185. Chatoe Rogue Dirtoir Black Lager

Yet another Rogue for the list—saw this one on the way out of town, and after the fresh hop, I couldn’t resist. This makes seven, but who’s counting? Oh wait, we are...

Dirtoir Black Lager has a rich chocolate and coffee nose with light burnt and roasted notes as well. It is a deep dark coffee brown with red highlights—although very clear—and a dirty brown head. Beginning with roasted flavors, Dirtoir then moves into burnt and coffee flavors with some chocolate, and finishes with rich chocolate, some graininess, and some small amounts of bitterness. Light-bodied with a creamy but thin mouthfeel, Dirtoir is rich and complex across the palate. There is a bit of the lager crispness at the end, but it is hard to pick it out from among all of the darker flavors. Interesting and well crafted beer; this strikes us as almost more stout light than dark lager—if we were told this was a Baltic Porter, neither of us would blink an eye.

From the bottle: “Dedicated to Farmers and Fermenters. GYO is a Rogue Ales term for Grow Your Own. We made this beer with our own hops and barley. Jet black in color with a tan head, full bodied, deftly balanced, seamless dark roasted malt flavors with smooth bitterness, lingering long finish.”

From the Rogue website: “Available nationwide on 1-1-2010, Dirtoir Black Lager is the second in the limited availability Chatoe Rogue series. Dirtoir Black Lager and the brews to follow are all GYO Certified, First Growth, Appellation products made with hops and malt from our Department of Agriculture's Hopyard and Barley Bench.”

IBU: 35
OG: 15° P
Malts: Melanoidin, Carafe Special II, Black, Chocolate, and Risk Malts
Hops: Independent and Revolution

(1/1/2010)