La Catrina
Wander Beyond Brewing

Canned in a crafty big crafty craft can and drank in big night of drinking with chocolate sauce and liquorice novelties
Pours a jet black body with decent enough tan head
Aroma is Mexican hot chocolate
Flavour is chilli chocolate
Solid bodied

La Catrina pours a thick, rich and inviting nearly black color, capped off with a full, complex and creamy light brown head.The smell is reminiscent of Mexican hot chocolate, as its got a nice rich chocolate aroma with hints of cinnamon, and vanilla. Oh this is lovely, velvety smooth and very rich over the palette, dominated by chocolate with a spicy bite from the cinnamon and chilies that lingers, yet carries a slight vanilla sweetness to it finishing with a bitter espresso without any hint of alcohol hotness.

Score this a 4.5, I will wander beyond for another crack at this banger. Cheers!

440ml can featuring a rather 'voodo style' caricature. At first I thought it was a stick-man with the body of a cigar and skull head, then I realised it's not rolled like a cigar, so perhaps it's an elongated hop, albeit dark brown. Surrounding it are several symbols, of ginger, cinnamon, chili, and various flowers. It's ABV is 11.0%, which makes it one of the top-10 ABV% beers I've had the pleasure to try, so I approach this with some caution...

L- WOW! This muct be the darkest beer I've ever seen. Held up directly in front of a halogen lamp not one photon pentrates the pint glass (unlike say Guinness which shows a dark red glint), It pours with a 3mm very dark tan head that's holding ok.

S- Chocolate! By the bucket-load. I check the can, surely it's contains cocoa? The lable lists Allergens, but not ingredients, and their website is simply a one page place-holder. But hold on, I've just noticed other images on the can, like small dark brown broad-beans, presumably cocoa nibs, aka cocoa beans. Their smell is that prominent that nothing else fights through it for me.

T- Pungent, huge cocoa on the front, then ginger, then a distinct chili zing, finishing with deep roasted coffee notes. This is like absolutely nothing I've had before; it's mind-boggling.

F- It is rich, as expected, and together with the coffee finish comes the liqour-ish brush of the 11%ABV. I'm well used to eating chili in food, and this has a prominent spicy zing to it. The chili heat/'burn' continues on my tongue and palate long after I've swallowed a mouthful. I'm not sure if anyone would claim this is refreshing, to me it's a slow-sipping dessert beer, which might work best in winter.

O- How does one go about rating such a thing, that is so completely non-standard? You need to like chili and cocoa to even think of going here. Rich, deep, roasty like an espresso coffee. Fascinating to try, but at the price I paid I don't think I can afford more.

£8.50 for a 440ml can (less 20% for take-out discount). Bought from House of Cans, in the new redevelopment just north of King's Cross station in London. Canned: 22/05/19 BBE: 22/05/20.