Desperados Fuego
Brasserie Fischer / Fischer Biere d' Alsace

 

 

 

 

 

We pour a golden-brown colored brew. It put up a half finger head of fizzy white bubbles, but this dissipates quickly, leaving tiny bits of lacing around the glass. Carbonation is supreme, and there is a chill haze, but otherwise there is transparency. Adjuncty corn and barley hop off the nose up front, with a sugary sweet synthetic lime crashing around the edges. There is a slight boozy quality, thanks to the tequila inclusions. The sweetness is enhanced by tropical fruit notes, of mango, pineapple, and green apples. As we sip, that synthetic lime dominates, but in a sickly sweet way, rather than a souring way. The malts are wheaty, but faint, and there is a bark-like, herbal quality to it. The front tastes much like a Sprite, actually. The white sugars continue through the middle, where more adjuncty grains pop. The lime becomes lemon, like a strong, chemically, cleaning product. The finish is of more sweets and some biting sours, but the real fun comes with the final sips, where fusel booze and the darkest black pepper fire bubble up, giving the “fuego” as promised. This packs heat from the back of the throat, coming up to envelop the entire mouth. It is by no means “spicy”, but the heat is certainly palpable. The aftertaste is obscured by this fiery, peppery bite, but is otherwise adjuncty and sour with grain. With warmth the flavors from the tequila seep out into the mouth. The body is light to medium, and the carbonation is high. There is a cold and wet coating around the mouth, with decent cream and slurp. There is little dryness. The abv is appropriate and the beer drinks rather easily.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this brew was the spicy kick at the end. Even after the brew is gone you get rumbles of heat coming up, like after a spicy meal. This, however, is not overwhelming, and actually is rather unique and pleasant. Compared to the other “Desperados” in the series, this holds up the best. It has the most curbed sweetness, and is actually surprisingly well balanced. The tequila only came through mildly, so we would have liked to see that flavor a bit more, but otherwise this was a decent surprise.