Westbrook Mexican Cake! I’ve been wanting to try that for a while. But, it’s one of those beers that flies off store shelves as soon as it goes on them. Some stores don’t even put it in on the shelf, they hide it behind the counter and make you use a password to get a bottle. So, I had yet to try it.

Then a funny thing happened. I got an alert that Stout’s Growlers here in Canton got cans of Every Day, Once a Day, Give Yourself an IPA into stock. That didn’t turn out so well but…they had bottles of Westbrook Mexican Cake! I got one of course, I should have got two, but the price was pretty crazy.

Westbrook says:

Happy birthday to us! To celebrate our first year as a brewery we brewed a serious imperial stout and aged it on cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, and fresh habanero peppers. This was the first offering in our annual Anniversary series. It was so delicious we decided to bring it back each May!

Westbrook Mexican Cake is a mole beer, and a tasty one. It has an alcohol content of 10.5% by volume with 50 IBUs. The price, as I said, was crazy at $17.99 a bottle. Total Wine sells it for $15.99 a bottle, a little better, But I can never find it there. I wasn’t going to take a chance over two bucks. Interestingly, Westbrook marks the label with Best consumed fresh. Do not age or cellar! I don’t agree with that, and if I can find another bottle, I will test that theory. Anyway, my bottle was packaged on 4/9/18 and I drank it on July 8^th. About three months old.

Westbrook Mexican Cake pours to a jet-black color with a thick creamy tan head and a soft vanilla and cinnamon nose. Taking a sip, the beer is rich and smooth with a full roasty cocoa palate. Spicy cinnamon permeates, with silky vanilla marshmallow notes, hints of licorice and a just more than subtle peppery heat in the finish that leaves a lingering burn on the tongue and throat. The beer has a thick luxurious mouthfeel

A wonderful beer indeed and I must admit that I did not want the bottle to end. Even at the price, I would certainly buy it again.

Update 3/14/2020: And I did! A few months ago Target got a large supply of Westbrook Mexican Cake for the best-I've-seen price of $14.24 a bottle. I snagged a few and gave a bottle to my daughter and her boyfriend to enjoy. The week of my birthday I picked up another, since this year's pub crawl was canceled by the accursed novel corona virus. I drank it the night of my birthday, and why not? You just have to love Mexican (birthday) Cake.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled, Canned

(D)=Draft