Capricho Oscuro - Batch 5 - Cigar City Brewing

AlexFields

Tennessee

4.2/5  rDev -5.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 4.5

Opened at 4/20 tasting.

Pours a dark murky brown, little head, looks imposing and malty.

Intense malty aroma as expected, caramel and vanilla and chocolate and lots of pure sweet sugar. Smells insane.

Taste is an explosion of caramel, then some vanilla and chocolate, some sweet booze, then some more caramel. Yum.

Kinda hot and boozy, pretty thick, excellent beer but not too high on drinkability.

8.6/10

Serving type: bottle

05-12-2013 21:10:35 | More by AlexFields

jegross2

Illinois

3.95/5  rDev -11.4%
look: 3 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Reviewing the Capricho Oscuro (Batch 5) from Cigar City Brewing out of Tampa, Florida. According to Cigar City: This beer is a blend of at least five different beers, including Hot Blooded Foreign Stout, Puppy's Breath Robust Porter, and several vintages of Warmer Winter Winter Warmer. These beers were aged in some cognac and brandy barrels before being blended together. This will be a tasting room exclusive.

Score: 91

2012 vintage bottle served in a Goose Island Chicago flag snifter and enjoyed on 04/23/13.

Appearance: Pours a dark, distinctively brown color with just a whisper of head that quickly and totally dissipates. No lacing or retention; this beer just leaves behind a clear, oily coating on the side of the glass that slowly oozes back into the beer. 3/5

Smell: Huge notes of toffee, raisins, figs and sweet maple. I can smell the dried dark fruit notes at least a foot from the glass. Vanilla, brown sugar, caramel and more raisin. This beer is an absolute raisin bomb. Big, bold and decadent in aroma. This beer smells sweet, but it does not quite get to the point of sugary sweet. The aroma gets sweeter as it warms up and airates; this made me downgrade the aroma score a quarter step. 4.25/5

Taste: Upfront is sweet brown sugar, maple, sugary vanilla and raisin. There's a bit of booziness thereafter, but not in an overly intense cringe-inducing sort of way -- more just in the warming sensation and bold accompanying flavor. Toffee, caramel, leather, brown sugar and maple in the finish. Tons of dried dark fruit throughout. A little oak as it warms up. This tastes a sweeter than the nose and is a bit sugary, though not "Dark Lord sweet." 4/5

Mouthfeel: Medium, maybe slightly sub-medium, bodied with low carbonation. Sweet overall. I was expecting a little more fullness and a little less sweetness, but this does not fall so short of the mark to hurt this brew. 3.5/5

Overall: This beer has some awesome qualities going for it. The flavor profile is reminisce of Melagne 3 and Fruet. Alas, the sugary-sweetness and lesser bodied restrains this one from true greatness. If you love your sweet raisin-forward beers, this one is calling your name.

Cost: $10 for a 12 oz bottle.

Serving type: bottle

04-24-2013 00:30:47 | More by jegross2

Etan

Illinois

4.24/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

12oz sent by BREWSnTATTOOS. Thanks bud.

A: Pretty much straight black with some very dark mahogany hues. A bit of a light cardboard-colored head dies down quickly.

S: The brandy and cognac are pretty heavy in the nose. Thick notes of strong wine, restrained cocoa, figs, raisins, maple, toffee. Strong yet somewhat delicate.

T: The taste first brings lightly fusel alcohol and moderately sweet notes of dark dried fruits from the Warmer Winter portion of the blend, the barrels, and the mild oxidation. Dry charred grain and dark chocolate notes come in from the stouts, as well as some tannic vanilla and caramel and mildly bitter oak. Ghost of roasted malt and oak in the finish.

M: Between medium and thick-bodied with light carbonation. Dryish tannic feel on the tongue.

O: Normally I'm not a huge fan of barleywine/stout blends, but I think the barrels made them work pretty well together here.

Serving type: bottle

04-08-2013 04:53:56 | More by Etan

cosmicevan

New York

4.4/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

huge thanks to dachshunddude86 for hooking this one up! enjoyed from a ccb snifter.

a - pried the wax and opened the bottle, filled my snifter. brew poured a fairly muddy brownish purple that settled into the glass as a dark purple brown. the head was minimal and fizzled away quickly. some visible carbonation can be seen near the surface around the glass.

s - oh joy! what a fantastic juicy dark fruit smell. big figs and raisins...grapes. booze. just really fantastic.

t - taste is spot on as well. matches the nose, big booze tickling a basket of ripe dark fruit. figs. really has an almost sangria quality to it.

m - big and boozy. tingly. coats the mouth.

o - overall, i am a big fan of american strong ales. i know a lot of people consider this as a catch all style, but i find there to be a specific style and this one really hits it...much like Bell's 9K. big bold dark fruit and nuts and figs. BAM...capricho oscuro. would have again.

Serving type: bottle

04-08-2013 02:36:25 | More by cosmicevan

Huhzubendah

District of Columbia

4.53/5  rDev +1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75

Shared by yourefragile. Thanks Michael.

The beer is dark brown with a small beige head. The aroma offers roast, bourbon, oak, vanilla, chocolate. Just ridiculously smooth. Wow. Alcohol heat is there in the finish, but even so, rather mild and delicate. Teeming with flavor. Chocolate and roast with prominent bourbon throughout. Medium bodied and silky smooth on the palate. Fabulous.

Serving type: bottle

04-06-2013 05:56:22 | More by Huhzubendah

Lucho

Florida

4.15/5  rDev -7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Appearance: Pours a light black that is only transparent at the rim. Foams up just enough to let you know it isn't flat then fades fast with a few little bubbles floating around the middle.

Smell: WOW! Barrels, lots of Barrels. Brandy and maybe some Cognac. Keep smelling and there are some fruits. Little bit of Brandy soaked apples, figs, raisins, and maybe dates.

Taste: WOW again! There are lots of Barrels that hit you first with the Brandy. There is some burn from the booze but I feel that this will settle down in time. Once the barrels subside then some fruit notes come out like there were on the nose. Some Brandy soaked green apples, figs, and raisins, then dates at the end. The aftertaste is mostly coffee which has to be present from one of the base beers.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with mild carbonation. There is a nice sticky resinous quality that remains around the rim of your mouth after each sip. Yummy!

Overall: This is a barrel monster with some great qualities. I think that in time things will change and I hope that they change for the better.

Serving type: bottle

03-13-2013 05:38:43 | More by Lucho

Alieniloquium

Florida

3.69/5  rDev -17.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

12 oz. bottle poured into a snifter.

Appearance - A few wisps on a deep caramel head. Thin collar. Reddish flecks.

Smell - Lots of cognac and brandy. Smells like apple brandy, but the description doesn't say that. Caramel.

Taste - Lots of liquor. Very strong. Nondescript caramel and some roast. Very hot brandy finish. Boozy finish.

Mouthfeel - Very hot. Low carbonation. Alcohol overwhelms all the other flavors.

Overall - I blame the brandy barrels. More cognac, less brandy. The blend of beers is very muddled.

Serving type: bottle

03-12-2013 02:29:41 | More by Alieniloquium

CruisaC

Ohio

4.5/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Traded for a couple bottles with Dachshunddude86, thanks Matt!

Pours a dark cola with minimal head. There are some bubbles and a ring that forms so you know it's not flat.

Nose is great; brandy-soaked raisins, very port like. Clearly his beer spent time in a barrel(s).

Taste follows the nose at first with cognac/brandy soaked dark fruit. The next wave of flavor is roasted coffee with some cocoa. Reminded me of JW Lees but not as sweet and more coffee. Good stuff.

Smooth on the palate with just a hit of booze going down. I'd imagine this would be mitigated with any food pairing. Maybe 10-11%?

Certainly a sipper, but a very tasty offering from Cigar City. After being impressed with MZ then let down a bit by Hunaphus it's nice to have another barrel aged beer to gauge them by. I may have to track down some more bottles.

Serving type: bottle

03-08-2013 21:58:34 | More by CruisaC

Nicolay3535

Florida

4.93/5  rDev +10.5%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 5

Poured from a bottle in to a Hill Farmstead stemmed glass. Holy bat shit Batman, this is the bomb!

A- I'm color blind but it looks pretty black to me with almost no head and very little carbonation climbing up the glass.

S- Cognac/Brandy soaked prunes, sweet grape must almost port like, dried mission figs, medjool dates, brown sugar, have I died and gone to heaven?!?

T- Much like the nose the first sip gave me dried fruits soaked in cognac and brandy, a lot of that dried stone fruit. I also get a chocolate milk with cherries type of thing going on, this is an extremely complex drink for sure.

M- This is the only category in which i can't give Capricho #5 a perfect score, and thats only because I've become accustomed to the motor oil thickness of CCB stouts, but none the less this beer is full bodied and silky smooth.

O- Probably the the best CCB beer I've had to date, thanks CCB for showing my palate who It's daddy really is.

Serving type: bottle

03-02-2013 05:23:17 | More by Nicolay3535

Lare453

Florida

4.99/5  rDev +11.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

12oz into a riedel snifter

A dark cola brown, little to no head, nice crown of bubbles, scattered islands, very pretty

S lovely, big cognac, vanilla, dark dark chocolate, bakers chocolate, licorice, lemon peel, oak, bitters, cherry, other berries... Tis beer is super complex! There are several flavors I can't identify.

T phenomenal. This is very very cognac and brandy forward. Lots of licorice, vanilla, coca, big dark cherries, brandy and cognac oak, lite powdered sugar, light coffee, sweet malt, brown sugar, cane sugar, Cabernet grapes, several other flavors that I cannot identify. A lot of cherry.

M thick and full bodied, very light carbonation, smooth

O this beer is phenomenal, I dare to say its as good as Leon, sweet stout and other ba beers from ccb. I may have to say its the best ba beer from ccb yet. Exceptional. Another unbelievable drink from ccb.

Serving type: bottle

03-02-2013 02:04:04 | More by Lare453