Voodoo Doughnut: Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Ale

After trying Rogue's Bacon Maple beer that really was NOT good, I wasn't interested in doing this one, but it's just too crazy of an idea not try it if you can. Like the Bacon Maple this is another collaboration with Voodoo Doughnut. The folks at Rogue tried to make a dark ale that tastes like a Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich, ala Elvis "the King" Presley.

The beer poured out very dark with a lot of really tan head. The head was probably bigger than it should have been, but it released a ton of banana aroma. There are some other chocolate malts and maybe some peanut butter...maybe, but the bananas overwhelm everything.

This beer suffered from the same problems as the Bacon Maple beer. The banana flavor was overwhelming and it didn't even taste like natural banana. It was like eating handfuls of just the yellow banana Runts... I hate banana Runts. There was a solid cocoa flavor from some nice roasted malts in there, but it took a back seat to the banana. I had a tough time finding any real hint of peanut butter. Really in my mind if you are going to make a tribute to the King you can't slack on the peanut butter. It finished with more chocolate malt that helped counter the banana flavors.

It's really cool that Rogue, a very established brewery, is willing to do these crazy flavor combinations, but I think they are trying too hard. A nice rich chocolate stout with a little bit of Belgian yeast providing some banana flavor would have been great. Whatever fruit they infused was just too potent for me. Although, I didn't love this one, it was better than the last attempt.

I give this beer a 2

Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale

Rogue Brewery decided to do something different. You know its different right away when you buy it because the beer comes in a pepto pink bottle. You cannot miss it mixed in with all of the dark colored craft beers on the shelf. Rogue did their own collaboration not with another brewery but with Voodoo Doughnuts a doughnut shop known for pushing the boundaries of flavors. I love a good doughnut. I love beer. I should really love this stuff.

The Bacon Maple Ale was 30 IBUs and a reasonable 5.6% abv. It poured out a mahogany brown with a small tan head that went away pretty quickly. It smelled like breakfast... There were huge notes of bacon and hints of maple that could only make me think of bacon and pancakes. The aroma was so potent that every time I went to my glass I got a big ol' wiff of it in my face.

The flavor was very sweet and malty but it had a huge smoked flavor which was different. There were notes of caramel in there, but most of it was drowned out by the heavy sweetness of maple. The smoke and the maple were like two titans fighting above the mortal world drowning everything else out. I thought the flavors may get clearer as they warmed up, but that was just wishful thinking. No new notes came out and the smokiness still overwhelmed the rest of the beer.

It had an almost greasy mouth feel that seemed to coat your tongue and teeth. There was a bitter aftertaste that stuck around as long as the sticky coating did.

The beer was a neat experiment, but not something I am dying to buy a case of. Good for Rogue for going out on a limb, but not my favorite.

I give it a 1.5