Alley Kat Aaiieeeeeeeeee Caramba!

Brewed by Alley Kat Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Edmonton, Canada

***review from Oct 20, 2008***
Well, I don’t think they coulda stuffed a larger jalapeno in this bottle. Cracking the cap caused the jalapeno to fizz uncontrollably for a couple of minutes. The pale lager beer colour actually has some color to it but that might be from the giant green pepper lodged in my glass like a tree in a canyon. Well, it pretty much smells like a freshly sliced jalapeno with a bit of sweet malts tossed in. You could say this smells pretty fine actually but knowing that I have to drink what I’m smelling is not as tantilizing as one may think. Pretty much tastes like weak jalapeno water and a bit of hay. The beer itself is totally flavourless. I’ve eaten most of the pepper as my punishment for spending 3 bux on this. A mushroom cloud of methane just appeared behind me... goodbye, cruel world...

Bottle: Poured a bright golden color ale with a medium foamy head with good retention and no lacing. Aroma of spicy peppers is dominating. Taste is also dominated by some spicy pepper and is plainly undrinkable. Body is average with average carbonation, alcohol could be apparent but this is so spicy that I can’t taste anything else. I am not much of a fan of spicy meal so this didn’t do it for me.

"Clear bottle with a 1.5” long chili floating in it. I’m going to apologize to me face for what I’m about to do to it. beer appears to be a slight golden colour well maybe more a pale browny yellow a ¼” noisy cap floats on top. Smells like freshly cut green pepper combined with a mild sent of standard lager. Aroma is not offensive as one might have guessed but its sure not that good. Taste is very bready with a lot less pepper then I was expecting. Sweet bready brew mixed with green pepper juice and some fiery spice that is easily handled (but I also put hot sauce on 80% of the food I eat). I find nothing appealing about this beer, there is no reason to ever purchase again nor would I recommend it to anybody. But no for the pepper, pepper had moderate heat tasted like a normal chili and for some reason made me dry heave. The end."

Sold as single bottles in Sherbrooke, made especially for Sherbrooke by Alley Kat (or so I was told by the sales girl). Colourful cartoon label, clear bottle with honking jalapeno pepper floating in the neck of the beer. Pours a clear golden yellow with a fairly exuberant white foamy head, I think in part due to the presence of a fat chili pepper in the pour. Clean lagery aroma, with no detectable chili in the nose for me. The palate is similarly clean pale malts with a hint of vegetal chili-pepper flavour in the finish. No heat at all. A very drinkiable version of an often attempted (and ofetn failed) novel concept.