Last weekend we invited a few dozen of ASU's finest over to our place for a party. In typical pot luck style we had a table full of goodies representing all different culinary cultures and backgrounds. There was Italian, Indian, Chinese and more. It was like the U.N. of pot lucks. Unlike the real United Nations our party had no petty squabbling thanks to the lone home brewer of the group who showed up packing bottles of his very own cherry stout in recycled Kirin bottles. Save the planet: brew beer.
We found it absolutely delicious and really felt like part of the process when brewing sediment crossed our palettes. Every beer since has fallen a bit flat in comparison with that home brew goodness we tasted. Where's the feeling of being part of the process? Where is the sensation of tasting something rough and unfinished but full of possibilities?
That's why we were especially excited to try out Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar.
It may not be home-brewed, but it is inspired by home brewer Chris Studach. He's even on the bottle. A real live person who enjoys beer and enjoys making it even more.
Is Hazlenut Brown Nectar the perfect combination of home enthusiasm and micro brew facility or would we do better to get hoppin' on a brew of our own design?
Taste: Incredibly delicious...at first. It seems the more we drank, the worse it got. Our recommendation is drink this one down as quickly as possible. It seems even a small jump in temperature has a staggeringly adverse effect on the taste.
I got mine: at Lost Leaf Gallery in Phoenix. They offer a few Rogues and trust us when we say we wished we'd chosen any of the others.
Verdict: Five minutes into drinking Hazlenut Brown Nectar we couldn't finish it. What started out as a hoppy brew with hints of hazlenut fizzled out into just a glass of brown. We're not saying we can do better, but beers like this inspire us to give it a try.
