Hellboy - Liz Sherman Molé Chili Stout
Gigantic Brewing Company

Bottle at share at Rev Nat's. Muddy brown pour, small beige head receds to ring. Roast malts, chocolate, coffee bitterness, bit of peppery spiciness going on.

 

500ml bottle. Label has this as 'BEER #2 OF 6'.
Black colored body, with a thin back lit brown edge. Two fingers of mocha brown head, which settles down to a thick cap. Leaves some thin strings of lacing.
Aroma of dark roasted malts, with chocolate and a little char. The peppers are saying wait until you taste us.
Taste is dark roasted malts, with big chocolate flavor, and then the heat of the peppers arise. The after taste has the peppers lying on the tongue and the chocolate malts fading away.
Thicker mouth feel. Medium prickly burn on the tongue. Very good carbonation.
I liked this beer most for its flavor and sensation sequencing. Each taste starts with the chocolate malt, then the peppers arise, and then the malt comes back a bit and fades away. The pepper heat is present but not too much of a challenge to survive.

 

 

 

On tap at Zwanze Day 2019, at Schera's Restaurant in Elkader, IA. Sampled from a stemless wine glass. Deep blackish-brown in color, with the tentative pour resulting in only a wisp of tan head. Aromas and flavors of dark roasted malt, dark chocolate, and chilies, with a fair amount of char and some pleasant bitterness. The mouthfeel was a little on the thin side. All that said, the chili heat on this was wonderful. This beer is worth seeking out for that reason alone.

 

Very good chocolate base with a good chili aftertaste. Good change of pace beer.

 

 

L: Poured from a bottle to a pint glass. Had a dark brown / black color and a thick, opaque consistency. There was a thin, creamy, tan-colored, fairly long-lasting head. Not much lacing to speak of.

S: A good, but not spectacular, aroma of chili peppers, malt, chocolate, vanilla, and char.

T: Tasted of a good amount of malt (present throughout), a tinge of vanilla (very fleeting), a whole lot of the chili peppers (the dominant force here), some chocolate (could've used more), and a little char as well. An interesting, if uneven flavor. The chili peppers kind of run the show, so it's quite spicy, but the mild chocolate cuts into it. Not bad.

F: An average amount of carbonation with a smooth finish. Medium-bodied.

O: An uneven beer with some good qualities. Worth a look.

500 ml bottle poured into a teku

A- Black with a two finger mocha head.

S- Chocolate, roasted malts, some pepper, caramel.

T- Bakers chocolate, roasted malts, great big spicy pepper, touch of caramel.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- A very nice mole stout, great kick from the peppers and easy to drink.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque black in the glass with a fine, half finger dark khaki head with great retention and nice lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, dark chocolate, green peppers, mild vanilla and a distinct chili pepper burn. Flavor is dark, lightly toasted malt, vanilla, mild chili pepper, milk chocolate; about mid-taste, the pepper heat builds up, leaving a moderate to high burn, with residual vanilla and chocolate. Light to medium bodied with light creaminess. Some sneaky hot stuff in this one. It barely registers at first, but leaves a clear, lingering hot pepper flavor, somewhere between a red chili and a habeñero. The pepper level is just about right, seems a little intense at first, but zeroes in in subsequent sips. The malt body is a bit thin, which is OK for a chili beer, but molé is a rich sauce, so I expecting a more substantial body to this porter. That said, the porter is satisfactory and the chocolate and vanilla flavors well balanced. I'm leery of gimmick beers, but I liked the Hellboy character and so far I'm a fan of this series.

 

Pours pitch black with a thick tan head, minimal lacing. Aroma is smoky roasted dark malt. Flavor has a bit of chocolate to go with the nose, heat from the peppers in the finish without much of the pepper flavor. Feel is on the thicker side of medium bodied. Overall disappointing as the pepper heat becomes overpowering as you work through the bottle.

L: Bright, dense black with a 1/2" tap cap with fair retention.

S: A little bit of chocolate mole smell, some chocolate and a hint of pepper.

T: Dark chocolate with some vegetable notes form the chili and some heat on the finish. The heat builds with each drink.

F: very creamy, medium plus body, soft and gentle carbonation.

O: This is an interesting beer but not something that you would drink all night and not something you can pair with a lot of food.

Oh boy I had high hopes. I like this brewery, I love chiles and chile beers and I love mole (the Mexican dish -- never tasted a mole beer before). Hell, I even liked the first "Hellboy" movie, and the label art is appropriately scary!
The aroma is sweet stout with a little wininess. But the taste is chocolate and THEN spice, the peppery aftertaste that builds across the back of the tongue and down the throat. But the peppers and chocolate don't meld the way they do in a slowcooked mole (believed to be one of the earliest recipes on this hemisphere -- certainly one of the most complex), It's like first this is a sweet, thin stout, where are those peppers? And then boom! There are the peppers, the burn of them anyway. Interesting sensation but not a great beer.
Oh, the alcohol content is middling for this kind of beer, 6.66 (ha ha -- probably approximately that anyway). I appreciate a rich stout that is not boozy. But the body here is light for all these flavors, seems we could use a little more to chew on if that's possible while keeping the ABV at this level!

500 ml bottle into tulip glass; no bottle dating, but was just released. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky tan head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice dense soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, chipotle/chile peppers, skin/seeds, caramel, brown sugar, wood smoke, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark/brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of molasses, licorice, raisin, prune, fig, date, charcoal, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malts, cocoa, peppers, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast notes; with great strength. Taste of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, chipotle/chile peppers, skin/seeds, caramel, brown sugar, wood smoke, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark/brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of molasses, licorice, raisin, prune, fig, date, charcoal, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, floral, woody, grassy, roast, char bitterness; and chipotle/chile pepper spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, chipotle/chile peppers, skin/seeds, caramel, brown sugar, wood smoke, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, dark/brown bread/crust, molasses, licorice, dark fruit, charcoal, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, cocoa, peppers, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; with a great roast/hop bitter/sweet, and pepper spiciness balance; with no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/roast bitterness and pepper spiciness after the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/bready/grainy, and fairly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 6.66%. Pleasantly increasing pepper spice heat through the glass, but not overwhelming. Overall this is an awesome pepper spiced American stout. All around awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, cocoa, peppers, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/spicy/drying finish. Awesome balance between rich malts, cocoa nibs, and chipotle/chile pepper flavors; with nice earthy hop presence, and restrained yeast fruitiness. Light residual sweetness with lingering bitter/spicy dryness. A really enjoyable offering, and impressively well made style example. Not overwhelming on any aspect, but you definitely need to like pepper beers to really enjoy it from the lingering heat.