As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I don’t like pepper beers. Nobody should be allowed to make them. It doesn’t make sense to mix the flavors of beer with peppers (although beer with smoke makes perfect sense to me). But, it is a smokebeer, and I am committed to drinking them, so this must happen. Also, please note that this beer was a selection in a smokebeer tasting held in my living room, where The Ministry convened to hand down their verdict in accordance with smokebeer law.

The smell right off the top comes in very similar to the regular Stone Smoked Porter but without that much of a pepper smell at all (1.875 of 7). And the opacity averaged out to a 4.5 of 7. Then the rubber hit the road as we all drank our samples which was just like a regular smokebeer (scoring a 2.25 in smokepower taste) for a few seconds, but then, on the back of the throat, arose a little burn that spread throughout the rest of our mouths (including our lips). Let me point out that none of this detracted from the experience at all. 2nd sip, 3rd sip, chug chug, and on and on, not really much to speak of, and then seconds after each taste, the peppers reappeared. If anything, we all came out with a better than expected experience. In my notes one wrote “I’m getting drunk,” and another questioned why the brewers description mentioned chocolate. A third person recommended pairing this beer with barbecue (I believe that’s a safe bet). All in all, not terrible! In fact, 4.3 in the overall is a nudge just above “meh” which is not bad for a pepper beer.

Stone knows:

http://www.stonebrewing.com/