Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple

Today's beer: Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale by Rogue

When I first picked up this beer I was excited. I had been talking with the beer guy at CSN and joked about trying a bacon beer. He gave me a smug grin and told me he had just gotten this in. I ended up buying it as well as one of the first beers I reviewed: Blood Alley, mostly because it had a pig on the label.

Voodoo pours into the glass red amber in colour with a monster head that lasts quite a while. There is a huge smell of maple and a slight smell of hops. My first sip brought forward a massive hit of maple, almost like a maple doughnut with a decent taste of hops as well.

And unfortunately, that's where the good ends. Despite my fervent wish for a bacon flavoured beer, and this beers promise to deliver, it doesn't. There is no taste of bacon at all, just an overwhelming taste of maple. There is also a large smokey component that flows together with the maple. And the smoke flavour lasts. And lasts, and lasts, even after you've finished drinking. I finished drinking it over 25 minutes ago and I can still taste the smoke.

The monster head would make you think that there is a great deal of carbonation in Voodoo, and perhaps there is, but almost none of it gets into your glass. There is a distinct lack of carbonation with this beer. Perhaps it is the lack of carbonation in the beer, but it is very sweet, almost sickly sweet. The smokey after taste make it hard to drink, and while the maple flavour is at first intriguing, the sweetness makes it almost impossible to drink after w while. I pride myself on finishing beers, no matter how bad they are. Someone took the time to craft the beer and produce it, so the least I can do is finish it. I could not finish the Voodoo. If it were in a smaller bottle (it's a 750ml bottle) I might have been able to drink it all, but as it is, I had to pour a fair bit of it out. While a good concept, the execution leaves more than a little to be desired. If they dialed back the sweetness and smoke, reduced the size and increased the bacon flavour, it could be a decent beer. As it stands it is most definitely not a good beer.

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May your glass always be full of good beer!