Review: Stone Xocoveza Imperial Stout

Stone’s latest concoction is a holiday favorite that takes Imperial Stout and brews it with coffee, chocolate, pasilla peppers, cinnamon, and nutmeg to make a finished product that’s inspired by Mexican hot chocolate. Don’t drink beer? You can also get the experience in coffee form, with Stone launching its own lines of fresh beans and single-serve “brew bags” which steep like tea in your mug. While I tried many of the brew bags, I didn’t much gravitate to them when served with boiling water poured over — they probably do better with a much longer-term pour-over — but I did get a chance to sample the beer that started it all: Xocoveza.

This hearty stout does indeed offer a Mexican chocolate vibe, though the stout character hits first, and hardest, with a porter-like carbonation that fizzes on the roof of the mouth when consumed quickly after pouring. Notes of roasted nuts and cereal grains are acccounted for, along with a slightly winey sweetness. In short order a bold coffee punch arrives, followed by spice — more clove and allspice than cinnamon, without much peppery heat to it at all. Chocolate is most aggressive on the somewhat gravelly finish, leading to vanilla on the fade-out.

Excellent in small portions but a bit much even for a 12 ounce can, at least for my tastes.

8.1% abv.

A- / $16 per six-pack / stonebrewing.com

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