Mole Chocolate Funnel Cake
Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing

Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing "Mole Chocolate Funnel Cake"
16 fl. oz. can without production codes or freshness dating
$4.99 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: The top of the label reads "MOLE CHOCOLATE FUNNEL CAKE" and then below that it lists "CREAM ALE". WTF? If it has anything like mole or chocolate added it's not a cream ale. I have to question whether or not they know what they're doing over there at Forgotten Boardwalk. Surely one of the employees must have spoken up and said something, but whatever. It's poured a hazy amber colored body beneath a short head that immediately dissipated. It went so quickly that I don't even know what color it was. Two strikes so far in my book, and not looking good. In the nose I'm finding dull cinnamon, something that seems smoky (is it a chipotle?), and malt. There's definitely no chocolate there. On to the taste... well there's definitely cinnamon there, and definitely something hot and smoky which I can only assume is chipotle pepper. I'm still not finding any chocolate. The malt is sweetish, and a little bit biscuity, and I think wheaty. I wonder if there's some lactose in here, and I'm getting some vanilla in the finish. Ahh, I just got some chocolate in the aftertaste as well. I also have a lot of heat only three sips in. DAMN! THIS IS FIRE! But not in a good way. There's a fruitiness to it that may be from yeast, or perhaps from peppers, or maybe both. It's like apple. There's a lot of smokiness to it too. Whoever put this together was certainly not wearing kid gloves. It's weird because you don't get a lot upfront but then everything comes crashing down on you like the roof collapsed, and then it stays like the clean up that you have to do after a fire. The whole cream ale base was a disastrous idea in my mind, and I wonder, if you were going to add chocolate (let me check the label to be sure... yes it says that there's chocolate added) why would you not use any chocolate malt? I don't know, it's not the worst beer I've ever tasted but it's definitely one of the most misdirected. If they'd soured it and added salt and called it a mole chocolate funnelcake gose then maybe they'd have something going on. Ha ha! I'm only kidding, but now I realize why this is a "cream ale", and that's got to be because they just took their "Funnel Cake" and added Chipotles and chocolate to it. Bad idea; that's not how you make a good beer, that's cutting corners. Each beer should be it's own being, not just a spin-off. So do I hate this? No, but at the same time it's not good. It's just a sloppy recipe. The mouthfeel is fine but in all honesty basically everything else is a mess. It's an OK beer in the end, you won't dump it unless you really don't like heat - and I have had hotter beers - but it's not inspiring. For example, the chipotle is there but there's no chocolate to bolster it. Just one example. I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of this disaster.
Review #8,254