I’d had a bottle of Rogue‘s Smoke Ale in the fridge for quite some time now—years, really—and I finally decided that it was time to drink it. It was the smaller 7-ounce bottle, limited release I think, that Rogue used to put out; now it’s available in the 22-ounce bottle.

Since I’d had it for years, I was a little anxious as to whether it was still good. It was.

Appearance: Sediment in the bottom of the bottle; a careful pour resulted in a nicely clear, orange-amber (brown) beer with minimal head.

Smell: Smoke is predominant; oily, reminding me of smoked salmon or bacon—appetizing! Complex and subtle at the same time… can almost detect the grains below the smoke.

Taste: Smoked salmon character is stronger than ever, paired with a light, crisp malt character that’s very clean. Any bitterness here (not much) comes from the smoke notes… otherwise the beer is soft, a tiny bit doughy, with little or no hop character. It’s held up extraordinarily well.

Mouthfeel: Lighter than I’d expect… almost watery body that’s very, very clean.

Overall: A great beer, and I’m even more pleased that it vintaged (I’d say "cellared", but it was really kept in the fridge all that time… does that count?) so well.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores a grade of B+. On RateBeer, it scores 3.42 out of 5 and is in their 79th percentile.