I’m a man, so I’m used to being wrong. It happens like, every single day. Multiple times a day, if I’m being honest. I’m wrong about the kind of waffles my kids want for breakfast, about the restaurant my wife wants to eat at for dinner. I’m wrong about the shows I can let my kids watch, about the kind of jokes I can type in an email before hitting “reply all.” I’m even wrong about the kind of music I like. I’ve spent the last 30-some years thinking I didn’t like country music, then I heard Sturgill Simpson and I’ll be damned, turns out I like country music. Son of a bitch.
Same thing happened with spicy beers recently. I always thought I didn’t like spicy beers, because in my opinion, the spice typically suppresses any other flavor within the beer and comes off as a stupid parlor trick. A novelty for dudes who think choking down a ghost pepper makes them more manly. Why would I want to drink a beer that I have to chase with a glass of milk? Ballast Point’s Habanero Sculpin is the perfect example. I love pretty much every other beer in the Sculpin variant family, but the Habanero? It’s like sucking on a slightly fruity matchstick. So, no, I don’t like spicy beers.
And then Flying Dog sent us a couple of beers from their Heat series, and once again, I was proven wrong. Sure, the beers are spicy, but the heat isn’t a trick; it’s a compliment to the other flavors within the beer. Maybe I do like spicy beers? Maybe I’ve been wrong about a lot of things I thought I didn’t like? Like the Chicken Dance at weddings and tempeh.
Anyway, onto the Flying Dog beers…
Oaked Chipotle Ale
Chipotle is a sweeter pepper to begin with, so I expected this beer to offer something more than just heat. It pours dark brown with a hint of cherry around the edges, and the nose is full of wood and acidic notes. The beer has a thin, but slightly chalky mouthfeel. There are notes of smoke and roasted chocolate, and some bittersweet cherry in the corners of the sip that adds a bright, refreshing element to the spice. And there is spice. The chipotle mingles with the fruit, wood and smoky elements. Let me repeat that, the spice mingles with the other flavors; it doesn’t dominate. That’s the key with this beer; it all works together in unison. And Oaked Chipotle Ale was nothing compared to the other spicy beer Flying Dog sent.