Hells Canyon Jalapeño
Broken Horn Brewing Company

massive thanks to my friend for picking up a crowler of this and bringing it over, these guys are making some fantastic beers and going largely unsung in the local scene, they deserve more credit than they are getting and this is one of the better pepper beers ive had in a long time, smartly built, packed with flavor, not too hot to want to drink a bunch of, and quite well refined, nice job! i like it being so light and golden colored but still having a little nutty earthy malt in the middle of it, and having some body, i think it gives the jalapeno character some needed beer context, something physical to cling too also, but this remains light and easy to me, intelligent grain bill here. the jalapeno is awesome, some way back heat but its mellow, late arising, and fast to fade, so each sip is almost new again, not one of those pepper beers thats a permanent decision for your palate. the pepper has its green organic freshness, but it also to me has a little bit of a roasted hatch vibe, not smoked or anything, but a little fire to it, and the heat presents to me as kind of cooked, maybe raw peppers in the boil create that best of both worlds character, super appealing and perfectly dosed! it must be hard to keep this dialed batch to batch as pepper heat changes, but this one is spot on for my tastes, has to be real peppers. some light hops to this play a neat role in bittering and adding an herbal spice to the back end which marry well with the peppers, quick finishing, near dry, clean ferment, awesome carbonation, simple as a base beer but not lost to the peppers, awesome recipe and execution, one of the best ive had to date from broken horn. still need to make it up to check out the brewery and taproom, hopefully sometime before the summer is over. an elite pepper beer here!

edit: a little less good the second time around, base beer seemed sweet to me and the pepper less fresh. as with most chili beers, there is variance from batch to batch when real peppers are used, and some of that can be forgiven. leaving scores alone, but note that this may have some ups and downs depending on the batch...

On tap at the Taphouse. Nice creamy pour, aroma hints at the peppers. Taste also favors the peppers, but not overdone. Smooth, slick, tasty. Nice creamy body