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Rogue Brutal Bitter

Rogue Brutal Bitter

Rated 3.715 by BeerPals

Brewed by Rogue Ales

Newport, OR, United States

Style:  Extra Special Bitter

6.5% Alcohol by Volume

59 International Bittering Units

Availability of this beer is unknown


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An imperial bitter style using exotic traditional floor malts, citrus hoppy flavor, stupendous hop aroma. Hedonistic!"Mellow Beer Emboldened by Hops," Elaine Louies article in the New York TimesDining Out Section, (March 24, 1999) announced the release of latest Rogue elixir to be bottled. The article states that "The newest beer of Rogue Ales sounds more aggressive than it is. Brutal Bitter is actually full-bodied, deeply flavored, intensely hoppy brew. There is nothing brutal about the rich, deep, mellow taste. Its crackling but not sharp... This beer may raise eyebrows, but it won't pucker lips. The aftertaste is clean." Rogue brewer John Maier describes his Brutal Bitter as a cross between a Very Extra Special Bitter and an Indian Pale Ale. Brutal Bitter was first brewed in 1996 for the 20th Anniversary of the Horse Brass Pub in Portland. Customer demand prompted Rogue to continue brewing Brutal for the Horse Brass as well as using it as Rogue's premier pour at the 1998 Oregon Brewers Festival. At the 1999 SpringFest in Portland, Oregon, Brutal Bitter was unscientifically voted the Peoples Choice--it received twice as many votes as the runner-up. Brutal combines Oregon hops with English Malts. The Oregon grown Crystal hop is a triploid variety developed from the German Hallertau aroma hop variety with contributions from Cascade, Brewers Gold, and Early Green. Crystal is the only hop used in brewing Brutal and it provides a massive amount of aroma without dry-hopping. The English malts used are floor malted Pipkin (a mellow cross of Maris Otter and Warboys, from an English company called Beeston), Cara Vienna and Cara Wheat. Brutal Bitter is packaged in Rogue's classic 22 ounce silk-screened bottle, 12-ounce 6-pack (new for 2005), and is available on draft. Measurements:15 degrees Plato, IBU 59, Apparent Attenuation 76, Lovibond 14.2

ID: 484 Last updated 2 weeks ago Added to database 23 years ago

Key Stats

98
percentile

0

Drunk

83

Reviews

0

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Statistics

Overall Rank964
Overall Percentile98.3
Style Rank4 of 742
Style Percentile99.5
Lowest Score2.9
Highest Score4.6
Average Score3.741
Weighted Score3.715
Standard Deviation0.426

Rating Distribution

Beer vs Style

83 Member Reviews

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  • VIPINVELP 2001 reviews
    rated 3.5 8 years ago

    Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

    Love those US IPA’s. Strong hoppy aroma, orange, off-white lacing foam. Bitter taste, lasting quite long. Hope I can find a few more in the shop. (Velp 201607)

  • CYBERCAT 13035 reviews
    rated 3.3 9 years ago

    Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

    Had as Brutal IPA. Pours a nice clear amber with a rather thick and persistent fluffy white head. Aroma is hoppy and, though not strong, inviting with just a touch of citrus. Strongly, if not fierce, hoppy flavor has a woody undertone and just a whisper of orange. Average-bodied texture is fairly smooth, not much tingle. OK, not Rogue’s best, but worthy of at least a try!

  • PALEALERIDER 2314 reviews
    rated 3.7 11 years ago

    Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

    Pours a huge thick foamy head and has a slightly cloudy orange/coppery appearance. Nice dirty lacing. Aromas of mild floral hops and much stronger citrus hops. Light grapefruit notes it seems as well. Flavours are strong in orange and grapefruit, some light grainy and barley malts also come into the mix and much hops. Orange flavour becomes stronger after a while and more grapefruit becomes apparent in the finish, making it lightly soured. Mildly spiced. Nice and smooth creamy mouthfeel. Full bodied with quite active carbonation. Not sure why named Brutal IPA (what is on the bottle), seeing as how ibu is not extremely high and a 6.5%abv count is not super strong. But oh well, still good tasting!

  • BLUESANDBARBQ 2568 reviews
    rated 3.5 11 years ago

    Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

    On tap @ Bearden Beer Market: can't believe that I've never tried this one! Nice amber color, tight off white head, nice lacing throughout. Malty sweet then earthy hops nose and flavor, smooth yet enough hops bitter to satisfy. Will revisit this one. Cool history about this beer - Originally brewed for Portland's Horse Brass Pub's 20th Anniversary.

  • HEYBEERMAN 1025 reviews
    rated 2.9 12 years ago

    Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

    Certainly not brutal at all, in any sense. Very corny in flavor and aroma for rogue, very dissapointing. Very cloudy and not impressive, sour notes mixed with grass and aformentioned corn. Meh...

  • JERRYMORRISON 2130 reviews
    rated 3.5 12 years ago

    Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

    Faint but nice aromas and flavors of floral and cirus hops, medium mouthfeel a slight bit of stickiness. Some sweet caramel malts poke through in the flavor, a decent slightly lingering bitter finish. Overall a decent brew, misnamed for sure, pehaps Rogue IPA would work better, the whole 'bitter' doesnt really come through.

  • MITCHFORGIE 683 reviews
    rated 3.4 13 years ago

    Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

    seems like a sierra nevada look-alike, but maybe I am taking it wrong. Bigger and maltier than said SN, bit more resin and pine. Some citrus but not much. Classic west coast, nothing special.

  • BEERDOG 1556 reviews
    rated 3.7 13 years ago

    Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

    From Firefly. Poured a creamy, deep, white head over an orange body. All this was accompanied by a good, hopped aroma. Taste was quite hopped also, with a hint of orange and pine needle. Lower portion of the bottle was quite cloudy. Better on tap although not bad bottled.

  • FLASHPRO 1176 reviews
    rated 3.1 13 years ago

    Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

    I had this two nights ago at the Green Dragon (owned by Rogue) in Portland. I was really let down by this beer. It had a very predictable northwest hop aroma. Hazy orange brown color without much head or lacing was a joke. I have to say that it was nicely balanced, with a medium body and decent hop finish, but still nothing worth searching out for.

  • RAINMAN 892 reviews
    rated 3.5 13 years ago

    Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

    Hmm. Pours fuzzy orange gold with a low white head. Aroma is stinky grass and feet. Mouthfeel is pretty smooth, a little sweeter than I'd expect for an IPA. Flavor is good, but much sweeter and less hoppy than expected. Quite tasty, but missing some anticipated zip.

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