Clown Shoes La Bestia Furiosa

Cooler temperatures have arrived and my craving for rich imperial stouts is at an all time high. Over the past week I have enjoyed a few, including this year's Sierra Nevada Narwhal. That beer is always particularly amazing and at its price point I can't recommend it enough. This blog however, is not about Narwhal. It is about Clown Shoes' La Bestia Furiosa, so let's get to it.

Aged in both rum and bourbon barrels with chiles and spices, this Mexican-Style Imperial Stout was impossible not to purchase. I have enjoyed many of Clown Shoes' barrel aged offerings in the past and expected this particular one to be no different. I typically love Mexican-Style stouts as well, and that alone made this an automatic purchase. Basically, this beer checked a lot of boxes. I just hoped it was as good as I wanted it to be.

La Bestia Furiosa's aroma is full of rich, decadent chocolate. This translates to what dominates the flavor as well but we will circle back to that. The nose also had a nice touch of cinnamon, nutmeg, peppers, bourbon, vanilla and a touch of rum. There was a lot in the aroma of La Bestia Furiosa to like.  Everything I mentioned in the aroma is in the taste but the chocolate I mentioned earlier makes this one of the sweetest beers I have had in awhile. I admit, it has been a long time since I had Clown Shoes' Chocolate Sombrero which is the base beer for La Bestia Furiosa, but I do not remember it being this painfully sweet.

I arrogantly thought I could tackle the 22 oz. Bomber by myself, but I was completely overwhelmed by the La Bestia Furiosa's sweetness. The more this beer warmed, the sweeter it got. The rum and vanilla in particular come through more as it warms, further enhancing the cloying sweetness. While I could continue to complain about this beer being too sweet, I think you get the point.

One thing this beer barely delivers on is the heat. When there are 3 different peppers in a beer with a dragon and a volcano on the label there is a realistic expectation that the beer is going to be spicy. In La Bestia Furiosa's case, the spice is there but it is subdued. I have complained about this before but if the heat was dialed up just a little more, I think it would have made the sweetness bearable for me. Unfortunately, it just did not happen.

While I was not a huge fan of this beer, I could definitely see a fan of dessert beer enjoying it. If rich, absurdly sweet beers are right up your alley then you will love this beer. It is not my thing but it does deliver what it promises--a Mexican Hot Chocolate-style stout with dual barrel treatment. It just wasn't for me.

Overall rating: 2.25/5


Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Evil Twin Brewing & Westbrook Brewing Co. Imperial Mexican Biscotti Cake Break

Two weeks ago, I mentioned I waited in line to get Westbrook's Mexican Cake. From that, I am certain you have already figured out that I love that beer. What you may not know is I absolutely love Evil Twin's Imperial Biscotti Break. Like many other beer enthusiasts, I think it is a fantastic beer. To make things even better, recently it has become less expensive, easier to get and produced in cans. All three of those things are fantastic and they happened because Evil Twin Brewing contract-brews out of Westbrook Brewing Co. So a collaboration brew between the two breweries is definitely a no-brainer. What I did not expect however is the combination of both Mexican Cake & Imperial Biscotti Break. On paper, Westbrook & Evil Twin's Imperial Mexican Biscotti Cake Break sounds like a fantastic idea.

The first time I saw a picture of a bottle I stopped in my tracks and hoped it would make it to Western NY. It took a few months but it finally hit my hometown. I rushed out and purchased it as soon as I could. Like Mexican Cake, I expected it to sell out as soon as it hit the shelves. For that reason, I did not expect to do a blog on it. Shockingly after two weeks, it is still sitting in beer aisles and shelves everywhere waiting to be purchased. The 16-18 dollar a bottle price point might have something to do with it but even with that, it is still fairly surprising. At that price point though, I hoped the beer would be as good, if not better, than the sum of its parts.

Westbrook & Evil Twin's Imperial Mexican Biscotti Cake Break works. However it does not work as well as the beers it's supposed to be combining. The aroma is a reminder of both beers. It is roasty and nutty, with dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla, pepper spice and a hint of cinnamon. That seemed to hit every note I expected it to. The first sip, however, did not. It starts off slightly sweet, roasty, with coffee, dark chocolate cake batter and vanilla, and finishes bitter, spicy and boozy. Occasionally, I would find the cinnamon and each time I did, I wanted more of it. The pepper finish was what I was looking forward to the most. A criticism of last year's batch of Mexican Cake was that the habanero peppers were very understated. I hoped this beer would showcase them more and it did. Honestly, I wanted it to have a little more heat on the palate but no complaints, it was nicely spiced. I actually found my chest warming up quite a bit the more I drank.

As I made my way through the glass, I continued to get a wide range of flavors but they never seemed to go well together. Everything seemed a bit muddled, even when it warmed. Vanilla and dark chocolate cake batter rose more to the forefront which helped but did not make the beer any better. At 16 to 18 dollars a bottle this beer is dramatically overpriced for the results you get. You are better off buying a 4 pack of Imperial Biscotti Break at a cheaper price and enjoying that. If you are insistent on looking for a special occasion beer with similar flavor notes, just buy two bottles of Prairie Bomb! Trust me, you will feel significantly less cheated out of your money.

Overall I would rate Imperial Mexican Biscotti Cake Break a 3/5. It's not horrible, it's just nowhere near as good as it should be.

Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

To discuss this blog or all things beer follow me on, Instagram & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews go to: http://www.acraftylook.com

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Urban Family Muerte Al Cereal Imperial Stout

I have a bad habit when I holiday shop of treating myself to something nice, while shopping for others. It mostly happens if I decide to get someone beer as a Christmas present. My wife enjoys sour beers, especially fruit-forward sour beers. So, in my quest to get something interesting she had yet to try, I found myself contemplating whether I needed something for myself. I got one look at Urban Family Brewing's Muerte Al Cereal(Death to Cereal) and decided of course I did. Out of Seattle, WA, Muerte Al Cereal is another Mexican Hot Chocolate style beer. A style, simply put, I can't seem to get enough of. For example, Stone's Xocoveza has been consistently in my fridge since October, along with a few others. So I was excited to see how Muerte Al Cereal pulled off the style and report the results right here.

As I was pouring Muerte Al Cereal I immediately noticed how thin it was. This was a bit disappointing because I like my imperial stouts full-bodied. Basically I want my imperial stouts to pour like motor oil. While Muerte Al Cereal did not pour like motor oil, that was only a slight disappointment, not a deal breaker. The aroma provided a nice roastiness, some chocolate, lactose, light cinnamon and pepper spice. For the most part this matched what I got on the first sip. Roasted malt kicks things off before going right into the bold flavor of milk chocolate. The pepper spice is subtle and mostly comes through on the finish. As with most of these beers, I wanted a little more heat from the pepper on the finish. Still, the pepper was present at least. The cinnamon spice however was mostly MIA. I felt like I spent most of the remaining time drinking this beer looking for it. When the cinnamon did come through it was way too subtle. I thought letting Muerte Al Cereal warm a bit would bring the cinnamon & pepper spice out more, but sadly that did not happen. What did happen is the flavor of the chocolate & vanilla got even bolder.  I thought this was fantastic and if this wasn't a Mexican Hot Chocolate style beer, I would have been raving about it. Unfortunately, this is a Mexican Hot Chocolate style beer and it's a Mexican Hot Chocolate style beer with barely any spice. To be clear, I am not saying I needed a lot of spice in the flavor, I just wanted more than I got. Still, the flavors that I was left with were quite good. While I was disappointed Muerte Al Cereal missed the mark for the style, it is still a really nice chocolate milk stout.

Overall I would rate Muerte Al Cereal a 3/5. It's a good beer, just not the beer I hoped it would be.


Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional　

To discuss this blog or all things beer follow me on Twitter, Instagram & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews go to: http://www.acraftylook.com

For my most recent appearance of 13 WHAM's Good Day Rochester: Click Here!

Happy Holidays! Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Stone Xocoveza Mocha Stout

For the past 2 years I have enjoyed trying to explain Stone's Xocoveza Mocha Stout to people unfamiliar with it. The idea of a beer brewed in the style of Mexican Hot Chocolate always seems to get a fun reaction whenever I try to describe it. The most common reactions I encounter are bewilderment, curiosity, confusion or outright disgust. I find all of them highly amusing. That is mainly because for those a bit more into craft beer, Xocoveza is the kind of beer you drop everything for to grab a six pack of. A winner of Stone's 2014 Homebrewer Competition, Xocoveza boasts an interesting set of ingredients that include coffee, pasilla peppers, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and cocoa. If you have yet to notice it on shelves that is because it flies off of them as soon as it reaches them, especially in my Upstate NY market. So with this week's blog I answer whether the 2016 version of Xocoveza will live up to the hype. Or is Xocoveza just another overrated & overhyped beer?

As I poured Xocoveza, the aroma of the coffee, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper spice jumped out of the glass. There is some roasted malt in this “Winter spiced mocha stout” as well, but the spices here are clearly going to be the star of the show. My first sip confirmed this but there was so much more going on. The roasted malt, along with the coffee starts things off before giving way to the cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate and vanilla. The vanilla works well here. Its presence here is reminiscent of whipped cream over a Hot Chocolate. This, along with just the right amount of carbonation attains the right amount of creaminess. The pasilla peppers are there but shine most at the finish to complete a fun and extremely delicious drinking experience. 

There is a lot I like about Xocoveza. Everything here seems to work well together. For me, one thing that always holds this beer back from getting a perfect rating is the use of the peppers. I love the spice they provide, I just wish there was more of it. A little bit of heat from the spice would make this a perfect beer-drinking experience. Still, this is a great beer. It's so good it got me to review a Winter beer in early October. I thought for sure I would see snow on the ground before I did that. Then again, you can drink Xocoveza anytime. For those of you that like to cellar beer, Xocoveza ages nicely. The boldness of the coffee fades a bit, the 8.1% ABV smooths out and the spices blend together wonderfully. If you have patience I highly recommend setting aside a bottle and doing a side by side with the 2017 batch. 

Overall I would rate Stone Xocoveza Mocha Stout a 4.5/5. If you see it and it sounds good to you, buy it, you will dig it. 

Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional　

To discuss this blog or all things beer follow me on Twitter, Instagram & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews go to: http://www.acraftylook.com

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!