Central Coast Chai Cream Ale

Brewed by Central Coast Brewing
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
San Luis Obispo, California USA

22oz bottle. 2007 vintage. Poured a medium and hazy golden color with a huge sized white head. Aromas of chai tea and lots of spices (cinnamon, ginger, and lots more). Tastes of basically the same. This one definitely has tea in it. Has a light tart finish. Definitely interesting and I kinda like it.

(22oz bottle, 2008 vintage) Pours a lightly hazy yellow body with a tall frothy white head. Aroma of lemon, orange, clove, and tea leaves. Flavor of tea, citrus, floral, clove, cardamom, and grass.

Bottle: Dark caramel color with crimson edges, explosive beige head with adequate lacing. Nose of clove, light yeast and spices, some up front citrusy hop and coriander notes as well. The flavor is balanced, moderately acidic with a grassy citrusy tail. Floral tail, lacking the trademark chai spices such as clove or cardomom. Seems just like a novelty beer to me.

Bomber $4.99 at Bottle Barn; 2007 product. Looks like I should just copy IrishBoy’s words. Glass of foam with a little liquid. (That repeats with each pour; must be a live one) Slightly hazy golden color with a huge frothy white head. It has a really spicy aroma. Pie spice. Coriander? Nutmeg? Clove! Chai? Isn’t that tea boiled with milk and water? Certainly seems to have ginger. Thin to medium bodied with spritzy carbonation. On to the flavors. Ginger, coriander or nutmeg, likely clove, something herby - must be the Chai - seems a bit like tea. Light malt, or medium malt overwhelmed with spice. Overall it reminds of different ales: Butte Creek Mataveza; Badger Blandford Fly. Pretty tasty. Ought to go great with spicy asian food. The finish is decently dry, and the spice lingers while there is a flavor like that from sucking tea leaves. Overall it is pretty strongly flavored, but there are many different flavors, and they seem to work well together. Don’t die ’til you’ve tried this one.

Bottle bought out of curiousity. Very big light porous head. A fair amoont of stuff laying loosly on the bottom of the bottle. Not sure at first if it is yeast or speces. Hazy dark amber beer. Aroma seems more herbal than tea, slightly sour. Sharp strong taste. Herbal in the finish but pepper and lime up front. I could see this being poured out if there were lots of beers being sampled. Not a lot to it. body is a bit thin. Very citrusy and lite tea with lots of pepper or corriander.

Bottle. 2007. Amber beer with a huge cream colored head. Bottle under big carbonation. Spicy, nutmeg aroma. Very spicy (nutmeg, cinnamon, clove) flavor. Some vanilla and dusty malt. Lingering spice. Medium bodied. Spice overpowers.

I enjoyed the spices to this, what I didn’t like was the mix of the spices and the stong citrus hops, the two flavors didn’t go well together for me. For a cream ale this was really hoppy, it felt like a battle between citrus and chai.

There had got to be a problem with their bottling line or something. This had a loud almost explosion like CO2 release sound upon opening. I have been trying to get this head settled for about five minutes now and the more I pour the more I get a mountainous foamy head. Well, I finally got it settled... Cloudy yellow gold with a 1/2 inch head after scooping the mountain out. Aroma of sweet leafy spices. Smells kind of like a belgian, and a beer that comes to mind is New Belgium Mothership Wit. Definite spices, probably from the Chai. Sweet and spicy. The spice is definitley the most prevalent flavor quality. Mouthfeel has tea like coaty qualities. the carbonation tickles the tongue, as it is quite strong. A little gritty and grainy too. This is unique, but the whole head issue bothers me. I take it all back. The spice is the tea. This is essentially carbonated tea. But the original rating will stand.