Appearance – Poured a very bubbly dark orange color.  The bubbles ran up the side of the glass keeping the white head around for a good bit.

Smell – Sweet smells of honey and cocoa.  Get a little boozy whiff in there too.

Taste – Quite sweet with honey, white grapes and a little cocoa coming out.  There is a very mild pepper taste but not nearly as much as I expected.  Has a slight alcohol bite at the end.

I was a little hesitant to pick this up after my last encounter with a chile beer but Dogfish Head rarely lets me down.  After first sipping it I was happy to pick it up.  The pepper taste was quite mild and not very easy to pick up.  I picked up grapes that reminded me of a white wine that made it sweet but enjoyable.  I really don’t agree with the tagging of chile beer but I can understand since it has ancho chilis in it.  But I found this along the lines of a Belgian dark.  If the price on this ($14) wasn’t so high I would definitely pick it up again.

Overall Grade – B

Appearance - Poured slightly murky copper color with a frothy white head.

Smell - Overwhelming smell of peppers.  Couldn’t really pick anything else up.

Taste - Peppers, peppers and more peppers.  I really didn’t pick up anything malts or hops in the taste and it also tasted a bit rubbery.

This was my first chili beer and may very well be my last.  I figured I would give it a whirl but was just met with something I just didn’t like.  When I had a glass with our taco dinner it was bearable but trying to drink it alone was a challenge.  I like spicy foods but I don’t want to taste peppers in my beer.  Now I know better.

Overall Grade – D-