The Vixen Chocolate Chili Bock
Appearance: It is being served chilled in my Strong Bow tumbler. The bottle art depicts a hand drawn, voluptuous brunette holding a rose between her full lips. The ingredients include chilies from Mexico, Cocoa nibs from Ecuador and Cinnamon from Southeast Asia, a beer brought together from around the globe. A hard pour generates a charcoal black color with a massive three finger that sits on top like pumice. Smell: It is roasty and smoky almost like a rauch beer. There are hints of spicy chilies in the background and some hops to balance things out. I do not detect the cinnamon. Taste: The head continues to sit on top like oil on water so I have no choice but to sample that first. It actually carries some of the heat from the chilies! The beer itself is smooth and chocolaty. There is a fine bittersweet chocolate presence with a solid hop backbone. The cinnamon provides a little flavor but there is no chili heat! With each sip, I am not getting the Yin Yang of spicy-sweet I was hoping for. They could have saved the money on the chilies and stuck with a flavorful bock but cest la vie. The Vixen is a good chocolate bock but needs a little improvement in the cloying piquant flavor.