Coming at you, Straight Outta Newport

Guess who’s back, Rogue is back. Back again, tell a friend. At least, tell your beer-loving friends. Earlier this year (here) we dipped our toes into the hoppy water of beer reviews. That went over well, and so we’re back with another (and are working on some others with Rogue for this year). Today, we’re talking about the Rogue Straight Outta Newport.

Now, if you want the full rundown / specs on the beer, you could of course head on over to Rogue’s page for it . However, let’s just go ahead and break some of these things down to understand it a bit better.

8.7% ABV
- This is, of course, how “strong” an alcoholic drink is.
- In this case, 8.7% of the beer (by volume) is alcohol (translates to a 17.4 Proof if you’re more used to that)

73 IBU
- This refers to International Bitterness Units, which is an attempt to quantify how bitter a beer is
- As that linked article shows, though, other things in the can may affect the flavor
- Also worth noting that the human tongue caps out at about 110 IBUs, even though the scale goes much higher
19° PLATO
- This was a new one for me, and required some research – Beer Advocate and Wikipedia to the rescue!
- It’s the concentration of sugars in the wort prior to fermentation
- So, here, it’s 19% sugars
9° L
- Again, Wikipedia sheds the light (literally, actually, for this one)
- This is the Loviblond scale, and indicates the coloration of the beer
82 AA
- This is referring to Apparent Attenutation
- In practical terms, it’s the percentage of the sugars from the wort that the yeast consumes

I don’t know about you all, but I definitely learned some more about beer as a course of this review. And, frankly, whatever your hobby is, or what you’re “in to”, you should learn about it. Understanding the terminology native to a hobby (be it beer, painting, or watches, to name a few) can help you out. It may not enhance your enjoyment, but it can help you decipher what it is you’re dealing with. In the terms of food and beverage, knowing what those mean can help you narrow down the styles and flavors you like, while pointing out others you would rather avoid.

As for me, I’m definitely not avoiding the Rogue Straight Outta Newport. Over the last year or two, I’ve moved away from darker, heavier beers (the flavor profile was just feeling flat) and have moved over to the delightful (and exploding) world of flavorful IPAs. In this case, there are several hop varieties used (you can see the full list below). The one that stood out for me were the Citra hops. As you might imagine, these can add a citrusy flavor to things, and I’ve yet to have a beer with citra hops in it that I did not enjoy.

In terms of the tasting, it is citrusy and smooth, with a mild nose. While the beer itself is relatively strong (8.7% will do that for you), it was not overly bitter, at least for me. I also felt that the Rogue Straight Outta Newport had a rather full mouth feel to it. This is one of those harder-to-describe sorts of things. But, much like a watch can have presence on the wrist or just sort of go unnoticed, there’s a mouth presence (for lack of a better term) here. It’s definitely thicker than water, and it gives you something that engages another sense past the smell and taste that we would normally focus on.

The Rogue Straight Outta Newport is a limited run, and is available now, nationwide. In your local store, it’ll be in a 4-pack of 1-pint cans (as we’ve shown here), or your local tavern may have it, as they’re producing kegs as well. Want to know where to find it by you? You can use the Rogue Finder to help you out in that regard. This is limited run, so be sure – if it’s sounding interesting – to bring along $14.99 (for a 4-pack of 16oz cans) to pick yours up. And if IPAs – or even Rogue’s offerings – aren’t your thing, drop us a line or join us over in our Slack channel to talk it over with us. rogue.com

Ingredients list from Rogue