Chatoe Rogue First Growth Dirtoir Black Lager
I picked up this bottle from Rogue a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it on a warm evening early last week.
It’s been about a year or so since the last time I purchased a Rogue product. I can’t entirely say why that it is. I used to drink the hell out of their stuff many moons ago. If they keep putting out good stuff like this First Growth Dirtoir Black Lager, I think I’ll be needing to invest some fridge space for them in the future.
Dirtoir is the second brew from the company’s Chatoe line of limited release beers. Brewed with Rogue’s own home grown hops (Independent and Revolution varieties), this dark beer also uses a first growth run of proprietary malts (Risk) in the mix. The result is one hell of a black lager.
Appearance
Dirtoir pours an opaque, jet black in color with a decent dark brown head. Man, if this had poured any thicker, I would have thought it a stout. It looks great.
Aroma
Packed with roasted malt, light chocolates, toffee and a little bitter coffee, this one smells just as good as it looks.
Taste
There is a solid amount of roasted malt up front that transitions to a lingering, slightly bitter coffee and dark chocolate finish. It’s a smooth, easy drinking brew that’s probably one of the more flavorful black lagers I’ve had. As the beer warms in the glass, more of the roast comes out as does a bit more hop bitterness to accompany the coffee notes. The light to medium body on the beer is a bit watery for something that looks this dark, but actually works out well for the flavors it carries.
Overall
This one surprised me a good deal. It’s rich and full flavored, yet light on the tongue, making for a very tasty and easily drinkable beer — it sits at a comfortable 6% ABV. I loved the dark roast on the malts as well as the subtle hop bitterness that crept in toward the end of the beer. I will be getting more of the Dirtoir as soon as I can.
Rating: 3.5/5