Looks:
Smell:
Taste:
Overall:
Description:
A nutty twist to a traditional European Brown Ale. Dark brown in color with a hazelnut aroma, a rich nutty flavor and a smooth malty finish. (Description provided by company)
Brewer:
Beer Style:
ABV:
6.20% ABV
Availability Frequency:
year-round
Containers Available:
bottle
draft
Locations Where Available:
nationwide
Store/Serve Temperature:
close to 55 degrees F
Comments
A Hazelnut Surprise
This Nectar pours a dark brown amber, although it is partially translucent when held up to a bright light. Only about a half finger of head, with very little retention or lacing. It may have been a bad pour, but the appearance was a bit disappointing.
The nose is roasted malt along with hazelnut - also some subtle chocolate and coffee. The hazelnut is less obvious in taste, but it adds a nice nutty sweetness. The chocolate and coffee flavors are balanced out by the hazelnut, slightly bitter hop flavor at the finish. A medium body but slightly high carbonation give a prickly feel at first, but as the carbonation settles it smooths out nicely.
I was expecting not to like this beer, since I usually don't care for most things hazelnut. To my surprise, though, the hazelnut never really feels forced or out of place. If you like brown ales (even if you don't care for hazelnut) give this a shot!
Better than an average brown ale
Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar came out a mahogany brown with a beige head that started smaller than finger width and soon disappeared. Hazelnut is in front of the sniff with coffee and chocolate behind that. Taste puts the hazelnut equally in the blend of flavors with a slight hop bite at the end. Although bubbles are faint in sight, for some reason they tend to stand out more on the mouth feel and do kinda get in the way of my enjoying the beer.