard Beer as the number one strangest craft beer ingredient, ahead of other additions including cat
feces Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...
and bull's testicles. Rogue made the ''New Zealand Herald'' list twice, with the additional inclusion of its maple bacon ale,
co-branded Co-branding is a marketing strategy that involves strategic alliance of multiple brand names jointly used on a single product or service. Co-branding is an arrangement that associates a single product or service with more than one brand name, ...
with Portland's
Voodoo Doughnut Voodoo Doughnut is an American doughnut company established in 2003 in Portland, Oregon with various chain store locations around the United States. History Voodoo Doughnut was founded in May 2003 by Kenneth "Cat Daddy" Pogson and Richard "T ...
.


References


Further reading

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External links

*{{Official website, http://www.rogue.com/rogue_beer/beard-beer/ Beer in Oregon American beer brands Products introduced in 2013