Here's a beer that might restore your energy after a day of frantically searching for the perfect Christmas gift! Beer blogger Adam Shugan explores the world of chili bock:

Did you know almost 1000 years ago cocoa beans were used for money and chocolate was sugarless?  That is right, you Ghirardelli and Godiva lovers, the ancient Aztecs, apparently unaware of sugar, drank cold, thick libations consisting of cocoa beans, chilies, and cornmeal.  Today, brewers are recreating these funky beverages (sans the cornmeal) and bringing back the drink of the gods.  I am now going to sample Samuel Adams chocolate chili bock known as “The Vixen.”

Appearance: It is being served chilled in my Strong Bow tumbler.  The bottle art depicts a hand drawn, voluptuous brunette holding a rose between her full lips.  The ingredients include chilies from Mexico, Cocoa nibs from Ecuador and Cinnamon from Southeast Asia, a beer brought together from around the globe.  A hard pour generates a charcoal black color with a massive three finger that sits on top like pumice.   

Smell: It is roasty and smoky almost like a rauch beer.   There are hints of spicy chilies in the background and some hops to balance things out.  I do not detect the cinnamon.

Taste: The head continues to sit on top like oil on water so I have no choice but to sample that first.  It actually carries some of the heat from the chilies!  The beer itself is smooth and chocolaty.  There is a fine bittersweet chocolate presence with a solid hop backbone.  The cinnamon provides a little flavor but there is no chili heat! With each sip, I am not getting the Yin Yang of spicy-sweet I was hoping for.   They could have saved the money on the chilies and stuck with a flavorful bock but c’est la vie.

         The Vixen is a good chocolate bock but needs a little improvement in the cloying piquant flavor.   Look for the new 22oz bottle and if you are lucky, Dogfish Head’s “Theobroma” another chocolate chili beer brewed with Aztec chocolate nibs, honey, and ancho chilies at your local ABC.  In addition, on a non-beer related note, the gourmet chocolate company Visionary Cacao offers “Xocolatl Dark” (bitter water in Aztec) with a fantastic marriage of real cayenne pepper heat, agave nectar, coconut oil, and raw cacao for an exquisite dessert spread also found at select ABC’s. 

Beer blogger Adam Shugan is the manager at our NE Silver Springs Blvd store in Ocala.