The Ska Autumnal Mole Stout was a gift from my dad that has been sitting in the fridge for almost a year now. I have no excuse as to why I let it sit that long, but now that it’s the season again I decided to have it. This is an interesting sounding brew: A stout brewed with cocoa nibs, spices and three kinds of chile peppers. The beer poured an opaque brown with a decent amount of sediment and little to no head. The aroma was of sweet caramel malt and cocoa that did not fully represent the flavors to come. The taste was slightly sweet and malty with less cocoa on than the aroma, but what the aroma did not represent was the spice. There were flavors of cinnamon and cardamom with a slight hint of clove which was all very autumn appropriate. While I didn’t detect much heat from the chile peppers I did detect a bit of their bitter presence. The flavor did leave the lingering presence of Mole on my palate which is an obvious target. Definitely an interesting brew and probably with more heat fresh but good nonetheless.
