Cheers! - Cigar City Brewing

womencantsail

California

3.78/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours brown in color with a small off-white head. A rather spicy aroma of nutmeg and cinnamon. Some cognac/brandy aroma, caramel, wood, and vanilla, too. Sweet caramel and toffee with a nice spice character. A bit of maple syrup, vanilla, and brandy. Light oak flavor and some dark fruits.

Serving type: bottle

08-07-2012 17:44:16 | More by womencantsail

Sean9689

Illinois

3.45/5  rDev -11.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Bottle thanks to Kan via Joey.

A - Pours a mahogany brown color, reddish hue, off-white colored head, thin collar.

S - Lots of dark fruity sweetness, very rich, and the booze comes though with a kick. I normally love cognac beers, but I feel this one doesn't mesh well together.

T - Just tons of dark fruit sweetness and booze that are just a little too much for me to handle. This either needs some time or it's just not all that good. Alcohol is big and boozy. Finish is sweet dark fruits and light oak.

M - Full body, good carbonation, creamy finish.

O - I was hoping this would be better, considering it's a cognac barrel, but it was a let down. Perhaps the booze will smooth out after some time and it will all come together...here's hoping.

Serving type: bottle

06-07-2012 15:39:18 | More by Sean9689

drabmuh

Maryland

4/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Thanks Starr, I picked this bottle up for him at Hunahpu's day and he shared it at a tasting a few weeks later. Fun oddity.

Beer is brown with a haze and a lazy head of white bubbles, minimal lacing and some retnetion.

Aroma is malty and sweet with a brown sugar, oaky, burgandy, port character to it. Some fruitiness is a foot.

Mild vanilla and oak on a caramel mildly roasty medium body with a fine finish of not being dry or wet. A fun find and a decent beer.

Serving type: bottle

04-06-2012 19:08:25 | More by drabmuh

MasterSki

Illinois

3.78/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.5

Thanks to starrdogg for sharing this rarity. Served in a tulip.

A - A nice finger of off-white foam settles to a collar, wispy partial cap, and a few spots of lace. Lightly hazed caramel brown body.

S - The cognac presence is assertive and quite boozy, giving this a vinous distilled spirit-like character rather than the characteristic sweetness I tend to get from this type of barrel. There's also a good amount of oak, sharp toffee, and treacle, as well as some burnt brown sugars and bready malts. This could definitely use some time to mellow as it's a bit too sharp and lacking in typical barleywine sweetness.

T - Taste is markedly better, with more caramel and fruity cognac flavors, as well as light oaky vanilla and Christmas cake flavors. There's a hint of citrus as well that's actually a tad surprising - like slightly tart fruit peels baked into an otherwise sweet desserts. Definitely more what I was expecting from a cognac-aged old ale/barleywine.

M - Feel is quite nice, with a smooth, medium-full body, pleasant medium-low carbonation, and present but inoffensive winter warmer-esque alcohol presence. Definitely style appropriate.

D - Not bad by any stretch, but one of my least favorite cognac barrel-aged beers. The smell is mildly off-putting, but I suspect it should mellow with additional aging - perhaps sit on these until next Christmas.

Serving type: bottle

04-06-2012 06:24:37 | More by MasterSki

mdfb79

New York

4/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

From 03/30/12 notes. Big thanks to starrdogg for sharing this one.

a - Pours a dark reddish brown color with one inch of off white head and moderate carbonation evident. Looks pretty nice.

s - Smells of caramel malts, toffee, sweet dark fruits, sweet sugar and molasses, light alcohol. Nice and caramely.

t - Tastes of caramel malts, toffee, sweet dark fruits, raisins, figs, toasted malts, bready malts, and alcohol.

m - Medium body and low carbonation. Light alcohol, pretty smooth though.

o - Overall a really nice barleywine from Cigar City. Held up well against the Old Guardian's we tried before it, would like to have it again.

Serving type: bottle

04-05-2012 16:01:28 | More by mdfb79

Thorpe429

Illinois

4/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Big thanks to starrdogg for opening this one up. Served in a Cigar City snifter.

Pours a medium brown color with a thin off-white head and a few spots of lacing. The nose has some faint barrel character along with some brown sugar and mixed fruits. Flavor continues down this line with some nice fruitiness, caramel, and brown sugar. Light oak and vanilla through the finish, though I agree with starrdogg that there wasn't much barrel character to this one. Medium body with light-ish carbonation. Pretty good.

Serving type: bottle

04-03-2012 10:58:31 | More by Thorpe429

starrdogg

District of Columbia

4.1/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Huge thanks to drabmuh for picking this one up for me at the brewery.

Pours a caramel brown with a pretty significant fluffy white head and moderate lacing. Smells very sweet, fruity and malty with some booze lingering in the background. Flavor is very malty with some brown sugar and dark fruit. It's a bit boozy, but not overly so. Mouthfeel is medium-full bodied with pretty nice carbonation. Overall this is a nice tasty barleywine, but I'm not getting a ton of barrel.

Serving type: bottle

03-31-2012 00:15:38 | More by starrdogg