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Interesting, eh? Okay, so it's not a song-and-dance, but a little history never hurt. The brewery is named after the Rogue River, which flows through Newport. But it also indicates the brewery's revolutionary philosophy—a desire to do things a little bit differently—expressed through its beers, which are carefully crafted by hand on a small scale. (50 barrels is itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny compared to the million-barrel operations of those mega-brewers of cheap swill.)
Dead Guy Ale is
gratefully dedicated to the Rogue in each of us. In the early 1990s Dead
Guy Ale was created as a private tap sticker to celebrate the
Mayan Day
of the Dead (November 1st, All Souls Day) for
Casa U Betcha in
Portland, Oregon. The Dead Guy design proved popular and was incorporated
into a bottled product a few years later with Maierbock as the elixir.
Strangely, the association with the Grateful Dead is pure coincidence. THE CLUE FOR THE "ROGUE DEAD GUY ALE LETTERBOX": Find the graveyard "under the radar" in Peachtree City. Once there, find the grave of the freemason who died on November 24, 1912. Standing at the foot of this grave, turn 45 degrees to your right (NOT a compass heading) and walk toward a trio of small markers—one of which belongs to W. E. Gay. Turn another 45 degrees to your right and walk past a broken headstone belonging to Mr. Banks. Go straight ahead to a pair of graves bordered by a brick wall. Turn to your left and walk alongside the rusty old chain. At the corner post, turn to your right and go stand at the foot of the grave with a hand-carved headstone that's been there since 1991. Turn exactly 90 degrees to your right and walk straight ahead. When you reach the edge of the lawn, take one large sideways step to your right. Look deep into the woods and you'll see a pair of trees (that have grown up in close contact and twist around each other) at the foot of an embankment. You might not be able to walk straight there. Behind those trees is a slab of concrete that serves as the headstone for this Dead Guy. COLORS: Black and Red... MARKERS or DYE ink pads only!! NO PIGMENT COLORS! STEALTH-O-METER: This is a pretty quiet place that few people know about. If there's a funeral going on, be smart. (The last dead guy was interred in February of 2007). Watch out for prickers and ticks. |
Rogue
Ales was founded in 1988 by three beer enthusiasts who gave up
their cushy corporate jobs to become brewers. Their first endeavor was a 10 bbl brewpub in Ashland, Oregon. A
year later, a larger brewpub was opened in Newport, Oregon. The original
pub was closed in 1997 when it was destroyed by the Great Flood. The 15
bbl brewsystem in the Newport brewpub was transferred across Yaquina Bay
to the current brewery and upgraded to a 30 bbl system. In 1998, Rogue
installed a 50 bbl system, and that's what makes their beers today.
Rogue Dead Guy Ale,
formerly known as Maierbock, is an
example of the Maibock style, the strong, pale beer usually drunk in
Germany as a celebration of the arrival of spring ("bock" being the German
term for a strong beer), though this version is available year-round
(thank goodness!).