Poor Rogue. Poor, poor Rogue. Rogue Ales that is, of Newport, Oregon. You see, it looks like someone stole one of their hops. Not long ago (I thought) but really over a year ago, I first sampled Rogue Farms 7 Hop IPA on tap at Taco Mac here in Canton, Georgia. For January of 2016, Rogue Ales are featured at Taco Mac as beer of the month, and I’m currently sipping a Rogue Farms 6 Hop IPA. See? One of our hops is missing.

All kidding aside, the two beers are very different indeed, though mostly in the malt department. Rogue grows their own malts for both beers, but while Rogue Farms 7 Hop IPA lists Rogue Farms Dare, Risk, Maier & Dare R-3 Malts as ingredients, Rogue Farms 6 Hop IPA is more diverse still in its grain bill, listing Rogue Farms Dare, Risk, Roasted & Unroasted McKercher Wheat, Roasted Dream Rye, Maier Munich & Dare R-1 Malts.

Both beers use Rogue’s proprietary Pac Man yeast, and the 6 Hop IPA seems a more drinkable beer at 6.66% alcohol volume and 87 IBUs as opposed to 7 Hop IPA’s 8% by volume and 90 IBUs. Hey, those extra 3 IBUs really cut down on the drinkability, dontcha know.

Most important, though, are the hops. Here’s the hop profile for each, from Rogue.com:

Hops in Rogue Farms 7 Hop IPA:

Rogue Farms Liberty, Revolution, Independent, Freedom, Alluvial, Newport, Rebel.

Hops in Rogue Farms 6 Hop IPA:

Rogue Farms Liberty, Revolution, Independent, Freedom, Alluvial, Yaquina.

So, really and truly a different beer altogether. Rogue 7 Hop IPA is more of an imperial IPA; this beer is a straight up IPA.

Here’s how Rogue describes the 6 Hop IPA:

In a bold collaboration with Mother Nature, we grow our own varieties of aroma hops at Rogue Farms in Independence, OR. We also string, stake, train, test, trim, separate, sort, kiln and cool them. Brewmaster John Maier meticulously selected and blended 6 varieties of our hops to create the big, beautiful bite of our 6 Hop IPA.

I paid $6.50 for a full mug pour of Rogue 6 Hop IPA at Taco Mac, which came with a beautiful 6 Hop IPA logo glass at no extra charge. I have yet to see the beer in bottles here in Georgia.

My mug of Rogue Six Hop IPA arrived a bright orange color with a thick creamy head of densely packed foam and waves and waves of thick resiny pine in the nose. Taking a sip, there’s lots of chewy caramel malt at first sip, then an explosion of resiny pine tar hops as the beer progresses into a very long, very dry, very bitter finish. Now that's what I'm talking about!

This is India Pale Ale the way it should be, and I for one will definitely be back for more.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft