|
|
What is That Thing Floating in my Beer?Jul 12 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Refrigerators
The Bottom Line This is some nasty swill- a product with no real beer taste. It is about as non- complex as a beer can be.
I have sampled a good number of beer products in my day. I have my favorites and I try to have an ample supply of better beers within easy reach. But like other beer critics, I would rather sample something new than something old. The adventure of sampling a new product and then sharing my experience with others gives a new beer a distinct advantage over an old one. I almost always go for the new beer when given a choice. Lately, I found myself searching for something new to try and I came across a beer product that was completely different from others I had tried before. This beer had the unique quality of containing a whole, green chili pepper in each bottle. The beer is called Crazy Ed’s Cave Creek Chili Beer, a product of the Black Mountain Brewing Company. Basic Characteristics of This Beer: This beer pours to a very light, yellowish color and is devoid of any foam whatsoever. The beer fizzes rapidly, but there is no head of foam at all. The nose of this beer contains one dominant scent- hot chili pepper, with a touch of alcohol. The taste of this beer is easy to describe because, once again, there is one dominant flavor- hot chili pepper. The only other taste I could detect was somewhat vinegary and not very appetizing. There is no real beer taste at all. Each sip coats the back of the mouth with a hot, chili burn and the more you drink, the more it burns, just like eating certain spicy foods. Crazy Ed doesn’t disclose the ingredients used in this beer (like anyone would care), but he does provide the alcohol content, which is 4.2 percent by volume. Food Compatibility: I can think of exactly two things I would consider eating with this beer: chili and Mexican food. The chili- spice nature of the beer would match well with the spicy flavors present in these foods. Other than that, forget it- this beer isn’t really made for anything else. Final Thoughts: Crazy Ed’s Cave Creek Chili Beer is one nasty product! I have had my share of unusual beers, but most of them at least contain some semblance to actual malt beverages. With this beer, other than the color, there is almost not way to tell you are drinking beer. The chili aroma and taste block out almost any other scents and flavors. Vinegar is the only other flavor sensation I could detect. And that is certainly not something I want to taste when I pop a cold one. The burning sensation caused by the hot chili can be very intense with this beer. I had to sip my bottle very slowly to avoid getting too much of a hot sensation in my mouth. At first, I tried drinking the beer with the serrano chili still in place. The chili is strategically placed, floating vertically inside the neck of each bottle, so that when you pour the beer, the chili will come out and land in your glass. This proved to be a little too hot, so I removed the chili and continued to sip. The hot sensation isn’t as bad this way, but you can still feel it, especially if you drink quickly. As I consumed, I kept searching for something that tasted like beer. Maybe, if I let the beer warm a little and exercised some patience, I would be able to taste some pale malt and some bitter or earthy hops. But I had no such luck. Waiting only made the beer more agonizing to finish and it didn’t change the basic flavor one bit. It still tasted like hot chili peppers soaked in a small amount of vinegar. I generally don’t take very long to finish beer, and this is certainly true when I like what I am sampling. With this beer, even though I made a conscious effort to sip at a reasonable pace, it still took me nearly an hour to finish one bottle. A full hour!!! There were many points along the way when I was tempted to use the remaining liquid to clean out the drains of my kitchen sink. But since I’m against alcohol abuse (i.e- wasting alcohol, in any form), I made myself finish off the entire 12 oz. bottle. Once I was finished, my stomach had a few things to say about this beer. I have a mild case of acid reflux, so needless to say, my digestive tract wasn’t too thrilled with the swill that had made its way from my mouth to stomach and beyond. I could feel the acid bubbling up after I drank my one bottle (it didn’t hurt that I had just finished eating a heavy meal too). This could mean I’m in for a long, sleepless night, but I’m relying on a couple of Pepcid tablets to return life to normal. Crazy Ed’s Cave Creek Chili Beer is a concoction created by Crazy Ed Chilleen. I haven’t tried any other Crazy Ed products (I don’t know if I want to now), but I can say that the guy picked an appropriate name for himself and his beer. Adding some chili flavor to beer isn’t a bad idea, and having a chili in the bottle makes it unique and catchy to the eye. But this beer goes way overboard in its attempt to be different and it ends up tasting like a mildly alcoholic shot of watered down vodka with added tobasco sauce. I’m giving this beer a rating of 1 out of 5 stars. Maybe I’m just not the adventurous type, but if I’m going to drink beer, I want to taste beer. Crazy Ed’s Cave Creek doesn’t taste at all like real beer, and it causes a nasty case of heartburn. I might save the remaining beer to add to my next pot of chili but more than likely, it will be put to use cleaning my kitchen pipes and outdoor downspouts. It’s a truly vile product that I recommend only to those who are crazy- just like the company’s founder- about the taste of hot chili peppers.  |
| Read all comments (9)|Write your own comment |
- Top 10|
Ads by Google
|
