Stone Brewing Co. / Cervezeria Insurgente - "Xocoveza" chocolate stout

I'm a huge fan of peppers in beer, and have tried numerous pepper beers over the years. Over the next few weeks I'll be reviewing a series of pepper beers, starting with this one.

A month or so ago, doing my bi-weekly scan of the craft beer aisle at Whole Foods on P Street here in DC, I ran into a guy who's a bartender at the Union Pub up in Northeast. He was scanning the beer aisle, back and forth, peering behind bottles, checking behind boxes. I know this behavior, as I have done it numerous times. He was quite obviously Looking for Something Special.

So he turns to me, as I am considering the latest from Weyerbacher. This dude asks me if I have seen Stone's latest coffee stout, the "Xocoveza." I haven't, and the helpful beer guy hadn't either. But lo and behold - it appears the next week at Whole Foods on P Street.

Of course, I investigate. Now, as you may recall from previous posts, I'm a bit tired of chocolate / coffee stouts. I've had enough of those kinds of beer, mostly due to the repetition of flavor profiles. And, at first, the Xocoveza seems like the usual chocolate/coffee stout. Well, wait juuuuuust a sec. Upon further investigation, I am proven wrong. It's actually a mocha stout made with peppers and spices. The word "Xocoveza" seems to be a portmanteau of the Aztec word for chocolate, "xocoatl" and the Spanish word for beer, "cerveza." 

But the plot thickens. Apparently, this beer is the winner of the American Homebrewers Association homebrew competition. The deal is that if you win said competition, Stone picks up your recipe and brews it full-scale as a collaboration beer. How cool! So apparently, a guy named Chris Banker won the contest, and thus the Xocoveza was born in collaboration with Mexican brewery Cervezeria Insurgente. And - in the interest of science - I bought a bottle to try.

It's got the usual color - dark brown. And, as usual for stouts, it's an electric caramel color (I just coined that phrase) when candled.

Nose is strong - and unusual. It's got a very pungent nose of peppers, chocolate, and spices.

In terms of taste, I think it's great. The heat flavor is very subtle, but definitely present. Nice smoky cocoa flavors come through as well, not bitter, burnt or roasted at all but smooth, pleasant flavor all the way through. Great chili pepper taste on the slightly-oily finish. It's much darker than other pepper beers I have had.

This beer reminds me of that hipster Fair Trade organic pepper chocolate they sell at Whole Foods for $7 an ounce or something. Still, so far so good, because it breaks that boring mold of dark, roast, bitter chocolate beer. It hits all the high notes of a pepper beer - heat, lingering chili flavors - but those tastes is very smooth and blend very nicely with the other spices they use - cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and cocoa. And I think the success of this beer hinges on that great partnership. Definitely seek this out if you can; not sure how well it will cellar, but I'd be willing to give it a year and then come back to it.