Rogue Rolling Thunder Stouted Whiskey Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B-

Although best known for their Dead Guy Ale, Rogue has staked out some turf as both a brewstiller and in the niche sector of making whiskey from beer. They turned their Dead Guy Ale into a whiskey, as well as produced a single malt and malted rye. Now they have released their fourth whiskey, this one falling into the brewstiller mold rather than the whiskey-from-beer trend: Rolling Thunder.

The story behind this whiskey starts with Rolling Thunder Imperial Stout, a 14.4% ABV beer aged in barrels used in making the Rogue Dead Guy Whiskey. While that process is ongoing, Rogue had a malt whiskey made with Rogue’s Dare and Risk proprietary malts, plus Crystal 15 malt, aging in new oak barrels charred to level 4 for one year. That primary maturation done, they transferred the whiskey to the Rolling Thunder barrels.

By now those barrels were twice-used (and thus little more than wooden, breathable storage containers), but soaked with some pretty strong, whiskey barrel-aged stout. Rogue aged the whiskey in those barrels for two years of further maturation (given that stage two lasted twice as long as stage one, calling it “secondary maturation” or “finishing” feels wrong), for what was clearly intended to create a beer barrel-forward flavor profile. This was bottled at 97.5 proof.

The Whiskey
The whiskey came out of that unusual aging format with a bright middle amber look. Swishing the glass left distinct crown atop the coat, plus a couple of sheets of skinny tears.

The scent was a melange of toffee, earthy cocoa, cake spices and peppery wood. The flavor turned even stouter, showing much more of the barrel influence, running as a sweet stout at first before turning to bitter coffee grounds stout. The shift to bitterness brought on some pepper right behind it. That pepper faded fast on the finish, leaving behind a weighty note of stouty coffee grounds.

My feeling about this whiskey is stout diehards should love it as an accompanying, complimentary pour for beer-and-shot combos. It was also lovely to sip on near my firepit on a nippy, early springtime evening during the covid19 lockdown. But for a general audience, I wonder if it might not be better to just pour a Rolling Thunder Imperial Stout instead.

The Price
Expect to pay $69.99 for this bottle.