If you celebrate the heartiness of the winter beers then Rogue Mogul Madness is a beer worth celebrating. Rogue Mogul Madness is one of my new favorite cold weather beers, period.  It is as comforting as a mug of post-sledding hot chocolate; Rogue Moguls pours a deep brown like a cup of hot coffee, and is as inviting as a bubbling hot tub beckoning your sore muscles.  After an initial hoppy bite, toasted malt takes over along with a faint nuttiness and the caramelized goodness of a toffee barits like chomping into dark chocolate candy. When you first release this aroma from the bottle do not be intimidated.  Instead in hail deeply the aroma that comes forth.  It will transport you to a place of comfort and relaxation.   So sit back and enjoy a beer you will remember as much as the double diamond you conquered earlier in the day.

Juan de la Cueva may have been a loon. For some reason in 1575 he wrote about some dish that combined Jalapenos and ale. Crazy? Maybe. But the real fools in this instance are the guys at Rogue Brewery who decided that this obscure story would make for a great beer.

Have you ever tasted a shoe? No? Well, I’m not sure I ever have either, but immediately after taking a sip of this beer I was convinced it tasted like one. Then the shoe flavor left, and the real horror crept in. Repeat after me: Peppers do not belong in beer.

The aftertaste was so wrong, completely awful on so many levels, that I was convinced I couldn’t really have tasted that. I tried again. I had Grandpa Goodbeer try it. All to no avail. This beer is gross. As soon as the otherwise odd flavor goes away, Rogue Chipotle Ale attacks you with the nuclear bomb of all Aftertaste Attacks. Dry, tangy, salty, throat scratchy, gross old jalapeno flavor. Its actually much worse than it sounds, if you can believe that.

On the other hand…

I did have to give it a 2. It worked pretty awesome as a marinade for Tilapia.

I applaud Rogue for trying new things, I really do. But much like that random hallucinogen I tried in college, not all experiments are a good idea.