New Belgium Cigar City

A collaboration between Cigar City Brewing and New Belgium Brewing Co.

Style: Chili/Spiced Beer

ABV: 8.5%

Review: The latest beer from the Lips of Faith Series pours light caramel clean, bright filtered with full head that shows nice lace in the glass. The nose delivers warm toffee from what comes as a traditional American pale, mildly hopped, with a sweet alcohol note, and then a faint chili aroma on the back. Front of the palate is true American pale ale, aggressively hopped and provides a layer over the chili tastes, which do bring enough spice but nowhere near overly heated. Marash peppers traditionally carry flavors of dried fruit, and this is clear on the palate. They’re also a nice choice to sweeten the caramel malts against the hoppy and dry finish. This a very nice American pale ale, and shockingly stands at 8.5%, so clearly not an American pale ale! This would pair very well with mild food (anything with ham and pineapple), as the chili heat would bring a nice finish to a plate.