Beer Review: The Unknown Brewing Company La Jornada Del Escorpion En Fuego Hacia La Casa Del Chupacabra Muerto

Brewery: The Unknown Brewing Company
Beer: La Jornada Del Escorpion En Fuego Hacia La Casa Del Chupacabra Muerto
Style: Chili Beer
ABV: 10.1%
Character: Brewed with agave nectar, Serrano peppers, and 99 real scorpions
Ratings at time of Review: BA: n/a | RB: n/a
Metal Connection: HOWL – The Scorpion’s Last Sting

BeerMetalDude Rating: 4.75/5

Here is a beer that I have been wanting to put on my page for quite some time, after first hearing about this beer from my friend, Jorge Espinoza of animebeers.com. In fact, it was Jorge who ended up sending me this bottle so I could taste and review this amazingly strange beer by The Unknown Brewing Company. This is actually my first encounter with this brewery from Charlotte, North Carolina.

The bottle artwork is what really sparked my attention toward this beer at first, then I read the description, which said that this beer was brewed with 99 real scorpions. Um, really? Scorpions? This Imperial Mexican-style Lager was also brewed with agave nectar, and serrano peppers. The artwork really helps this beer get some attention, and with the label screen printed right on the bottle, it really pops right off the bottle. The art is of a long haired woman with her face painted as a cavalera sugar skull, complete with scorpions on her cheeks. She is completed with bright red roses in her hair, and flames in her eyes. The other side of the bottle, which could also act like the main artwork is the complete title, “La Jornada Del Escorpion En Fuego Hacia La Casa Del Chupacabra Muerto” written in a fancy cursive text in a combination of red and white letters. If this was on a clear bottle, I could see this as a tequila bottle.

I poured this beer into a 3 Floyds Brewing Company imperial pint glass. The beer’s appearance was a clear dark golden color that was topped with a 1/2 inch eggshell colored foamy head. There was good head retention with nice lines of lacing going down the glass.

For me, the serrano peppers are dominant with a mixture of sweet agave, honey, some oak wood, and a bit of nuttiness. There is a trace of actual tequila, peppercorns, caramel, toffee, biscuit bread, with brown sugar/molasses, and a weird saltiness. Oak wood and serrano peppers linger a bit in the nose afterwards.

The taste is again overpowered by the serrano peppers, but that could just be my palate, as anything with peppers usually sticks out above the rest. There is a spiciness that hits the palate as soon as the beer hits the throat, and it lingers throughout each swallow, to the aftertaste. Other flavors picked up are that of oak wood, agave, honey, mild tequila, peppercorns, caramel, toffee, biscuit bread, and a hint of brown sugar/molasses. Not too sure what scorpions taste like, but this beer also has a weird saltiness to the flavor, I can only assume comes from the combination of all the added ingredients, including the stinging little bastards. The aftertaste is sweet agave, honey, oak wood and spicy peppers.

This beer has a medium-full body thickness, with a smooth yet “stinging” mouthfeel. Moderate carbonation with a nice “sting” to it. The finish is spicy, yet smooth.

Overall, the flavor profile of this beer definitely lives up to the hype of the novelty surrounding this bad girl. For some reason when I read the name of this beer, I say it in my head with the voice that does the a lot of Robert Rodriguez’s commercials, like this one for Grindhouse. Try it out. Just read the beer name in that voice. It will make you want to kill someone with a rusty blade with one hand, while you take a long drink of this beer with the other hand, all while a scantly clad midget woman is dancing around your leg.

Metal Connection: If this beer could be summed up in a song, this will be it. As I imagine this beer to be featured in a Grindhouse style movie, those killings and over the top exploitation scenes need a good soundtrack to kill, bleed, beat, torture to. I believe I found this soundtrack. I present to you the band, Howl from Rhode Island. These guys play a depressive, hate filled brand of Stoner/Sludge Metal. The music is dirty, and raw. It fits this experimental Mexican-style Lager perfectly. The song is called “The Scorpion’s Last Sting” from their 2010 debut full length album, Full of Hell, which was released on Relapse Records. Drink La Jornada Del Escorpion En Fuego Hacia La Casa Del Chupacabra Muerto and feel the scorpion’s last sting!