Rogue Wood-Aged Beers — John John vs. John John

Rogue John John
(Dead Guy Ale Aged in Dead Guy Whiskey Barrels)
ABV ?%

Color: Deep orange.
Aroma: Sweet malts and floral honey.
Flavor: Full body and sweet with orange honey.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Slight tannins and wonderful mellow whiskey notes.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Fantastic

Rogue John John
(Ale with Natural Hazelnut Flavor Aged in Hazelnut Spice Rum Barrels)
ABV ?%

Color: Reddish brown.
Aroma: Caramel, toffee, molasses with some barnyard funkiness.
Flavor: Medium bodied and acidic with vanilla, molasses and cola.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet and simple with some vanilla and cola.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Blow by Blow
This battle turned into a revelation about temperature. The battle started with the beers being too cold which made it hard for us to really detect much of anything in either beer. However, as the beer heated up, so did the battle. What started as a tentative fight, turned into an all out brawl. The wood-aged character in both beers was absent when they were cold, but the warmth brought out the wood in a big way.

The Dead Guy had a richer, fuller body and a fantastic sweet whiskey finish with some tannins to offset the sweetness. The Hazelnut Brown was good as well, with a thinner body and a nice molasses and vanilla kick that evolved into a cola flavor as it warmed up. The cola flavor was unexpected and we wondered if it had anything to do with us associating the flavors from the rum barrel aging with rum and cokes.

So both combatants fought valiantly, but the Dead Guy ended up decking the Hazelnut in the last round with a wicked combo of beer and whiskey that we felt worked a bit better than the beer and rum combo. These were both limited release bottles for 2010 that I'm pretty sure aren't available in stores anymore. Hopefully they will continue the John John series next year. If they do, you can bet we'll be stocking up on the Dead Guy.

Winner by unanimous decision: Dead Guy.