The Pepper Peach
23rd Ave Brewery

Poured from a growler into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a moderately hazy, medium golden amber with a fine, three finger white head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of pale malt with a hint of candi, peach and green pepper. Flavor is pale malt, unpeeled peach and mild hot pepper with just a hint of heat. Flavor tapers off into the finish, but leaves a pleasant peach and green pepper lingering aftertaste. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. I've been intrigued by 23rd Ave Breweries somewhat off beat brews for a while and finally got to stop by. Pepper Peach was the only brew on tap, but it is also one of their unique ones. The initial taste has good malt and peach flavor, then fades away until the finish which has the serrano flavor pop back in balanced nicely with the peach, which tastes like a whole peach and not just peach juice. Somewhat mellow in flavor, but interesting complementary flavors and refreshing. Apparently earlier batches had a solid pepper heat which has now been toned down due to popular request; I would have liked a little more heat, although the softness of the spiciness makes this more sessionable. They also brew a pineapple IPA and a sweet potato beer that I'd like to try, but it appears that only a few brews are available at any one time (one this time as well as a very pleasant artisan vermouth on tap). A small brewery that is obviously a labor of love with some interesting ideas for beer.

Poured from 16oz can filled at the brewery into a tulip. This batch is 5.9% ABV.

Appearance: medium golden hue with a dash of haze and a finger of fizzy ivory foam that dissapeared pretty quickly.

Smell: there’s a bit of peach up front, along with a little bit of funk which I’m not sure is intentional, and then the chilis come through pretty heavily. Not normally my style, but definitely kinda interesting.

Taste: the peach and the peppers are honestly quite nice; the peppers aren’t too hot, and the sweetness complements them nicely. However, there is also this kinda yeasty off-flavor that does detract from the better elements of the flavor profile.

Mouthfeel: light body with a fair amount of carbonation; overall it’s more fizzy than creamy.

Overall: I like the recipe of this, and the idea behind it is sound. I think execution could be a little bit cleaner, though.