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One of the best unique beers I've ever had was a Jalapeno ale. The yeast had metabolized all the capsaicin, so there was zero spice. The Jalapeno flavor was crisp and clean, and you could taste a depth of flavor that was normally overshadowed by the heat. It made me appreciate peppers more now that I knew what to taste for. I've been meaning to try and recreate it and then work my way through various peppers/chilies.

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Wait, does yeast break down capsaicin? That doesn’t make sense to me since I make a lot of extremely spicy fermented, hot sauces, and they don’t lose their heat.

With water and salt? That should be lactic acid fermentation by bacteria, no?

Could be, it is open air for atleast an hour or two so it could be either, especially since I faintly smell alcohol sometimes. Does adding salt always mean lacto bacillus?

I don't buy it either. I've had tons of chile beers and they are typically spicy. I once made a habanero stout and that thing was undrinkably spicy for years.

There was a habanero watermelon beer out of NZ that was pretty good. Real crisp, cool, watermelon flavor up front, pretty fruity in the middle... then the heat hits. You want to cool it down then you take another sip and it repeats.

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