Island Time
Masthead Brewing Co.

Many thanks to fiver29 for this & dozens of other bottles/cans he’s sent westward over the years. 500ML blue-waxed bottle split with my wife, because chili peppers. And that wax was a little bitch.

Black. Chili peppers come blasting off the surface, cut only by a modest, fully-clothed nib of cocoa.

Island Time brings deceiving heat; it hits the sternum rather than the palate & builds rather than punches one in the face. The barrel manages to deflect a touch of the pepper before it’s obliterated; the cocoa does slightly better at sticking around. The rest of the stuff is buried & virtually undetectable.

I love chili pepper beers; one of my all-time favorites is Huna. The balance on this is way off. Excuse me, I have to go take my pants off to cool down.

500 ml wax capped bottle, no dating that I noticed on it but I believe this was a 2021 release. Big thanks to Jon and Meg for this one! Served in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch or so tan head. Head retention is decent, and there's a small amount of lacing. I like the aroma, the brew smells like roasted malt, cacao nibs, coconut, chili peppers, vanilla, bourbon and oak. I think the taste is pretty much just like the aroma, but there's also some burnt/charred malt and dark bready flavors noticeable too. Nice heat from the Scotch Bonnet chilies. All the flavors seemed to mesh well together, with no one flavor overpowering the others. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's a bit creamy and slick, and has a moderate amount of carbonation. Doesn't drink like it's 13.4% ABV, alcohol is well hidden here. I thought this was a pretty good imperial stout, worth picking up if you get the chance!

On tap at Masthead Brewing in Cleveland, OH.

This one pours a dark and inky looking black, with a small head, and no real lacing.

This smells like creamy coconut, coconut candy, milk chocolate, light pepper spice, creamy vanilla, and oak.

This is basically barrel aged Mexican cake, substituting the cinnamon for coconut, and that works quite well for me. There is definitely a heat to this one, but it doesn't ever get overwhelming, and it doesn't overshadow the other tasty flavors in this one. The coconut is fantastic here, toasty, sweet, candy-like, and provides a really nice counterpoint to the creamy vanilla. There's a base level of chocolate and roast that the added flavors do really well with. There's a not ton of barrel here, but the oak spice is a nice complementary flavor to the pepper spice.

This is medium bodied, very creamy, with no real booziness to it at all.

I really, really liked this one. It's a really unique on a Mexican(ish) style stout, and one of the best that I've had.