Some Like It Hot
Brewers like to play around with special ingredients for their beer all the time. Some may add fruit to their beer, wood chips, plants, vegetables, and in some case, even bacon. One ingredient that’s not too common but definitely piqued my interest was the use of chiles in beer. Luckily, I’ve found myself in the middle of a perfect storm when it comes to chile beers, so I sat down with a couple friends to run the gamut of Northern California (and one outsider) chile beers.
L to R: Six Rivers Chile Pepper Ale, Rogue Chipotle Ale, Mad River Super Chile Pepper Madness, Lagunitas Habenro IPA and Habanero Chocolate Stout
For this tasting I sat down with head brewers Jeremy Marshall (Lagunitas) and Dylan Schatz (Mad River) to taste a couple of their own chile beers as well as a few others we had collected. We had also brought along some Cypress Grove Herbs de Humboldt cheese, as it’s supposed to go extremely well with their local Six Rivers Chile Pepper Ale. Beers in hand, we were ready to sample.
We started with Mad River’s Super Chile Pepper Madness. This beer is based on their Extra Pale Ale but had 5 types of peppers (Anaheim, Cayenne, Yellow Wax, Jalapeno and Habanero) added to the keg. The aroma is hot, but the flavor is sweet and full of flavor. Very drinkable, this beer and the cheese were instant partners with the herbs and chiles coming together to remind me of broths created when one makes mole or tortilla soup (This is a common flavor profile with this tasting and I will try to avoid repeating myself).
Next was Lagunitas’ Habanero IPA. This beer was a salvaged palate of kegs that wouldn’t fully carbonate. Instead of throwing it away, they threw it back in a tank on some finely chopped habaneros. Not incredibly fragrant, nor full of habanero flavor, this beer shows itself in the finish as the spices lifts off the tongue with the carbonation.
Six River’s Chile Pepper Ale has always been the standard for this style of beer in Northern California, using six types of peppers in the recipe. Varying from mild to searingly hot, this batch was definitely on the hot side. Holding it to your nose, you can feel the burn fill your sinuses. Big flavors and chile pepper finish are what this beer is all about. While all three of us are fans, this batch seemed to be a bit too spicy for us this time around.
From a beer that beat you over the head with a pepper we move to Rogue’s Chipotle Ale. While the chipotle was apparent in this beer, the malt was really the star of the show, bringing out a caramel and chocolate body that provided a great base for the smoky sweetness of the peppers to shine through.
What’s a tasting flight without a little dessert? Lagunitas Habanero Chocolate Stout (75% Fusion III Imperial Stout blended with 25% bourbon barrel-aged Gnarlywine and aged on habaneros and cocoa nibs) is big on chocolate up front and fades to a light spiciness in the finish. This is definitely a sipper of a beer with the chocolate and bourbon sweetness coming to the front and the spiciness acting to balance the beer out.
As I mentioned, the Mad River was a great pair with the Herbs de Humboldt, but it was the outsider from Oregon that provided the best pairing. The Rogue malt was matched by the creaminess of the cheese while the herbs and subtle chipotle balanced together as tasty highlights. The IPA lacked the chile flavor whereas Six Rivers was overpowering alongside the cheese. The Habanero Stout was close with the stout and chocolate playing well with the cheese. Where this pairing missed was in the herbs, the chocolate and herbs were just off enough that it took away from the overall experience.
What’s interesting about the concept of chile beers and the brewers I had on hand is that in both of their cases, the beers weren’t intentional. The Habanero IPA was a salvage job and in the process lead to some additional experimentation with the stout. In Mad River’s case, access to a fresh batch of peppers served as inspiration.
While none of these beers can claim to have a chile in the bottle, they are all wonderful examples of using a different ingredient in craft beer. Have you tried any chile beers, or do you have a favorite? Where could brewers go with this? Personally, I’d love an Aztec inspired stout or porter with chocolate, peppers and cinnamon.
5 Comments to “Some Like It Hot”
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Excellent!
I once had a Green Chili “Chile” Beer in Santa Fe, NM that was fantastic! I think it was from the Santa Fe Brewing Co, but so long ago… can’t be sure.
Agree with you on the Aztec Beer (stout/porter) and I have been looking for a recipe to homebrew for about eight months now. I’ve heard chili beer is pretty tough to pull off, for a good one, at least.
If I can ever pull off that Aztec Homebrew, I’ll be sure to let you know…
As always, keep up the great work!
Alas, my local brewery Devil’s Canyon in Belmont, CA is phasing out their excellent chile beer Hades Habenero, to focus on their standard line up.
Another beer of note that uses chilis is Cigar City’s Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout. It is aged on pasilla and ancho peppers as well as vanilla, cinnamon and cocoa nibs. It is really an exquisite beer…
Only one I’ve tried is Rogue Chipotle Ale. It’s good but hard to pair with food as I eat a lot of hot and spicy food as it is. Last thing I want to do is chase down my spicy hamburger with a chile beer.
You could always try using it as a marinade or mixing some of the beer into a hamburger.