Mixcoatl
Cigar City Brewing

2021 vintage, 500 ml bottle, into a Cigar City snifter, at just below room temp.
Beautifully active pour shows a 1/2 note of foam that recedes.
Smell is sniffing Stout while sitting in a mezcal smoker in Mexico.
Taste is astounding! Lots going on here. Cacao and molasses, hint of coffee, mezcal worm. Each sip exposes something new as the beer warms. Oak and sweet brandy barrels collide with the big ABV hit at finish.
Feel is full and lush, a bit of carbonation, and strong.
Overall, one if the best beers I’ve had in a while. Damn fine!

Pours the darkest of dark browns with a slightly reddish hue around the edges once in the glass. The half inch of mocha colored head quickly receded leaving behind the tiniest of rings around the edges.

Aroma is wonderful. Vanilla leads the train, with the barrels following closely behind, and some chocolate notes in the caboose position. Very inviting.

I can summarize how this beer tastes in one word....WOW! This is a great beer. It's wonderfully complex in a way that shows great skill by the brewer. Everything is in just the right amount. Mezcal - check. Brandy - check. Vanilla - check. Chocolate notes - check. All on top of what is very clearly a very nice base stout. It's warm and boozy, but in no way harsh. Each sip seems a little different than the last. There are some brown sugar / molasses notes that create a nice, rich flavor but without ever approaching cloying sweetness. I'm particularly enjoying how the barrel notes & alcohol are clear right when you sip, but then really re-emerge but in a different way on the back end. 20-30 seconds after a sip I'm getting this lovely mix of barrel flavors that seem to morph over time. Full bodied in all the right ways, and absolutely a pleasure to drink.

Thanks to johnyb, my favorite El Cat proxy, for shipping this north. 500ML bottle split reluctantly with my wife (she hits me when I don’t share).

The pour is a quiet, normalized black. The nose hits with all three barrels: mescal, brandy, & booze. There’s a bit of sweetness & vanilla underneath, but man.

This bottle of Mixcoatl has been sitting for a few months in the belief that it would mellow – that belief has been obliterated. Barrels run over my palate like an Entwicklung 100: aggressive brandy mixes oddly with the herbal earthiness that I’m imagining emanates from the mescal. Booze crushes judgment. Vanilla enters mid-act along with brown sugar sweetness & gentle spicing, finishing with molasses. No cocoa. Despite the thought of a long morning I could definitely have taken this solo.

Another fine CC stout, this one with a fruity, boozy, brain-numbing odd twist. Excellent.

 

Strong head production, especially for the style, ABV, and barrel treatment, but unsurprisingly it's fizzy and quickly fades. No lacing, but granules are left on the side of the glass, quickly washing away.

Incredibly strong and boozy nose, hitting strong with both barrels, along with brown sugar, molasses, and chocolate.

Similar on the palate. The barrel influence is incredibly potent and undeniable, and it's unquestionably the dominant aspect of the profile, but the chocolate and vanilla come through, as well. It almost crosses over from a beer influenced by spirits barrels to a spirit influenced by beer. Despite the lower ABV (compared to actual liquor), it is extremely hot and boozy. Reminiscent of Utopias and The Bruery's biggest beers. A lot of brown sugar on the palate, and it's a wonder if it wasn't added.

This is not at all what I expected - and in a good way. It's really closer to Utopias than anything I've ever had, despite being less than half the ABV. The choice of Mezcal and brandy barrels adds a complexity well beyond that achievable with bourbon barrels.