Let’s get one thing straight for starters: I’m not going to go on a rant again about the relative merits of the Rogue 7-ounce nip bottles (to be fair, they aren’t the only ones that sell them). If you want to know how much I dislike them, you’ll have to hop on over to my review of Rogue XS Imperial Younger’s Special Bitter.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we can talk about McRogue Scotch Ale, which is also sold in 7-ounce bottles, but is a beer that I’ve also had on draft. I do love a good Scotch ale folks, and I do love Rogue ales. I’ve been drinking them for about twenty years now, in fact. I’ve always enjoyed the McRogue.
From the Rogue website:
9 Ingredients:
Amber, Pale Chocolate & Rogue Micro Barley Farm DareTM Malts; Kent Golding, Willamette and Rogue Micro Hopyard Revolution Hops; Rolled Oats, Free Range Coastal Water and Top Fermenting Pacman Yeast.
Specs:
17.5º PLATO
45 IBU
75 AA
28.6º Lovibond
World Class Package:
Draft, 7oz
The alcohol content is not listed but Taco Mac had it posted at 8.2% by volume. My bottle suggests aging it for at least a year before drinking; my bottle was packaged in 2010 and drunk in 2012.
McRogue Scotch Ale pours to a dark mahogany color with a very light head formation and a sticky sweet molasses nose. The beer is nutty malty, with a hint of caramel and light chocolate. Treacle, dark fruits (raisin) are apparent. The sweet, sticky finish is dried by the gentlest suggestion of hops and a touch of alcohol.
This is a very nice beer but a bit too expensive in the bottle at $3.99 for a nip; oddly enough I had it at Taco Mac for $6 for the full pint (20-ounce mug in my case). I would not buy it again in the 7-ounce bottle, but certainly would buy the draft again, and that is the version on which I will base my final rating.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft