Carolina Reaper Smoked Porter
Country Boy Brewing

That poor porter never saw it coming- the "Crazy" Boy brewers chock the usually mild mannered British-style dark ale with reckless amounts of the hottest pepper on the planet, rendering the porter quite useless in any attempt to balance the pepper's extreme burn.

Radiating with a red color, the pepper's appearance is gnarly, intimidating and humbling even before it greets the beer. The porter's muddy, dark austere completely seizes up with the pepper burrowed deeply within Its meek and meager froth is short and underwhelming. Strong peppery tones command the scent with sweat-evoking and warning mace-like scents. Hints of coffee, chocolate and nuttiness offer tepid aromatic support just before its taste is rendered even less meaningful. The reaper dominates with a battery acids, tar, tomato and stone fruit for a mere second before the brunt of burn seeps in.

The porter is only a catalyst for strong capsaicin and lures the senses into taking full and deliberate gulps and then here comes the boom! Seriously strong pepper spice stabs away at the tastebuds and other soft tissues of the mouth and pummels them into submission. Cough evoking sensations come along with a lava-flow of heat that overcomes senses in the most endorphin kicking way imaginable. Stronger than even strong hot sauces, the beer could be seen comfortably used in Asian or Mexican cuisine.

Among the top few pepper beers that I've had the pleasure of experiencing, the absurd burn of the beer boarder lines on physical abuse while asking "may I have another" with the look on the face like I just swallowed a bug. Numbing heat is only brought about by another sip, a wade through a mere few ounces and time that simply seems to stand still. This is a beer of novelty even for us who love intense heat and are willing to tread through the torture of hiccups, heartburn and that special "cleanse" that comes the day after.