RealTail Collaboration 2012 (with Real Ale)
Freetail Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

Thanks to GRG1313 for sharing this one at his tasting.

Pours a hazy brown with a foamy beige head that settles to a small cap on top of the beer. Small dots of lace slowly drip into the remaining beer on the drink down. Smell is of malt, grain, caramel, and toffee aromas. Taste is much the same with salty and earthy flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of roasty bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is an average beer with odd aromas and flavors that make this one not too enjoyable.

 

WTF is this??....pumpkin seeds and 3 chilies...cinnamon, cumin, sugar, almonds? Where is the kitchen sink?

Pour is brown with a fine-bubbled tan head. Mild retention and lacing.

The nose is where things get interesting. Holy guacamole! there is just a never-ending managerie of weird aromas and each one can be picked out individually. Specifically the pumpkin seeds, cumin, cinnamon and chilies are most notable. This is honestly the craziest smelling beer I have ever laid nostrils upon.

Taste combines everything about as well as can be, but it still is pretty damn crazy. Not hot, but spicy and the pumpkin seeds are a real standout for me in a good way. The cumin and chilies are an interesting combo that I still havnt wrapped my head around. Honestly, after reading the label, this is better than I thought it would be and does approximate mole fairly well, though it lacks the peanut butter. Not bad.

 

 

 

650 mL bottle poured into a snifter.

Appearance - Slightly hazy amber. Overflows from the bottle. Thin collar.

Smell - Peppers. Some caramel. Green spicy pepper aroma.

Taste - Grainy. Spicy. Pepper flavor. I just don't like it. Green vegetal finish.

Mouthfeel - Spicy. Medium body. Medium carbonation.

Overall - I almost never enjoy pepper beers but this is pretty bad.

Bottle: Poured a clear brown color ale with a large foamy head with good retention and minimal lacing. Aroma consists of chocolate malt notes with some cinnamon and some pepper notes thought no heat is discernable. Taste is a mix between some cinnamon and chocolate malt with light nutty flavour and some pepper notes are also discernable though well balanced in the whole mix. Body is about average with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Not bad but I guess the pepper notes in beer is not something that I am really seeking out.

Served in a Lagunitas mason jar.

Thanks to wagenvolks for this bottle!

Something about a mole beer gets me all, well, ready to fuckin' drink. Following a bit of an initial eruption, this stuff pours a slightly murky sienna topped by a finger of khaki foam. The nose comprises toasted caramel, raisin, fig, cinnamon, brown sugar, light molasses, smoked peppers (chipotle?), cashews, light pretzel, and a hint of cocoa powder. The taste brings in more of the same, though the spices come to the fore in a big way. In the finish, the chiles hold dominion, not just with their flavor, but also with a twinge of heat that lingers for a few moments. The body is a lithe medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a sorta velvety feel. Overall, a very tasty brew. I can't really say that it recreates mole, especially with the general lack of chocolate character, but the rest of it is certainly there. Good times regardless.

 

Big thanks goes out to kjkinsey for sending me this one as an extra in a very recent trade! Gusher! Served from bottle into a COAST Willi. Poured a massively dark browb red-orange with a three finger off-white head that subsided to one finger very slowly. Maintained nice lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, chile peppers, ancho, earth, cherry, and subtle tart. The flavor was of sweet malt, ancho, chile pepper, earth, earth hop, and very subtle tart. It had a light feel on the palate with very high carbonation. Overall this was a pretty decent brew. When I first opened this one and had it gush on me, I was rather concerned. When I smelled the beer that was on my hand I was really concerned that this one might be infected. The aroma did unfortunately give off subtle hints of infection which I really hated to see. The flavor only had a very minimal note of it with some nice ancho chile notes. I would recommend any chile beer fan out there try this one at least once and hope that you don't get any of the 'off' notes that I did.

Bomber into a snifter. The brew appears a ruby amber color with a finger of khaki head. Some spotty fingers of lace stick to the glass and a swirl revives a finger back to the surface quite effortlessly.

The smell includes a sweetness of raisins and caramel malt almost like brown sugar. Some earthy cinnamon spice along with something like nutmeg and pepper. A little mineral and carbonic quality emerges across the back.

The flavor includes raisins and caramel sweetness almost toasty grainy flavors coupled with toffee and chocolate grain. A fruity hint and spice like nutmeg and cinnamon are present before the earthy spice of pepper. This brew gets a little warming from the peppers and the aftertaste is somewhat salty like a gose.

This is a medium bodied brew with a lower to moderate amount of carbonation. It is very spicy with an awkward amount of contrasting sweetness. It is an interesting offering that sounds good when reading the label but overally really didnt translate well at all in the flavor.

 

 

 

Notes from tasting on 11/16. thanks to mike for sharing this brew.

a - poured brown with dark core and a thin white head.

s - nutmeg brown ale. some spices and pepperiness.

t - initial response is exactly what someone else said, "like the inside of a balloon" with rubberiness and lots of spices. some pumpkin but super peppery and spicy, a bit too much for my (and the others at the tasting) taste buds.

m - spicy. too much going on.

o - overal, drinkable, but not tonight. too much going on and too much spiciness...i didn't finish my pour neither did anyone else at the tasting.