Dec 24 2010

Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve Ale

This is Rogue’s Santa’s Private Reserve Ale. I had high-hopes for this, as Rogue is my favorite brewery. This was disappointing, however.

It’s pretty much a standard ale amongst craft breweries. Hey what, you’re a self-proclaimed anti-beer snob?: Don’t cared for adventure into something tasteful? Then here you go!

This is the beer that Budweiser, Coors and PBR all advertise about. If advertising were true, you would be drinking this. Because this is a crisp, well rounded, clean tasting, great aftertaste beer. This is the king of craft-brewed beers.

And with that, it’s quite boring to me. While I do appreciate how well balanced this beer is, with nothing amiss, too strong or too foul… it’s just boring. And that may be my expectations, since I do tend to seek out more flavourful, interesting brews.

Santa’s Private Reserve isn’t dull or ubiquitous , but it’s not worth storming the frozen frontier and plowing down a legion of elfen defenders for.