Cervesa Picosa Ahumada Roja
Valley Brewing Company in Stockton, California, United States 🇺🇸
Spiced / Herbed / Vegetable / Honey - Vegetable Regular|
Score
6.71
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5.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
22oz bottle@Noogfest4.0-thanks to beerguy101–pours an off white ring for a head and amber color. Aroma is medium malt, jalapeños. Taste is medium malt-smoke then jalapeños roll in like a steam roller. Interesting.
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 Jun 2008
at 10:50
6.1/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
It didn’t come out of the bottle too well. Way too much foam and fizz. Eventually settled into a hazy amber. The aroma has a citric, slightly phenolic tartness...presumably what TAR alluded to has spent the subsequent five weeks becoming more pronounced as the beer has clearly continued fermenting. Underneath of that is a complex chile character punctuated by an insistent chipotle smokiness. Flavourwise...ok it’s got a lot of carbonation and some footy yeastiness, which definitely muddies things up a bit, especially the malts, which come of as a bland caramel-earth two tone. Then the chile steps forward, bringing again the complex chile of a proper mole oaxaque�o. There is lingering smokiness and some capsicum warmth at the end...mild but pleasant...I could go for more, personally. There’s some malt behind it...the earthy aspect of the malts is uninteresting of itself but plays well with the intense earthiness of the chiles. It’s a great mix of chiles - I appreciate this a LOT on that level - and it’s entirely possible the surrounding beer is well-thought-out but probably a bit too yeasty/overattenuated for its own good.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Jul 2007
at 00:39
8.2/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 9
12oz bottle from KrausenJockey, opened on 5/26/07 but accidentally not consumed until 5/27/07
It was a case of getting a little too ambitious and I opened this one and then passed out before I could enjoy it. Thankfully A) I didn’t drink it then, as I probably would have not remembered this lovely beer so vividly. B) The beer was wonderfully conditioned and was in perfect shape, with a lovely appearance, despite sitting out for 20 hours with the cap off.
A deep reddish-chestnut brown beer with violet and crimson hues and a beige head that is large, well-retained and full of lacing.
Dry, crunchy malt gives glimpses of earthiness, dusty chocolate-toffee and light breadiness. Some sweet caramel hits the nose through the middle and then disappears in to a lightly spiced, moderately smokey (chipotles) finish that is neither too mild, nor too aggressive. With warming, the nose incorporates even more malt sweetness, mostly light caramel and even a pinch of some fruitiness. Medium to medium-high strength of aroma that craftily downplays its hand in the pepper department. No alcohol noted, no flaws.
A thin layer of bready malt appears at first sip, but is quickly absorbed in to a soft caramel sweetness that is flecked with hints of dry chocolate. I don’t know what creates it, perhaps the interplay of malt and pepper, but there is a transitional flavor in the middle, that is neither fully malt, nor pepper. Almost fruity, like strawberries or cherries or something. Pinches of vanilla are thrown in and then finally the pepper flavor hits on the finish, starting slowly and building to a highly flavorful and enjoyable spiciness, with light smoke and a touch of juiciness even.
What strikes me the most about this particular chili beer, after having many of them, is that it’s in no way done for novelty (or if it is, it dosent seem like it). It’s not a "HA! Let’s make a crazy hot chili beer!" where the brewer obviously forgets to still make a beer and gets extremely carried away with the chili. Nope, here there is a beer with plentiful malt character up front, passing to a complementary (assuming you like chilis) flavor on the end that balances the sweetness up front. Delicious and near perfectly done on the level of heat so that it can appeal to those not so in to spices. Other than a touch of nuttiness and/or breadiness, I didnt get the huge yeastiness that Jeff mentions. This was phenomenal on a hot day and easily the best chili beer I’ve had to-date.
It was a case of getting a little too ambitious and I opened this one and then passed out before I could enjoy it. Thankfully A) I didn’t drink it then, as I probably would have not remembered this lovely beer so vividly. B) The beer was wonderfully conditioned and was in perfect shape, with a lovely appearance, despite sitting out for 20 hours with the cap off.
A deep reddish-chestnut brown beer with violet and crimson hues and a beige head that is large, well-retained and full of lacing.
Dry, crunchy malt gives glimpses of earthiness, dusty chocolate-toffee and light breadiness. Some sweet caramel hits the nose through the middle and then disappears in to a lightly spiced, moderately smokey (chipotles) finish that is neither too mild, nor too aggressive. With warming, the nose incorporates even more malt sweetness, mostly light caramel and even a pinch of some fruitiness. Medium to medium-high strength of aroma that craftily downplays its hand in the pepper department. No alcohol noted, no flaws.
A thin layer of bready malt appears at first sip, but is quickly absorbed in to a soft caramel sweetness that is flecked with hints of dry chocolate. I don’t know what creates it, perhaps the interplay of malt and pepper, but there is a transitional flavor in the middle, that is neither fully malt, nor pepper. Almost fruity, like strawberries or cherries or something. Pinches of vanilla are thrown in and then finally the pepper flavor hits on the finish, starting slowly and building to a highly flavorful and enjoyable spiciness, with light smoke and a touch of juiciness even.
What strikes me the most about this particular chili beer, after having many of them, is that it’s in no way done for novelty (or if it is, it dosent seem like it). It’s not a "HA! Let’s make a crazy hot chili beer!" where the brewer obviously forgets to still make a beer and gets extremely carried away with the chili. Nope, here there is a beer with plentiful malt character up front, passing to a complementary (assuming you like chilis) flavor on the end that balances the sweetness up front. Delicious and near perfectly done on the level of heat so that it can appeal to those not so in to spices. Other than a touch of nuttiness and/or breadiness, I didnt get the huge yeastiness that Jeff mentions. This was phenomenal on a hot day and easily the best chili beer I’ve had to-date.
Tried
from Bottle
on 28 Jun 2007
at 15:57