Welcome to Part 2 of a 3-part pepper beer series. I was pleasantly surprised to see this in the store, and not having tried it before, I grabbed a bottle. Must have been left over from this past summer. But interestingly enough, Escondido, CA-based Stone Brewing Co. releases several versions of this beer - they also have a winter seasonal, which is a smoked porter with vanilla beans, which I have just recently tried.
It's got a fast pour and a nice deep red / brown color, which as you may know is one of my favorites for beer. The beer has a tan head to it, that dies down quickly but leaves nice lacing in the glass.
The beer has a faint nose of peppers but nothing really strong. On the first sip, I tasted a nice zing of peppers almost immediately, and as the flavor develops, that heat dies away and gives way to some pleasing dark malt / porter flavors. The pepper zing is like a lightning bolt - it's sharp and fast, and is gone just as soon as it arrived.
Unlike the Xocoveza, which had a very deep, subtle flavor to it, this beer has a sharp pepper burst with a little accompanying heat. But the beer is bright and fresh, and so the flavors go well with the texture. It's a smooth porter with a dash of flavors, and makes a great beer to serve cold on a hot day. I'd say this would be a good starter beer, since the pepper flavors are strong enough to make it interesting but mellow enough to not burn your tastebuds off.
No comments:
Post a Comment