Bent River - Jalepeño Ale

Well, the time has finally come. If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that I compare virtually every beer that involves chipotles, chiles, jalepeños to the beer that I’m going to review today: Bent River’s Jalepeño Ale. It’s a local craft brewery so you won’t find this particular brew on your grocery store shelves (even though their new expanded facility does include a bottling line), unless you’re a Quad Cities native and have a few months to wait. Some of us are just lucky bastards who can go straight to the brewery and don’t have to wait at all. Speaking of which… Let’s pour!

Aroma 11/12
The vegetable scent of the jalepeños is intense! The peppers are not a supporting character in this beer; they absolutely steal the show and run away with it. A rich breadiness is behind it as is a kind of salty, mysterious sweetness – at least there's some sort of sweetness in there to balance all those jalepeño flavors. The chile heat is also there, even if it is the most faint of the aromas. There’s no extract here, this has got to be the work of real peppers. Very unique. Very intense. Kinda scary!

Appearance 2/3
There’s no real head to speak of, but I’m coming to expect this more and more from pubs that serve draft beer. The color is a mix of pumpkin oranges, ochres, and bright copper pennies. It looks about how I would expect this beer due to look based on past experiences with the style.

Ketchup and mustard bottles for color comparison.

Flavor 18/20
Oh man, is this stronger than I remember! This is a seriously more potent batch. It starts out by introducing itself with a salty, spicy shout with plenty of neutral 2 row malts behind it. This is my guess. I don’t know the actual grain bill, but it would seem to be confirmed by the thick body that these flavors ride in on. Next the vegetable flavor of the pepper fades in as does a lot of heat. I mean a lot. Well, at least for a gringo like me. This is definitely not a “Oh maybe if you search for it, you might find a slight tingle behind the cinnamon and caramel and whatever other spices we added in here to make this beer seem well-themed.” This is a “Oh shit, who put something in my beer!” type heat. If you wouldn’t put Tobasco on your eggs, you might not enjoy this. In its defense, I don’t always remember it being this way (see the “Total” section below for a full explanation). As you hold the beer in the mouth, the chile heat fades a bit and the neutral malts really stand out. It’s joined by a light bitter, which goes well with the previously described malt. The whole time I’ve been drinking this, I’ve been trying to put a finger on the sweetness that this beer has. Normally one would suspect the malts, but given their “plain” flavor one eliminate them fairly quickly. The sweetness is the natural sweetness from the pepper! Just like a fresh green pepper can be sweet when eat raw (or roasted!), these jalepeños have that same clean, sweetness and they add their very incognito sweetness to the brew. The finish remains bitter with neutral malts, as well as a heat that needles the back of your throat. The aftertaste is only the heat of chiles, just like the parting shots of a meal at a Hispanic restaurant that maybe included few too many dashes of hot sauce.


Mouthfeel 4/5
The presumed 2-row malts give this beer a nice heavy body and a really nice, moderately-sized foaming action in the mouth to keep things from feeling too sluggish. Obviously, the heat from the chiles comes into play more than a little bit. Not much else to say here.

Pic from: http://breweries.findthebest.com/l/344/Bent-River-Brewing-Co

Overall Impression 8/10
This is really an enjoyable beer if you’re in the mood for something spicy and extremely unique. I’ve never had another beer like it. The roasted chile notes permeate every aspect of this beer and their authenticity is amazing. Finally, a pepper beer that doesn’t try to cover up or shy away from the peppers! The body is sturdy, but not burdensome thanks to some good foaming action. The beer itself might be improved by a more balancing sweetness, perhaps lended by an increase of crystal malts to the grain bill (or anything with a bit of light caramel for that matter).

Total 43/50
As I mentioned earlier in this review, this brew is a LOT more potent that I remember. Previously, it was not quite so outspoken about its spiciness, though it was still far from shy about it. It seems to me that it used to have more a balancing sweetness that not only rounded out the beer, but added more complexity to it as well. While this beer isn’t a one-trick pony, both its featured characteristics, the authentic pepper notes and the heat, come courtesy of the jalepeños. Those mild criticisms aside this is a great beer to pace oneself with. Its body and heat both almost insist that you sip it. When all is said and done, finishing this beer is almost like finishing a spicy meal. It was tasty, there was a little bit of spicy pain (“It hurts good,” my mother would say), and you really enjoyed it, but there is a slight sense of relief when the pint is finished. Needless to say, I highly recommend it. Cheers Bent River! You keep brewin’ it and I’ll keep drinking ‘em.

Rogue - Chipotle Ale

I have NO idea how I have done this many reviews and this is only my second post about a Rogue product.  I have lots of respect for Rogue and have even used their beers to mark certain benchmarks (50, 100, 200 different beers) with a certain bar's membership club.  Today's review is for Rogue's Chipotle Ale.  I love a good jalepeño-based beer!  Sure, there is some spiciness in there and not everybody cares for that.  Naysayers should know though, that the rest of the beer is often made as refreshing as possible to try and counter that spiciness.  Needless to say, in the midst of this midwestern heatwave (which shows no signs of letting up) a whole bunch of refreshing beer is just what I was looking for.  Let's pour!

Picture is my own.  Bottle art image used without permission for educational uses only.

Aroma 8/12
The first smell was almost a farm-like mustyness, as if something a bit gamey had gotten into the mix.  It dissipates soon enough and then the pepper-based heat appears in the nose.  However, even this fades away and gives rise to the premier aroma: the chipotle peppers' flavor.  They are smoky, salty and just a hint of sweetness.  The smoky and salty tones combined are enough to remind one of Bean & Bacon soup.  No other ingredients really shine through the strong chipotle aromas.


Appearance 3/3
This is a gorgeous beer!  When not in direct light, it is a red that nearly matches that on the label.  When lit at all, it is a beautiful, glowing orange with a pumpkin pastel colored head.  There is not a great volume of head, but it retains well and leaves sticky lace on my glass.

Picture is my own.

Flavor 14/20
Very light a crisp off the bat with a dull molasses sweetness.  You really have to hold this in the mouth to get the intended flavors as they are not readily apparent with simple sips.  The backbone is a continuation of the molasses, but introduces the smoky flavor and a mere suggestion of the pepper's heat.  Unfortunately, that is all you get, only a flash and then it is all but gone.  Only when I was more than halfway through the 650 mL bottle did I get any sort of lingering heat.  The heat is briefly restoked as the beer hits the back of the throat and that is really all that differs in the finish.  The aftertaste however adds a moderate but pronounced hop bitter to the lingering heat, leaving the mouth a bit dry and ready for another mouthful.  Very nice touch to end this beer.

Mouthfeel 4/5
It is very light in body, which is great for the style, but still maintains some level of creaminess.  Even in the beginning of the bottle when carbonation was abundant and bubbly, it still had a noticeable creaminess to it.  Halfway through the bottle the carbonation is tiny and sparse, which only makes this lightly creamy texture all the more noticeable.

Overall Impression 6/10
This beer is the consequence of indecision.  Chili beer is a bold choice and so one would expect a bold beer. There is plenty of daring-do in the aroma, but the flavor finds the chilis timid and muted.  The bitter at the end is bold and complimented what existing chili flavor there was (it could have complimented much more as well).  The result is a beer whose chilis are not bold enough to satisfy those looking for a more extreme experience and whose hop bitter is enough to keep away the entry-level beer drinker.

Total 36/50
This ranking still puts this beer in the "Very Good" category and rightly so.  It is not a bad beer by any means, I just don't see it satisfying the needs of those "bold" drinkers looking for a robust exbeerience.  Unfortunately for Rogue, those are the people most likely to buy this beer (especially in this quantity).  This beer is very much like a British Pale Ale, but with the chipotle peppers added to it.  The light creaminess and the aftertaste were the true high points of this beer, but can only do so much in the face of an ingredient that didn't come with guns a-blazin'.