Samuel Adams The Vixen: A chocolate chili bock unlike the others

I’m not certain there is a style for this one, so I’ll just call Samuel Adams’ The Vixen a celebration beer just in time for the holidays.  I got this 22-ounce beer in a gift pack that I picked up as a gift to myself.  There are a few good ones in there, but this one caught my interest right away – a bock beer with chocolate, chili and cinnamon.  Sounded sweet enough!

Based on the description I was thinking this would be a decent dessert beer, so rounded up a couple glasses and a few pieces of dark chocolate to enjoy with it.  The pairing was very nice.  The beer itself was fairly carbonated and poured out with a thick bubbly head that held on for quite some time.  It is a very deep copper color and, unless you are in a fairly well-lit room, you might mistake it for a stout. That is until you lift it up to you nose.  This one has virtually no hop presence in the nose.  You’ll mostly notice a lot of malt, some earthy spicy notes (no doubt the chilies coming through), and some cinnamon.  Nice!

This ended up being a fairly decent brew.  It was a bit on the sweet side for my taste, but most bocks are.  The most striking thing about this beer was the malt presence in the nose.  It was very toasty, which went well with the chili.  Towards the finish the toast and malt presence gave way to a sweet chocolaty finish with lingering cinnamon notes.  Although it could be argued that this one was a bit discontinuous, I felt it was very enjoyable throughout.  Having one of these in the fridge will provide a nice alternative to the cinnamon/nutmeg lagers that just about every brewery is pushing this time of year.

Cheers!