It is time once again for our “Give It A Shot” podcast where we share with you, our valued listener, something we discovered that needs to be shared immediately. If you have any ideas for future episodes of “Give It A Shot” or just have a question, you can always send us an email to AboutBeverages@q.com. It’s time to try the latest in what has been a very good series from Left Hand Brewing so far, Fade to Black Volume 3. It also happens to be the title of a great Metallica song as well. The style for this year is a pepper porter or chili pepper porter to be more precise. I’m not sure if they are green chilies, but it doesn’t matter. Again, normally a beer we may not give a second look to, but since it’s from Left Hand and it carries the name Fade to Black, we will have to …. yeah I did it again. Also at the end of this podcast we go back and sample the Vertical Epic we had earlier in the week to see how the flavor changed when it warmed up a bit.
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Link Lounge
Here are the links to the things we talked about during the podcast.
Tasting Notes – Left Hand Brewing Fade to Black Volume 3
6 Comments
Erica
I just started listening to your podcast and I stopped shortly after I heard my name and heard that you were wondering if I had tasted the Vol 3. I'm EXTREMELY tempted to run out and buy it right now so I'm not biased by what you two think :-)! Small battle going on inside my head haha!
AboutBeverages
You should go out and get one then listen! We are hoping in the future to let people know ahead of time what we will be tasting so they can try it with us. We will be doing live video stuff next year for things like that so be ready.
Erica
So I tried the Vol 3 while shortly before you guys were trying it, Keith and Andrew, and I got Amaretto instead of hazelnut…just a thought. And I thought the pepper really added a back of the throat warming sensation, almost the way the spicy mexican peppers and carrots do. I really enjoyed making this a participatory tasting :-)!
AboutBeverages
I could see notes of amaretto and as it warmed up it did get a little more spicy. You should make sure to try the Stone Vertical Epic 11.11.11. It uses Hatch Chilies.
Paul
I grabbed a 6-pack of FtB this past weekend, on your signal that it was out. I didn't want to risk missing it like I almost did this past winter. I will say it is better than what I recall of Volume 2. Volume 1 must have really been something to hold such a high watermark for you guys. Vol. 3 does have that nice spicy exit as it goes down. Beyond that, it's a very good roasted porter, but I can't place it in my top 10 beers I've ever had. I'm frankly not getting the flavors you all are describing, but if I could name one thing, I'd say a fairly mild chorizo. My taste buds tend to prefer summing things up as a sort of single frame mental image of the flavor, texture, and overall effect of a beer, whisky, etc.
Keep the beers coming guys!
AboutBeverages
It's interesting that you say chorizo because I think that plays into the spicy and smoky flavor in that beer. The smokiness is reminiscent of the volume 2 smoked Baltic porter.