Rogue Sriracha Hot Stout Beer

Brewed By: Rogue Ales in Newport, Oregon  

Purchased: 750ml (1 pint, 9.4oz) bottle bought at Jewel-Oscoin Chicago, IL; 2015

Style/ABV: Spice/Herb/Vegetable American Stout, 5.7%

Reported IBUs: ?

In b4 this is the best beer I've had from Rogue in a long time. About Rogue:

Rogue has been around forever, and if their beer was more widely available, and not so damn expensive, I'd probably drink more of their stuff. The brewery was founded in 1988 in Ashland, Oregon by Jack Joyce, Bob Woodell, Rob Strasser, and home brewer Jeff Schultz. Due to increasing space and distribution limitations, Jack Joyce went searching in Newport for a location for the new Rogue pub. It was at this time that he met Mohave Niem, founder of Mo's Clam Chowder. She offered Jack space to brew in her building, and in 1989 the Bay Front Brew Pub was built. Rogue's headquarters currently reside in Newport to this day. In May 1989, current head brewmaster, John Maier, joined Rogue after a brief sting brewing with Alask Brewing. John was a former Senior Technician with Hughes Aircraft Co, and a graduate of the Seibel Institute. To learn more about Rogue, check out their website HERE.

The Sriracha Hot Stout is brewed with Huy Fong original hot chili sauce and sun ripened Rogue Farms ingredients. As you can guess, this pours into a dark, opaque body, kicking up a couple of fingers of tan head. There is good head retention, good lacing, and the beer looks the part of any solid American Stout/Porter.

Rogue Sriracha Hot Stout Beer

The aroma on this is actually really good. You get tons of umami, Sriracha, spicy heat, chili, chocolate, cocoa, toast, that creamer/lactose note, and a fair amount of milk chocolate ala a Hershey's bar. And then there's just that hint of coffee from the darker malts. The aroma really starts to pop as things warm up as well.

I cannot fault this beer, it basically sets out what it intends to accomplish, and it does a really good job. This beer nails the umami flavor up front, and delivers a solid Sriracha punch with lots of tomato paste, and chili heat that punches the lower part of your throat. This is not a 2-D beer, and delivers a wave of chocolate, coffee, dark malts, and milk chocolate towards the back. The chocolate plays well with the chili heat that is kicking around in the back of the throat, and you get some cinnamon and chocolate-chili vibes. Overall, it's not bad. 

This is medium-bodied, has good depth, good complexity, and a good Porter/Stout base. The base to this is actually quite rich, especially at 5.7%. I'm getting a lot of that chocolate goodness, and the mouthfeel has substantial chew. Rogue's beers are hit and miss in this category, but they nailed the body on this one. The complexity unfolds through the umami-forward front, and then the chocolate-heavy middle, and the chili-chocolate back. It's like a toned down version of the many higher ABV chili Stouts out there. 

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average here. This is a really good Porter/Stout masquerading as a really solid chili beer. The Sriracha comes through with some nice chili spice and umami character, and the base beer is big and bold. I would definitely consider pairing this beer with food. And as it stands, 750ml is a lot of this beer...maybe share this one with a friend. 

Random Thought: Overall, Rogue makes some solid beers...maybe even more hits than misses. It's too bad they price themselves out of the market. 

Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers

Brewed By: Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, California

Purchased: 22oz bomber bought at Capone's Liquor & Food in Chicago, IL; 2014

Style/ABV: American Porter, 5.9% 
Reported IBUs: 53

Tonight's beer was just sitting on shelves, saying "tick me, bro." I've already dabbled wit Stone's Smoked Porter, which is really good. The Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans is even better. About Stone:

Stone Brewing are one of the more prominent breweries in the American craft brewing scene. They were founded in 1996 in San Marcos, California, and moved to Escondido, California where they recently expanded their operations. Stone was founded by Steve Wagner and Greg Koch. Koch has a reputation among the craft beer community for voicing his opinion, not putting up with shit, and standing behind his beer. Also...farking woot and fizzy yellow beer is for bitches. 

The Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers is the brainchild of Chris Carroll, who in 2006, suggested producing a one-off version of the Stone Smoked Porter brewed with the addition of chipotle peppers. Stone describes this beer as a "deep, roasty quaff," which is also how I describe going down on Serena Williams. Let's get this into a glass and do that adjunct bench press. 

Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers

This one pours out like a Porter or Brown Ale. The shocker here is the three-fingers plus of dense, sustaining head. The head takes on root beer float consistency, and has that cola-brown color. The body of the beer is also hinting towards a dark brown or ruby red in low light. In bright light the beer is a just slightly hazy reddish-orange color, it's kind of murky and swampy, like port side storage containers. The head is hanging around, and there be lacing ahead. 

This one smells surprisingly sweet from the onset. I'm getting big toast, dusty cocoa, lactose chocolate, nuttiness, nutty coffee, hazelnut, and coffee sweetness. There's also an earthy element to the coffee aroma which is nice. There's a hint of earthy ash and smoke on the aroma as well. Noteably absent on this beer's aroma is the smell of chipotle or pepper. I'm not getting any in the aroma. If you handed this to me blind and told me to judge it based on aroma alone, I'd be SOL. 

Mild spice is the name of the game here, with tingly chipotle massaging the sides of your tongue and building towards a peppery finish that drops salty jalapenos, green peppers, and chipotle goodness on the back of your throat. It's a blast of refined and constrained pepper to your tonsils, if you still have them. The base beer is given plenty of room to do its thing, with lots of Brown Ale/Porter-esque goodness. There's plenty of toast, caramel, cocoa, sweet chocolate, nuttiness, and subtle coffee notes at work here. The peppery heat is a nice counterpoint to this beer's somewhat one-dimensional sweetness, but those are the ropes in Porter country. 

As a general rule of thumb, I am better than everyone. People complaining about this beer's heat are wrong and should try some of Stone's Crime. People complaining about this being too light should note that this is a gentle beer, really. The 5.9% goes undetected, and I'd almost dare say this is pretty accessible both in terms of drinkability and sessionability. I don't want to jump the gun on potential food pairings, but this beer seems like it would really go well with some chocolate cake, mole sauce, bacon, chili, clam chowder (per Stone's website), ribs, grilled meats, and big ass burgers. It's kind of a foodie beer, certainly a beer with purpose. It's the adjuncts. Anyway...palate depth and complexity are both pretty good, and this one has that medium-light mouthfeel with nice carbonation and tingly pepper heat that moves things along. If there was ever a case for Ales > Dunkler Bocks, this beer might be it. Up front: rich cocoa, dusty chocolate, nuttiness, coffee; the mids roll into more cocoa and coffee, toast, growing pepper heat; the back end continues with the cocoa, nuttiness, earthy coffee, ash, and big green pepper, jalapeno, and chipotle show up to punch the back of your throat. I'm digging this.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

This is a very Strong Above-Average. This is the perfect example of how you can balance adjuncts against a really solid base beer. Both the Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers and the Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean are an improvement over the base beer, in my humble opinion. This is a somewhat mild and manageable beer, but I suspect it will really work with the aforementioned food pairings. If you appreciate pepper heat, check this beer out. Yeah, it's somewhat spicy. But it's nothing like the abominations that Crime and Punishment are. This is a solid Porter, and you could do much worse at around $5.99~7.99 per bomber.

Random Thought: I debated drinking this tonight because I picked up some hoppy beers that I don't want to camp on for too long, but I think I made the right choice. I'm not sure how chipotle peppers hold up with time, but I have to image they drop off. 

Pipeworks Chipotle Smoked Porter

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #95) bought at Binny's in IL; 2013 (bottled 2.26.13)

Style/ABV: Smoked Porter, 7.5%
Reported IBUs: ?

The only thing I like better than a late night Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™ is some nice copypasta. Tonight's beer is basically Pipeworks' Smoked Porter with the addition of some chipotle. Can you say yum? About Pipeworks:

Pipeworks has humble roots. The brewery was founded in Chicago in 2011 by Beejay Oslon and Gerrit Lewis. The duo were both homebrewers that met while while working at West Lakeview Liquors. In 2011, they began to raise money for their brewery using the online Internet site, Kickstarter. Olson and Lewis were both educated at De Struise Brewery in Oostvleteren, Belgium. With that knowledge, and the money from their kickstarter, Olson and Lewis created a unique brewery that is smaller in size, and intended to brew smaller batches of beer. The company's motto is "small batches, big beers." And indeed, since the brewery has been around, they've been releasing a lot of one-offs and small batch releases. The goal is to release a new beer every week. You can read more about the brewery at their website HERE.

The back of the bottle reads:

"For those crazy enough to think our smoked porter needed something more, we give you Chipotle Smoked Porter. In addition to the already bold character from the smoked malts, we bring the heat with a healthy dose of chipotle peppers to take this rich porter to the next level. Recommended pairing with a giant hunk of smoked meat and a big ass bon fire on a cold night."

There was no gushing or carb issues here. This beer pours into a dark brown/soda-black body, and kicks up a pinky's worth of dark khaki/tan head. The head quickly fizzles out, and the beer has crackly, soda-like carbonation. In bright light, this beer is a swampy and murky brown color, with some tingly carbonation dotting the surface of the beer. I've had quite a few Stouts/Porters brewed with peppers, and this beer looks and pours like many of them.

Pipeworks Chipotle Smoked Porter 

For a beer brewed early this year, there's still a lot of smoke on the aroma. I'm getting chocolate, roast, coffee, and lots of beechwood-y smoked malts. There's a lot of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, molasses, chocolate, and vanilla on this beer's nose. What I would peg as an earthy coffee note is probably the chipotle, and the aroma definitely has a peppery vibe, but I don't know if I would place it in a blind tasting.

Chipotles are smokey and spicy, so the addition of chipotle to this beer only adds another layer of complexity. I feel like this is more smokey than the Smoked Porter, and there's a nice pinch of heat on the back that you can feel in the back of your throat. It's not End of Days good, but it's good. You get earthy smoke and beechwood smoke up front, and there's lots of coffee, earthy dirt, earthy peppers, and chocolate in the mix. The chipotle kicks in towards the back, and you get peppery spice and chipotle smoke on the finish. The lingering flavors on the palate are spicy pepper and some chocolate-syrup. Vanilla is in the mix too.

This is solid. Being the spicy food aficionado that I am, I would preference this over the Smoked Porter. Palate depth is good, and complexity is okay. This is medium to medium-full bodied. The mouthfeel is made lighter thanks to some carbonation and tingly pepper spice. This has good drinkability, assuming you aren't some smoked-malt hating hoser, and the 7.5% ABV goes mostly unnoticed. It's all about the beechwood smoked malts up front; the middle hits coffee, dirt, peppers, and chocolate; the back end is all chocolate and peppery spice. The finish here is spicy...and malty. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

In the same vein as the Smoked Porter, I'll toss this a Strong Above-Average. This beer drinks like a smokey chocolate Stout or Porter, so the addition of the chipotle pepper is very welcomed. I'd love to see Pipeworks brew this again, or any of their Stouts with the addition of chipotle. If you can snag a bottle of this...go for it. I'm about to pair this beer with a sandwich, but as the bottle suggests, you could certainly pair this beer with some BBQ or grilled/smoked meats. This would also go well with some chocolate cake, or chocolate dipped churros. 

Random Thought: TGIFF. 

Fantôme Chocolat

Brewed By: Brasserie Fantôme in Soy-Erezée, Belgium   

Purchased: 750ml bottle bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Saison/Farmhouse Ale, 8.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

I'm excited for tonight's beer. I'm excited that Fantôme has become more widely available in my area, which makes little to no sense. What is Fantôme? 

Fantôme is a brewery based out of Soy, Wallonia, Belgium, that was founded in 1988 by the mad man and mastermind, Dany Prignon. The brewery is located in a crumbling farmhouse in the Marche-en-Famenne district of Luxembourg province, and Fantôme's beer just might be more popular in the United States than it is in Belgium. Dany brews one type of beer: Saisons/Farmhouse Ales. Each of his Saisons have a unique twist, and he often brews his beers using herbs, spices, juices, and other off-beat ingredients. Their website is so hardcore it only comes in French, but check it out anyway. 

Tonight's beer, the Fantôme Chocolat, is an amber Saison brewed with local chocolate from Derfoimont. Clocking in at 8.0% ABV, this beer is supposed to reveal an "original bitter cocoa." The front of my bottle says, "brewed with cocoa and chili pepper," so we will see how that goes. A lot of reports indicate that the chocolate isn't all that noticeable in this, but it's possible that a fresh bottle might have a stronger chocolate presence. Lastly, as with all corked bottles (as this is), be wary of the gush!

Fantôme Chocolat

In low light this beer pours a hazy amber-brown color, with two fingers of thick, Belgian-esque, orange-tinted head. There's a ton of carbonation streaming upwards in the hazy body. In bright light, the beer's body takes on an orange-amber color, and the head is clearly off-white with hints of orange. Head retention is great, and the body's hazy body is the stuff Saisons should be made of.

The aroma is subtle, and very funky. I'm pulling off earthy spice, dirt, pepper, a lot of Brett funk: sweat, mild butcher shop, leather, some barnyard, and BIG wet hay. I'm getting some pear, grass/wheat, melon, and peach as well. I really wasn't expecting to get chocolate/chili in the nose, but maybe in the taste?  

Interesting...aside from the typical Saison-esque notes, which include some nice citrus, grass, hay, and Brett funk, I'm pulling out an almost smoked malt flavor in this. It reminds me a touch of a Rauchbier, or peated/smoked wheat malt. This has lovely lemon, wheat, wet hay, a touch of musty/sour funk, and big barnyard notes. The back end rounds out with that hint of smoke, smoked/peated wheat malt, and a touch of denseness which I can only assume is the chili/chocolate. EPHIPHANY: I'm pretty sure the smoke I'm tasting can be best described as an ancho chile flavor. Think chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. You get all your funky Saison trimmings up front, and a hint of smokey, ghostly (ohhhh) ancho chile in the back. 

This is a refreshing, quaffable, light-bodied beer. The mouthfeel is damn near perfect, with great supporting carbonation, and a strong palate depth. The complexity is the beer's shortcoming, and the promised chocolate and chili doesn't really deliver. Still...this is an easy-going Saison, and pretty dangerous at 8.0%. You get sexy Brett-funk, wet hay, barnyard, lemon, tart lemon, very mild sour up front; that rolls into musty funk and wheat; the back end turns into light smoke, and that ancho chile ride. 

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

This is a very Light Above-Average. It's not a bad beer by any means...obviously. The Saison part is banging, albeit maybe in need of a little more spice. But this beer advertises chocolate and chili...and in that regard, it falls a bit short. But, the ancho chile flavor in this is nice, assuming that is what I'm tasting. To that end, I would pair this beer with authentic Mexican food (I wish), or maybe some homemade chili...which I haven't done in a while. I'm due for some chili. Not really a summer food though.

Random Thought: So, I know the Midwest isn't exactly the utopia for beer, but we have some good shit. What confuses me is how we are able to import Fantôme, but other Belgium brands like Cantillon are only shipped out to the East Coast. I don't get it.

Pipeworks End of Days (Batch #62)

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #62, red wax) bought at Binny's in IL; 2012 

Style/ABV: Milk/Sweet Stout, 8.2%
Reported IBUs: ?

Alright! I'm getting the best of both worlds tonight. After drinking Revolution's Mad Cow, which was a supped up Milk Stout, and Sam Adams' The Vixen Chocolate Chili Bock, I'm ready to embrace a chili-infused Milk Stout. Thankfully....Pipeworks delivered. About Pipeworks:

Pipeworks has humble roots. The brewery was founded in Chicago in 2011 by Beejay Oslon and Gerrit Lewis. The duo were both homebrewers that met while while working at West Lakeview Liquors. In 2011, they began to raise money for their brewery using the online Internet site, Kickstarter. Olson and Lewis were both educated at De Struise Brewery in Oostvleteren, Belgium. With that knowledge, and the money from their kickstarter, Olson and Lewis created a unique brewery that is smaller in size, and intended to brew smaller batches of beer. The company's motto is "small batches, big beers." And indeed, since the brewery has been around, they've been releasing a lot of one-offs and small batch releases. At one point - and maybe still - the goal was the release a new beer every week. You can read more about the brewery at their website HERE.

Pipework's End Of Days was brewed to commemorate the end of the world...and this beer is totally appropriate. Why, you ask? Because the Mayans liked chocolate and chilies, and made chocolate drink. The back of the bottle states:

"End of Days is our tribute to the coming of the end... of the Mayan calendar! We've aged this milk stout with cacao nibs, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, and ancho chilies. The result is a rich chocolaty stout, with just a hint of spice. We hope you'll enjoy this beer before the End of Days."   

One final note of interest...this beer doesn't have the usual warning about being bottle conditioned, which leads me to wonder if it is not. Hmm. 

End of Days (Batch #62)

This one pours surprisingly dark, and has a rapidly dissolving, thin/sickly looking head. The head had a coffee-brown color, but faded into a bit of a lighter color as it went away. I'm reminded quite a bit of SKA's Autumnal Mole Stout. When held to a bright light, this beer is still ink-black, with a nice brown head that you can kick up by swirling the beer. There's a ton of microscope bubbles providing carbonation for this beer, and a ring of brown is sticking to the sides of the glass. Really, this is sexy stuff.

I really like the aroma on this, and I'm reminded (again) of SKA's Autumnal Mole Stout...only with more of that Sweet Stout base. I'm getting roast, lactose-roast, leather, earthy chilies, green chilies, cinnamon, chili spice, and earthy cocoa and chocolate. This one has some really earthy smells, with that leather-chili-almost dirt thing going on. Maybe coffee?

Oh dang...full disclaimer, I love chili. This beer is spicy! I'm getting some mad chili on the back of this thing. Up front is some chocolate, vanilla, cocoa, and coffee...this rolls into lactose-vanilla-coffee, and then bam! I'm getting firey chili spice, cinnamon, mole sauce, dirt, ash, spent coffee, and some impressive chili heat down the back of my throat. The chili heat is amazing, with some nacho-jalapeno-salt kick. This is smooth, but features flat carbonation, and some slight sticky on the finish. 

This beer makes me happy, and fuck the haters. But I gravitate towards overly spicy food. This is smooth, slightly creamy, and dense...but features flat carbonation, and transitions into tingly chili goodness. Mouthfeel is medium-full to full. The palate depth on this is good, with solid chilies hanging around in the finish, and complexity is moderate to high. At 8.2%, I could drink this all night long. Up front is coffee, roast, chocolate, vanilla, a hint of dark fruit, lactose; the middle starts with lactose, then cinnamon, then dirt, ash, hints of smoke, fire; the back end is cinnamon, chili spice, and some nice chili heat. Slightly sticky; slight alcohol on the finish; definite chili heat.

Rating: Divine Brew

This is fan-fucking-tastic, and is surely a Light Divine Brew. I've heard that previous batches didn't have the body to support all the stuff going on here, but Batch #62 is a big boy Stout. This is one of the better things I've had from Pipeworks, but I'm biased in that I love spicy food. You get mad mole flavors and mad chili flavors in this, and I just want to pair this with some chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, a churro with chocolate dipping sauce, chili, assorted Mexican food, a pork sandwich, or anything that works with chilies/mole. Solid stuff.

Random Thought: I am biased as hell, so take that for what it is...also, this is quite the "Milk Stout." I'm curious what the recipe for this beer is prior to the addition of the vanilla beans, cocoa nibs, chili peppers, and cinnamon.

Samuel Adams The Vixen Chocolate Chili Bock

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company in Boston, Massachusetts 
Purchased: 22oz bottle from Sam Adam's Small Batch Collection "gift set" [Batch No. 2]; 2012
Style/ABV: Spice/Herb/Vegetable (Bock), 8.5%

Reported IBUs: 20

I didn't ask for much this Christmas, so I was surprised to unwrap the Small Batch Collection "gift set," which was a nice treat. Mi familia knows me well. The Small Batch Collection features "limited release beers" that are slightly more experimental or unique in nature, and may or may not be brewed again. About Sam Adams:

Samuel Adams was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, and currently the Boston Beer Company is the largest American-owned beer company in the United States. Sam Adams is also the largest craft brewer in America, with over a million barrels of beer being produced annually. You can check out the Sam Adam's website for more info.

Today's beer, The Vixen, is a Chocolate Chili Bock brewed with cinnamon, spices, and cocoa nibs. I'm hoping this beer fares better than their Chocolate Bock. The Vixen is described as smooth and rich, with a touch of sweetness and spicy heat. This beer is brewed with 2-row pale malt, Munich, Caramel 60, and Weyermann Carafa I malts; it also uses Hallertau Mittelfrueh Noble hops. But the real allure to this beer is the fact that it is aged on a bed of cocoa nibs from Ecuador, and then ancho and chipotle chilies are added, along with spices and cinnamon. Let's glass this up, and see what's going on.

The Vixen Chocolate Chili Bock

In low light, the beer pours a dark brown color, with two fingers of thick, creamy, light tan/khaki head. When held to a bright light, the body of the beer is a reddish-brown color. This beer is transparent and filtered, and features good carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles. Head retention on this is pretty nice, and I'm kicking up head as I swirl this (classy, I know). You get some clingy lacing, and some alcohol legs. (seriously, it's been like 10 minutes now, and there is still a centimeter of head hanging around)....

The aroma on this is pretty clean and mild...I'm getting chocolate, cocoa, molasses, powdered cream (the stuff you dump in your coffee if you suck), hints of coffee, hints of dark fruits (plums mainly), caramel, and maybe hints of floral and bread. I'm not getting a whole lot of spice or chili on the nose.

Well, this is not the Chocolate Bock. This tastes fairly rich, and has reasonable density (which you expect at 8.5% ABV). You get chocolate and cocoa up front, along with molasses and caramel, and hints of plums and raisins. I'm getting very subtle chili flavors on the back end, with hints of chili spice and cinnamon. As I continue to drink this, the spice starts to creep up into the front of the palate, and it compliments the chocolate in a very nice and subtle way.

Everything that wasn't fun about the Chocolate Bock is improved here. This has a fuller and denser mouthfeel; this is a medium-full beer, supported by tingly carbonation, and a peppery/cinnamon/chili backbone. Palate depth is average, and complexity is moderate. At 8.5%, this is very drinkable. Up front is chocolate, mocha, cocoa, molasses, hints of coffee and powdered cream; this rolls into more sweetness, raisins, plums; the back end terminates with lingering cocoa sweetness, and a hint of chili and cinnamon. As you drink this, the chili and cinnamon starts to creep towards the front palate, but it never grabs hold to dominate this beer.

Rating: Average

I'm feeling a Strong Average here. This is a nice improvement over the Chocolate Bock, and adds a much-needed layer of complexity. Still, I wish the chili and cinnamon were a touch more assertive, and this isn't the most complex beer in the world. But this is a really solid beer in many ways, and I could see myself trying to mix this in with some chili. I would pair this with chili, or a burger, or go the complete opposite direction and drop a scoop of ice cream in this float style...I bet that would be delicious. This is pretty solid stuff, and MUCH better than the Chocolate Bock. Recommended...especially if you can snag it for less than 8 or 9 dollars.

Random Thought: Time to go watch the Denver vs. Baltimore game....I'm conflicted, I like to cheer for the underdog, but I want to see Manning face off against Brady in the Championship game.