Rogue Brewing Jazz Guy Ale 2010 Edition

Rogue Brewing has been providing support to the Portland jazz scene for years with it's Rogue Jazz Guy Ale.  Apparently, the actual ale changes from year to year... usually just a re-branding of one of their regular offerings, so I took up the challenge to try to guess what the 2010 edition of their charitable-beer is.

Rogue Brewing Jazz Guy Ale (2010) poured a well carbonated and slightly cloudy orange into the glass under a lumpy, thick off-white head.  The nose was very "Rogue", with their signature Dare malt and Pacman yeast, and there was an undertone of candied fruit.

Rogue Brewing Jazz Guy Ale, true to appearances, had a well-carbonated front the slid into a somewhat smeary body with lots of competing bread flavors falling somewhere between a golden ale and a brown ale (citrus and coriander notes as well).  Jazz Guy Ale was dry throughout.  The ale ended with an aftertaste of popcorn and pizza dough.

Tasting Rogue Brewing Jazz Guy Ale was a fun experiment in walking into a tasting with blinders on.  I'm pretty sure it falls in line with a golden ale style, but can find nothing on their website or ingredient lists to corroborate this.  As a golden ale, it maintains complexity while being incredibly easy to drink.  Not my favorite style, but certainly a great entry.