Hot Rod Jalapeno
Busted Knuckle Brewery

chili beer has never been a thing of mine, so i try to respect them for what they are and evaluate them in terms of quality before personal preference. this is a good one, but it also appeals to me on an individual level in that the heat is really low, really late, and not the deciding factor of this beer at all. while thats all a positive, i think the base beer, a loosely red pale thing, is just mediocre. it has some body and some grain flavors that hold the pepper and a fire roasted element just fine, but this isnt great beer without the pepper and the proportionality, and so for me, its just not that great, despite being a chili beer that hits my own stride awful well. it has a jalapeno and or a poblano flavor, green pepper, moderate heat, and a real snappy freshness to it. peppers can be cool in beer, and this clearly is an expression and example of that. the subtle heat, the fuller grainy toasty sweet body, the well rounded balance, this is just good beer whether or not you like this sort of thing...

edit: predictably, there is a little bit of heat variance from batch to batch, ranging in my experience from quite mild to rather appreciable, and i like both. they did a nice job with this one overall, and whatever changes the different peppers bring, its all good!