Last night I spotted a beer from Rogue that I had been wanting to try ever since I first heard about it. The beer in question is John John Hazelnut Brown Nectar. Rogue describes this unique ale as Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar aged in Rogue’s Hazelnut Spiced Rum barrels.
Three of my favorite things in one bottle: Hazelnut, Brown ale, er nectar, and Spiced Rum. Sign me up for this one. This description had my mouth watering as I left the store. I hurried home and placed it in the fridge to cool down a bit.
Later in the evening after chores ( sounds like I live in a little house on a prairie or something) I settled down to enjoy this trifecta of goodness. After the first couple of sips I grabbed the bottle to make sure I had picked up the right one. No hazelnut flavor. No spiced rum (or unspiced rum) flavor. Not that anything was wrong with the taste of the beer. It tasted like a brown ale. In fact if the label had said John John Brown Ale it would have been a perfect description.
Rogue makes some damn fine beers so I’m not going to write this one off quite yet. I will wait a few weeks and give this one another shot. I did have a crud bug a couple of weeks ago so maybe my taste buds are still out of whack. If you see this on the shelves give it a shot and let me know what you think.