Goose Island Pepe Negro:
Bonjour once and all!  So what should we think about a Belgium beer with a French name?  Are you on the fence, excited, disgusted?  What about a beer that shares it’s Christian name with a cartoon skunk?  Well going into today’s beer, Pepe Negro, I was curious but cautious with this beer, being that it’s brewed with peppercorns.  Yeah, a peppercorn Belgium beer, cautious is a good way to approach this one.  The beer pours like a stout with a tan head and a dark brown color and a nose that is more malt than anything else, but there is a hint of pepper spice.  The beer itself tastes very smooth with a mix of a stout and a Belgian brew and not much spice to notice.  There is a bit of coffee taste in the brew that is expected in a stout but not in Belgians which makes it a surprising find.  Overall, very good, the spice isn’t nearly as noticeable as I thought or what I could have been (you want spicy beers?  Get a chili pepper beer and stock up on antacids before hand).  Definitely worth a revisit when supply provides it.