Holy shit it’s cold outside. The windchill right now is literally 0 degrees. 0 degrees! There are people out there, however, who are so dedicated to drinking delicious beer that they were willing to venture out into the world and stand in line for the newest limited Elk Valley release. As you may have guessed since you are reading this right now, I was one of those people.

Nope. I totally was not one of those people.

While Elk Valley announced they would be able to have an indoor line for today’s Whiskey “Mole” Nemesis, I had some things get in the way and was unable to make it out to Mustang to get myself a bottle or 4. Only 33 cases were produced and luckily for me there are some amazingly generous folks in the world and one in particular offered to snag me a bottle even though there was a 4 bottle per-person limit. Thanks, Jack, you are awesome.

In case you missed it, the last brewery-only release from Elk Valley was the Coconut Whiskey Nemesis and it was incredible. The next release will be sometime in January and it makes me feel feelings as it will be that same base Cocount brew but this time aged in Rum barrels. John Elkins, the man behind Elk Valley, said the goal for this whole series was to release them in cans but he had some bombers to use up so the Rum Coconut Nemesis will be the first to see a canned release. He’s estimating about 40-50 cases will be produced and it will be released in 4-packs. I won’t be missing that one if I can help it.

In fact, January will be an incredibly busy month for Elk Valley as they are planning 2 double releases next month. The four beers being released will be that Rum Coconut Nemesis, Plum Le Ferme (a fruited variant of Elk Valley’s fantastic farmhouse brew), a Blackberry Bruin, and Blanc (a sour/wild wit bier). All the beers are aged in neutral oak (with the exception of the Rum Nemesis, of course).

So, as I’m writing this little intro thing Kate is sitting next to me taking huge whiffs of this brew and letting out audible “ahhhhhh” sounds on the exhale. My turn.

Company: OKCITY Brewing Company

Location: Oklahoma City, OK

ABV: 9.6%

Style/Description: Stout brewed with ancho chilies, cacao nibs, and cinnamon aged in whiskey barrels.

Price: $10 (750ml bottle)

Appearance: Pours deep and dark with a light brown head.

Nose: Delicious whiskey notes like vanilla and caramel are in the forefront with some nice cinnamon, dark chocolate, and a light prune vibe backing it up.

Taste: Like in that last coconut release, the texture is really nice and silky. The brew isn’t as sweet as I expected and I wish it had just a touch more, but that’s just me. Cinnamon can be overpowering, but it’s in great balance here with the cocoa and some really nice boozy whiskey barrel. While not very sweet, notes of vanilla and brown sugar are still creeping around in there.

Finish: There’s a lingering dark chocolate bitterness, some cinnamon spice, and finally the ancho chilies show up with some really nice subtle spice adding great complexity to the finish.

Overall: Another really nice release from Elk Valley. The complexity is great and this beer is leaving me all warm an tingly on this cold-ass day. The barrel presence is a bit hotter on this one as compared with the coconut variant, so if you were lucky enough to get multiples, I would definitely revisit this one in a couple months to see how it’s going. Not to say you shouldn’t drink one now, because you should.

Now I sit and wait for Rum Barrel Coconut Nemesis. See you guys then.

Rating: 4/5