Stone sends us their most recent collaboration brew: The Xocoveza Mocha Stout. This weird name represents the sentiment of the true engineer of the beer: Chris Banker. Chris won Stone’s homebrew competition in March of 2013, where the champion wins the chance to brew their homebrew at the next level. Stone provides their facilities, expertise, and ingredients to create a bigger and even better version. The name is derived from the idea of a Mexican hot chocolate, which is what the beer is supposed to remind us of – sweet and spicy hot chocolate. Given the Mexican twist, Stone invited well known Mexican craft beer representatives of Cervecería Insurgente to join in the collaboration.
The suds include malts and specialty ingredients of a milk stout. Cocoa and milk sugars were added during the boil, which adds noted sweet and roasty flavors throughout the brew. Then, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, pasilla peppers, and coffee are added. The end result is a very complex flavor profile. While I don’t taste the chocolate as much as I do a sweet roasted coffee – it does remind me of a spicy hot cocoa. Here are the ES tasting notes:
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