Snitz Creek Brewery - "Habanero Flying Dutchman" ale

I travel often for work, and luckily, sometimes my job takes me to where good beer is made! Recently I was up in Pennsylvania and happened to be speaking at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA, which is located not too far from Snitz Creek Brewery (and their epic "Seltzer's Smokehaus #7" rauchbier!) I passed through Lebanon and would be remiss if I didn't grab a few crowlers.

So while I wanted for that delicious smoky nectar to be canned and sealed, I got chatting with head brewer Ryan Moncarz. Of course I'm always interested in new and funky beer experiments, and as such he pointed me in the direction of today's beer, called the "Habanero Flying Dutchman".

It's a 4.50% ABV ale made with habanero peppers, and is the latest iteration of their "Flying Dutchman" series. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? There's an interesting twist, though - this beer, and this series, is actually a collaboration project with Lebanon Valley College students! It started in 2015, and each year successive classes of students of chemistry, microbiology, and other disciplines come together to brew a beer and get a glimpse into the science side of brewing. The beer even bears the name of LVC's mascot, the Dutchman.

Lebanon Valley College's mascot. Go Dutchmen!

So let's dive in. It pours quickly, as expected for this kind of beer, and generates a thin white layer of foam. There's a ton of little bubbles coming up from the depths.

As usual, I let it warm up for about five minutes. At first, I'm not detecting any pepper aroma; instead, it's more like...apple? That's odd. It kinda looks like apple cider, too.

Right out of the gate, I'm detecting some very noticeable flaked wheat flavors; so great if you like German beers. The pepper isn't immediate, but it's definitely there - comes in after a second or two. And, I should note, it's not super hot - just a pleasant undercurrent of habanero. And you can tell that it's habanero, as there's not a lot of smoke to it, just that slightly sweet, slightly floral burn. Very tasty and really well done. There's more malt / flaked wheat towards the end, and the finish is quite muddled, and leaves a pleasant spicy aftertaste that lingers for a long while.

Most surprising is how low in alcohol this is; I'd expect a beer like this to be around 7.00% ABV. Instead it's a bit over half that. It's quite easy drinking, and has that "sessionable" quality which is quite welcome for a 32oz format!

I liked this a lot. Although it's on the mild end of pepper beers, it does not lack flavor and strikes the difficult balance between flavor and heat. It's perfect for those who like spice but aren't looking for their taste buds to be melted off in nuclear fire, a la Flying Dog's "Brewhouse Rarities Carolina Reaper" ale (which is epic and awesome, but too much even for a spice hound like me.) Although it's such a low ABV, it punches above its weight and is definitely worth trying and enjoying often!