Hubbard's Cave El Zacatón

El Zacatón

 

Hubbard's Cave in Niles, Illinois, United States 🇺🇸

Brewed at/by: Une Année Brewery
  Stout - Pastry / Flavoured - Imperial Rotating
Score
7.73
ABV: 12.0% IBU: - Ticks: 18
Imperial stout fermented with almond flour, cacao nibs, cinnamon sticks, vanilla beans, ancho chilies, guajillo chilies, habanero chilies, and cherrywood.
 

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8.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

473ml can. Jet black colour with average, frothy to creamy, collapsing, dark brown head. Sweet-ish, slightly nutty and chocolately, dark and caramel malty as well as slightly spicy and minimally fruity aroma, notes of cocoa, cinnamon, treacle, molasses, caramel, peppery, minimally smoky hints of chili, vanilla, almond, some cherry, oaky overtones. Taste is initially, sweet-ish, roasty, slightly chocolately, dark malty and minimally caramel malty, minimally spicy, notes of cocoa and dark chocolate, later slightly ashy, smoky, hot spicy and minimally fruity, notes of chili, chipotle, a touch of vanilla, almond, cherry, cinnamon, oak; accumulating, warming spiciness, well hidden alcohol. Creamy-oily, almost viscous texture, smooth and soft, minimally cloying, simultaneously and increasingly pungent palate, fine, soft, creamy, mildly prickly carbonation. Very nice and harmonious composition, excellent and balanced aroma, slightly imbalanced, overspiced taste, though; the habanero chilies are simply too much. It's not that I can't stand the pungency, but all other flavours are pushed aside into a mere underpart, probably the cherrywood offers most resistance; the hot habanero spiciness remains finally un-integrated. Nevertheless one of the best composed flavoured Impy Stouts concerning selection and quality/clarity of adjuncts - brilliant!

Tried from Can on 02 Aug 2024 at 21:53


7.2
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

0.33l bottle thanks to Lore. Black body with a tiny pearl head. Aroma of coffee, chocolate, lactose and some vanilla. Taste of chocolate, vanilla, coffee and a lot of chillies. It's really hot. Nice beer, but the heat is a bit too much for me.

Tried from Bottle on 25 Jul 2024 at 20:22


9.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9.5

deep dark brown colour, minimal beige lacing; aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, cocoa powder, chilli pepper, raisins and sour cherry soaked into alcohol; taste has the same notes with definite hazelnuts; great one!

Tried on 25 Jul 2024 at 20:07


7.1
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Can. Black beer with a brown head. Cinnamon and chocolate aroma with vanilla. Vanilla and chili flavor. Medium-plus bodied. Chilies and spice linger with chocolate and light fruitiness. Habanero overpowers.

Tried from Can on 31 May 2024 at 17:39


6.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Pours dark brown, no head. aroma is boozy, all sorts of sweet spices, honey and surup, peppery chili bite you won't notice unless you look for it, but it is clearly and quite powerfully there, mixed into the vanilla and syruppy notes. Flavor is VERY chili hot, a sweet flowery suruppy almost barley winiesh base, and then a lot of pretty hot chili flavors. I like these super-hot habanero chili chips a lot, this one is nearly as hot as they are. Unfortunately the rest of the beer doesn't really work well with the chili bite, it's too sweet and syruppy. Perhaps try the same chilies in a barley wine, or in an imperial stout with much more powerful roasted malty notes.

Tried on 11 Oct 2023 at 17:18


8.9
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9.5

Enjoyed on tap at New World in Tampa, FL. Fantastic stuff. Pitch black, No head, aroma of dark chocolate and rich espresso, really great burn in the back end from the mixture of booze and chiles. Really good!

Tried from Draft on 16 Feb 2023 at 22:25


7.5
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

2019-1 Bottle. Pours black with small beige head. The aroma is strong mole, cocoa, cinnamon, wood. Slick body, similar flavors to nose, light heat from peppers, very good.

Tried from Bottle on 16 Oct 2022 at 22:15


7.6
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

1-28-22 CBC

Tried on 29 Jan 2022 at 03:22


7.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Can, 2021-2. Inky black body with orange-red from the chiles, no head other than floating bits of pepper. Aroma of mocha and vanilla especially, then cinnamon and peppers. Oily body, kind of flat, lots of cocoa, vanilla, and cinnamon, with vegetal notes and heat from the chiles that makes up for some of the missing carbonation. Eventually all of the elements settle into a delicious medley of flavors and textures, so I recommend more than a small sample.

Tried from Can on 08 Dec 2021 at 21:33


8.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9.5 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Can from Livonia Liquor. Pours a pitch black with a finger of brown head that dissipates. Some weird floaties that move to the surface that are likely cinnamon, chili or almond flour that are not really appealing to look at. Nose is bang on though; tons of cinnamon with nice chili heat and slight habanero fruitiness is present. More of the same on the palate. Great viscous mouthfeel. Cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla and chili spice. What Xocoveza wanted to be all these years. Great stuff.

Tried from Can from Livonia Liquor & Fine Wine on 04 Dec 2021 at 03:07