Brewery: Aztec Brewing Company
Beer: Chipotle IPA
Style: American IPA
ABV: 6.6%
Character: Brewed with smoke-dried jalapeno peppers known as chipotles
Ratings at the time of Review: BA: n/a | RB: 80
Metal Connection: MICTLANTECUHTLI – Warrior’s Desire

Rating: 4/5

I am very lucky to have found a friend on the West Coast willing to do beer trades. It all started because we both share the love for Craft Beer and we both have a beer review blog site. Of course, I am talking about my buddy, Jorge Espinoza and animebeers.com. We have been trading beers for over a year now, and he even helps me with beer orders I place online. My Beer Brother, my Craft Compadre, we are Buds in Suds! Ha ha! OK, I will stop now.

This is one of those beers that the label influenced me to buy the beer. I really love the skull faced pepper that is the logo for this beer. The fonts used on the label really makes this bottle pop out at me. The swirling vortex colorization behind the pepper is also very eye catching. Good job on this simple, yet awesome beer label.

Since this beer is an American IPA, I used the specially designed IPA glass for this session. Aztec’s Chipotle IPA pours a clear copper orange color topped with a large 1.5 inch white foamy head. There was great head retention throughout this session, and large spots of sticky lacing left down the glass.

This beer has a nice citrus fruit forward hop profile, filling my nose with scents of orange, grapefruit, pineapple, and orange zest. There is a nice bready, and mild caramel malt aroma. The chipotle pepper aroma is assertive, and over lays all the other smells of this beer with the essence of smoke. Very nice balance in the aroma profile.

The taste is similar to the nose. Tastes of citrus hops hit the palate first with flavors of orange, grapefruit, pineapple, orange zest. After the hops faded a bit, a bold bready, and mild caramel malt flavor comes through to the front. Again, the peppers are present throughout each sip from beginning until the end. There is a nice overlaying smokiness, and a jalapeno flavor and light spice that show up at the finish.

This beer has a medium body, and a crisp and astringent mouthfeel with a small spice heat from the peppers. There is moderate carbonation with a little tingle on the tongue. The beer finishes dry, which works well with the end flavor of the peppers.

Overall, I gave this beer a pretty high rating, as this beer delivers on it’s promise of chipotle peppers in the nose and taste. I have recently developed a small liking for pepper beers, but it has to be done right. I was pleased with Chipotle IPA. The peppers worked well with the hop characteristics in this beer.

Metal Connection: Years ago when I was heavily involved in the Underground music scene when I was fronting Death Metal bands, I was introduced to a Black/Thrash Metal band from California called Mictlantecuhtli. This band played in Texas as part of the Extreme Texas Metal Fest in Austin. My band, Engaged in Mutilating played as well as one of our first shows as a band. It was a very awesome show, and I had a fuckin blast there. Mictlantecuhtli put on a good show from what I remember. Full details are a bit fuzzy, but this was several beers and years ago. Here is a song called “Warrior’s Desire” from the band’s 2008 full length album, Warriors of the Black Sun. Now here’s a little history lesson for you. Mictlantecuhtli was one of the principal gods of the Aztecs, as he was the god of the dead and king of Mictlan, the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld. The worship of Mictlantecuhtli sometimes involved ritual cannibalism, where human flesh was consumed in and around the temple.