Rogue Sriracha Hot Stout
It’s not unusual to find several opened bottles of hot pepper sauces resting in my fridge, with an army of others awaiting their turn in the pantry — bhut jolokia, Trinidad scorpion, habanero etc. I even started growing my own pepper plants last year for drying and cooking. What can I say, I like spicy food. That said, I am not a Sriracha fanboy. Its very unique flavor means I have to be in just the right mood to fully enjoy the thick and lightly grainy sauce.
Rogue has decided that the fervor around the popular sauce was more than enough for them to add it during the brewing of a stout. And so we have their Sriracha Hot Stout, a 5.7% ABV and 55 IBU example of the style that, interestingly enough, doesn’t really have much, if any, of that unique flavor in its dark depths. Yes, the brew has a low-to-moderate amount of heat that tingles the tongue for a good long while after each swallow. And, maybe, the Sriracha flavor is there in the background as the brew has had a chance to warm in the glass, but it’s not as polarizing as the original sauce.
I was originally worried when I received this bottle from the brewery. Knowing how I personally have to be in the right mood for Sriracha, encountering it in a stout gave pause, but in the end, I thoroughly enjoyed the brew. It’s a solid beer with just the right amount of heat.
This is a review of a promotional sample.