The first time I had any chilli beer was at the disaster of a beer festival some friends and I went to at Sandown racecourse back in 2003. Robinsons Chilli Beer. It was like drinking the worst weakest beer ever, filled with chilli powder. It was tasteless and painful. Horrible. I don't think I finished it.

It put me off chilli beer pretty much for life.

Until we went to The Show a few weeks ago. There we tried Chilli Beer again, in the form of Outback Brewery's Chilli Beer. We thought it tasted quite nice and bought a bottle the next day.

We finally drank it last night. It's lovely!

The beer is filled with the taste of chilli. Not the heat, the actual taste of a chilli. Like a capsicum. Sweet. The heat is there, but subtle. I was worried it would build up after a whole bottle, but it never got even remotely bad.

It's fantastic with a BBQ. We had sausages.

The brewer (or brewer's little helper) at the show suggested that the beer gets hotter the longer it's left in the bottle. So perhaps try to go for a close "bottled date".

Highly recommended.