Mug Club draft at RB. Inviting light brown color, a little like iced tea except for the thin, clingy white foam up top. Clean, malty beer smell with light hop notes. Taste is light, with toasty malts. Hops are close to a milder APA, but plenty of Noble-ity to go along with it. Unless I can have one head-to-head with an Anchor Steam, I’d say this is a fine version of the style.

Dec. 2008 batch, 5.1% abv: Deep brown body with thin tan bubbles. Smell of mocha and freshly roasted malts. Taste falls right between porter and dry stout at first, with some coffee turning up in my throat. A bit of English hop, but also a perception of PNW pine. Could position between a session beer and a winter warmer.

First batch, June, 2007. 4.8% abv: Unfrosted Mug Club mug. at first it tends more toward brown than porter, but it’s much more complicated than that. Opaque, dark brown body under a thin head with slight lacing. Smell is light, but suggests hearty roast malts. First taste has chocolate roast malts, but not too much, as its balanced by what I think are English hops. Traces of coffee follow. Alcohol is light, but easily noticed. Earthy and nutty toward the middle, followed by almost stoutlike roasties. Very malty, but not overly sweet.

Mug Club draft. This was a special edition beer to raise funds for a foundation honoring an area resident (see RB’s page for details). This is based, I thought, on the Line Drive Light, but I detect no adjuncts here. Just a very light lager malt, just a touch of chewiness, and a well supported background of bittering hops. Served in their frosted mug, though, but it’s a very decent lawnmower beer. Hey, Cornfield, I do ask for an unfrosted mug... when I remember to.

Sampler tumbler. Creamy nitro head, thin and ecru in color. Beer is deep black, even in its sample tumbler. Taste is again creamy aided by it nitogen pour. Not overly sweet nor dry. with mildly roasted malts. I get a slight bit of alcohol heat, and a trace of banana ester.

Mug Club glass, unfrosted, thank you! Quarter-inch creamy, tiny head but for a crop of bubbles on top. Fresh and spicy hop smell backed by a large malt bill. Solid brown body. My server said the brewmaster is big on Simcoe hops, as is this beer. My impression was it’s more toward the English version of IPA hops. No real PNW hop smack here, but grassy, bitter hop with a little citrus and spice, and a suggestion of dry hopping. Malts are clean, more of a chicory roast than coffee or chocolate. This bastard child of many styles is a nice twist and worth a hophead’s time.Oct. 2007. No re-rate here, but just as a tempting update, I notice "IBA" marked on one of the barrels scattered around the premises.

Mug Club draft. Light amber color with a short but stubborn head. A light wheat beer smell, which, when drinking, brings a hint of fresh hops. Carbonation is distractingly low for a wheat beer. Bit of toasty malt, barely supported by light citrus hops; Slight weizen yeast note. Rather slight in taste, yet it has room to improve if they brew it again. And after leaving, I still had a sense of well-being, so it’s not all bad.Taster from cask, 6/5/07: Not many chances to try an American wheat on cask. Here it brings out a bit of sourness (I hope that’s not fouled lines), plus extra banana esters. In other words, a different beast served warm. Head remains very short, white, and even more stubborn.

Mug club draft on nitro. Half-inch tan stout head, a nice Guinness-y cascade that fades from café au lait to jet black. Smell has some roastiness and a bit of grain. But the glass is just too damn cold for this style! The foam had a nice creamy texture, and in the cold, the effervescence was a little fuller than the unusal thin pinpricks of a notro stout. I had the hold a swig in mouth to warm up so I could taste its bitter coffee notes and astringency. This beer is, yes, dry, with a touch of orange for an Irish stout’s usual bit of sour. A pleasant session beer than needs to be wamred up a little.

Mug Club draft. Tapped 1/23. Gotta give some props to a brew that breaks a rule or two: CLOUDY brown body under a quarter inch bubbly head, looking like a root beer float with its ice cream melted. High yeast taste, but low on banana esters. Chocolate malts come up midway through, followed by a bit of prune. A little milky, too. A difficult beer to get to know, but well worth the effort.

Draft. One of the fisrt specialties from new brewmaster Tim Marshall (ex of the RB Warrenville). This has a garnet brown body under a thinning head. A hearty caramel malt smell. Some fruity esters that are matched by a nice dry finish. Complex but light spicy hops. Malts are actually a bit light for the color, but there’s of them. Fine beer for the new location.

Nitro draft. Deep black-brown body under a thick creamy head. A rich malt smell; not as alcoholic as its abv suggests. Taste is smooth and creamy, thanks to the nitro push. No roasties, just smooth with a peek of spicy hops. Very refined.There’s also a dry-hopped cask version on tap when I visited today. This has a thinner head and texture. Still some yeast in the taste. Nuttier roast than the tap version. Hint of brett sourness. Citrusy hops are a bit of a distraction, though. Estery finish. Rating on the cask version: 6-3-7-4-15=3.5