SKA Autumnal Mole Stout

Brewed By: SKA Brewing in Durango, Colorado

Purchased: 12oz can from a 6-pack bought at Binny's in IL; 2012

Style/ABV: Spice/Herb/Vegetable (Stout), 5.5%

 

It's been a while since I've dabbled with SKA's beer. That makes me sad, because I love ska (the genre), and I love beer. SKA's website is the tits, and you should check it out. In case you're unfamiliar with the brewery that was putting beer into cans before cans were cool (and the guys who brew Euphoria Pale Ale and Modus Hoperandi):

SKA Brewing are all about the ska, from the design of their website to the Toasters' songs playing in the background on the homepage. They even released a special beer, the Toasters 30th Anniversary IPA, to celebrate the band. The website is pretty bitchin'...and while I usually get annoyed by websites that have music playing in the background, the site is playing music by the Toasters. The freaking Toasters, yo. It's such a feel-good nostalgia trip it is hard to hate. Flipping through the cool comic animations on SKA Brewing's website will give you a lot of cool brewery information. The brewery was founded in 1995 by Bill Graham and Dave Thibodeau in Durango, Colorado. In the 2008, the brewery moved to its current location at Bodo Industrial Park. The brewery has become famous for their use of cans, most notably for their Modus Hoperandi and Euphoria Pale Ale. For more information, check out their website!

Tonight's beer is evidently so new that you can't even find information about it on SKA's website. What gives, right? The can says: "Ale with peppers, cocoa, and spices." It's pretty safe to assume that this Stout be packin' dem peppers. This isn't the first beer I've had that has used a combination of peppers and spice, as I recall Stone's 11.11.11 Vertical Epic Ale. With that said, let's get this into a glass and see how it stacks up!

SKA Autumnal Mole Stout

This is a dark looking beer, especially in low light. The beer pours pitch black, and has a coffee-brown head that is thick and foamy at first, and then turns into thinly carbonated soap bubbles, and then rapidly dissolves into nothingness. The head progresses from Stout-like to completely absent in a matter of seconds. When held to bright light, this beer has some dark brown and MAYBE some ruby red escaping the edges...but it's mostly black. And any color around the edges is exaggerated by the wide bowl shape of my glass. Really, the beer is dark as fuck with no head.

As with all SKA beers, the artwork on the can is awesome. It's captivating, and invites you to try this beer.

The aroma on this one is pretty crazy. You get huge, earthy coffe on this...I'm talking about spent coffee sitting in the filter. It's so earthy...you almost get a dirt aroma on this. In a blind test...I might be hard-pressed to pull out pepper, but there is definitely a peppery thing going on in here. I get big red peppers, green peppers, and hints of earthy jalapeno. There's some dark bakers chocolate, and hints of cinnamon as well.

The taste is a nice follow-through of the nose. You get hit with with some nice malt smoothness...and then some carbonation...and then some peppery spice. The finish is really nice and smooth, with some roast and baker's chocolate/cocoa. And that was just my first sip. There is a lot of earthiness to this...tobacco, dirt, burnt green peppers, green peppers, jalapeno seed, salt, nachos. You also get some big coffee notes in this, with some tingling spice and slight cinnamon. It all terminates with lingering spice, peppers, and dark malt profiles. The spiciness on this is really balanced, and this doesn't get overly heavy with the pepper. 

I guess this does remind me of a mole sauce, maybe without any nuttiness. But this is incredibly earthy. At 5.5% ABV, this is fairly drinkable...it's just very unique. The peppers sort of make this not-sessionable, but this would be the perfect beer to pair with food, or to drink one or two of and really enjoy. Mouthfeel is medium-light, palate depth is great, and complexity is very high when you wouldn't think it would be. Up front is some malt, carbonation, and then huge earthy notes and peppers; the middle rolls into peppers, coffee, spice; the back end is spice, peppers, and fade to malts (including some cocoa). The finish is peppery, spicy, but otherwise clean, with slight dryness and saltiness.

Rating: Above-Average

This is a Strong Above-Average and possibly better...but I'll have to camp on it for a bit. You don't see many Stouts brewed with peppers...or any beer brewed with peppers, really. And you don't see them so incredibly balanced and light. At 5.5% ABV, this beer uses a finesse and has a refinement about it. It doesn't go overboard with the spice, cocoa, or peppers. I've only had my hands on this 6-pack for a few days, and I've already killed it. I think that speaks of the quality of this beer. This is absolutely awesome...and would pair well with chocolate desserts, chocolate, or any dish with mole sauce. If you were a masochist...you could pair this with nachos and cheese. But it might be a bit too much pepper and salt