I'll start out by saying that I freaking love this beer. It's just so damn good. It has so much stuff going on for such a relatively tiny beer. The base of the beer is an English Dark Mild. A style of which I am particularly fond. I added pumpkin to the beer for body, and then also cocoa to the mash and finally ancho chilis to the fermenter.
The beer is dark (duh) almost cola like. Held up to the light it has a nice ruby color. Pours a very pitiful head that disintegrates into nothing in a matter of seconds... but that's to be expected in this style.
The nose is all over the place and in a good way. First bits of chocolate and roast followed the smallest bit of coffee, then just completely assaulted with the smell of sweet chilies followed by a bit of classic fruity English yeast character.
The taste is pretty much on par with the nose. A nice bit of biscuit and toast and chocolate at first. With just enough chili at the finish to remind you that it's there but not enough to steal the show.
The mouthfeel is where this brew falls short. It's a bit thinner than I was hoping. Brewday for this one had some challenges due to garage brewing on a very cold day, which resulted in me being unable to hold a solid mash temp. Fortunately though I had the foresight to keep the carbonation very low (1.8ish volumes) so it's not astringent at all.
Overall this is a great beer that I had originally brewed for the holidays, but am very glad I held onto a case. It ended up being the perfect beer for this time of year (it's practically spring in Texas right now). Fairly complex and interesting with great flavors layered one ontop of the other but so damn easy to drink. It also pairs incredibly well with BBQ.
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