Cigar City / Swamp Head Roosevelt - Swamp Head Brewery & Tasting Room

barleywinefiend

Washington

3.43/5  rDev -8.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

A: Poured a orangish brown color with ok carbonation leavng a small dirty white cap, bubbles and minimal lacing

S: Pine needles, orange peel, toffee and caramel with a slight booze sting

T: Caramel upfront with toffee, hops provide some pine and citrus notes but the flavor was not as robust as I would have liked. It was lacking something in flavor. Residual sugars and hints of dark fruits.

M: Crisp, rather dry, big body but not much weight on the beer for it to be 13%

O: Not bad, not great and was glad I sought this out.

Serving type: bottle

05-10-2012 16:55:05 | More by barleywinefiend

maximum12

Minnesota

2.7/5  rDev -28.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Thanks again to moose3285...wanted to try this as soon as possible after the Church on a Hill to get a good comparison. Big 750 ML bottle split with my wife.

Cigar City brew poured into my Cigar City snifters & placed on my hand-made Cigar City coasters...nah, I don't have my Cigar City thong on tonight, though. Shows a churned-up orange with an active head. Nose is strong caramel, chock-full of sweet malt, touch of oddness that must be pecans.

Roosevelt was a fine president & this beer doesn't live up to that legacy. There's a funk to this that disagrees with my palate...not violently, but with murder in thought. The pecans are sharp, bitter, pungent, & borderline unpleasant. They drown out the sweet malts & caramel, both of which show only as background props. The pecans stick around, too. Bitter root.

Church on a Hill was an amazing beer, this is almost the opposite; hugely disappointing & difficult to get down a half-bomber. The bitterness is tough to get past. Not even middling.

Serving type: bottle

05-05-2012 02:51:08 | More by maximum12

babaracas

Florida

4/5  rDev +6.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a hazy aged copper with one finger of light brown foam, settles to a thin ring leaving a few delicate rings on the glass. Smell: big toffee sweetness, date, hints of toasted nuts and orange juice. Taste: brown sugar, red plum, earthy and mildly citric (orange) hopping, nutty in the finish. Alcohol is well hidden. It's a little sweet, but otherwise solid.

Serving type: bottle

05-01-2012 03:16:10 | More by babaracas

jordanblaskey

Illinois

3.93/5  rDev +4.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Poured from a 22oz. bomber into a tasting snifter. Reviewed from notes taken at DLD 2012.

A:
Pours a hazy, cloudy dark caramel color with no head.

S:
Burnt malts, caramelized sugar, dark fruits.

T:
Caramelized sugar, dark fruits, malt, dry hops. You definitely can find the pecans on the backend and for me, that made this beer extremely interesting.

M:
Medium feel in the mouth. Would of liked to of seen maybe a little less carbonation.

O:
A unique barleywine. This reminds me a lot of FFF Behemoth. Not necessarily in a flavor replica-esque way, but just in a way that it's an "oddball" barleywine. The pecan aspect of this was awesome. I'd like to revisit at a later date.

Serving type: bottle

04-29-2012 15:41:22 | More by jordanblaskey

Gushue3

Massachusetts

3.58/5  rDev -4.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

A smaller white head forms above a reddish brown, hazy body. No lacing is left after the head falls.

S Big alcohol scent along with raisin, prune and nutti-ness. Some sweeter malt too but the hops are hiding on me.

T sweet malts, earthy hops and some darker fruits round out the taste. Not as hoppy as i had hoped but a good beer to sip on

M syruppy feel and somewhat heavy. Feels like a big barleywine

O a little let down with this barleywine. I was expecting big time hoppy barleywine. Although it wasnt a bad beer by any stretch it wasnt how i hoped.

Serving type: bottle

04-29-2012 02:55:25 | More by Gushue3

Sean9689

Illinois

3.6/5  rDev -4.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Bottle thanks to Paul.

A - Pours a muddy brown color, off-white head, thin collar.

S - Brown sugar, caramel, malts, hops, pine. As expected, a big dose of hops and malty/burnt sugary sweetness. Booze is there, but not as big as 13%.

T - Here's where the booze hits...big and up front. Burnt sugars, caramel, bitter hops, pine, light dark fruit. Way more booze then the nose, which makes this one a bit hard to get down in big quantities. Finish is boozy sweetness with some bitter hops.

M - Full, rich and boozy, good carbonation, syrupy finish.

O - A decent American Barleywine, but nothing I would go after to drink in the future. It could use some cellar time to smooth out, and perhaps things will come together for this one in due time. Right now, too much booze for me.

Serving type: bottle

04-25-2012 14:58:35 | More by Sean9689

gford217

Georgia

3.55/5  rDev -5.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

750ml bottle.

Pours a hazy amber with a big thick beige head that leaves really nice lacing.

Aroma is really hoppy, even for an American BW, with lots juicy citrus and pine resin up front. The sweet sugary malts are there with some caramelized pecans and hint of toffee.

Taste starts with some abrasive hoppiness and has a bit of nutty malts and light sugar in the background. The finish is really bitter with hops dominating alongside a ton of booze,

Mouthfeel is medium bodied with light carbonation and comes across very bitter and sharp on the palate.

This is a seriously hopped BW that is all about the hops and the alcohol, which is not hidden all that well. A decent beer, but not one of CCB's best.

Serving type: bottle

04-14-2012 03:23:13 | More by gford217

garbercury

Pennsylvania

3.68/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Sipping on this one while riding the couch...I party. Thanks to Reed415 for the legwork to grab this one from the Brewery.

A---Reddish copper, not much head or retention to speak of.

S---Can really smell the hops and alcohol for sure. Nutty pecan also can be detected, pretty good.

T---Boozy. This guy has a lot of burn to it, the combo of booze and hops makes this one pretty strong, lots of bite.

M---Good silky mouthfeel...

O---This beer needs time. I got bored and cracked it open, but if you have a bottle, I recommend giving it some aging.

Serving type: bottle

04-08-2012 19:08:58 | More by garbercury

drabmuh

Maryland

4/5  rDev +6.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Beer poured into a snifter, beer is brown, hazy, thin head, small bubbles, low retention, some carbonation, looks nice.

Aroma is sweet, malty, nutty, fine.

Beer is medium in body and sweet on the front end, the pecans are lost a little but you can pick up a faint woodiness that could be the nuts in the end, a fine barleywine, not quite as good as church on a hill but all the same quite good overall.

Serving type: bottle

03-26-2012 03:35:19 | More by drabmuh

Thorpe429

Illinois

3.63/5  rDev -3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Big thanks to drabmuh for sharing this bottle. Served in a SAVOR wine glass.

Pours a slightly-hazed light caramel color with a nice off-white good and some spotty lacing as it goes down. The nose brings some pecans and brown sugar plus a light bit of caramel. The flavor is pretty similar but with a bit of alcohol heat, coming out more as it warms up. Medium body with good carbonation and a dryness to the finish. Pretty good.

Serving type: bottle

03-18-2012 22:50:34 | More by Thorpe429

Huhzubendah

District of Columbia

3.9/5  rDev +3.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bottle shared by drabmuh. Thanks Matt.

The beer is amber / brown hued with a broken khaki colord head. The aroma offers caramels, toffee, booze, and a touch of hops. The flavor is decent, with some toasted brown sugar. Mild smoky notes blend pretty well with some light hop bitterness. Fairly light bodied with adequate carbonation. Interesting, but not great.

Serving type: bottle

03-18-2012 22:47:02 | More by Huhzubendah

Deadheadbill

Florida

4.38/5  rDev +16.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

This is the sister beer to Church on a Hill, the English style barley wine collab by CCB and Swamphead.

Pours med brown with little head. Smells roasty, slightly sweet and hoppy. This one is drier and hoppier than expected, with a malty slightly sweet mid-palate, and a nutty component to it coming from the addition of pecans to the brew. The mouthfeel is hoppy and "nut browny" with the alcohol being well hidden by great attenuation, hops and ample carbonation. I definitely like the style they achieved with this one.

An outstanding offering from CCB/Swamphead.

Serving type: on-tap

02-09-2012 15:45:38 | More by Deadheadbill

Holland

Pennsylvania

4.1/5  rDev +9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: interesting orange and brown color. It's very cloudy, and poured cold so there's minimal head, but that comes later.

S: smell is full of hops at first - a lot of citrus and resin. Then I get caramel and more roasted malts and barleywine smells, but it's not that dark.

T: caramel and toffee notes along with the heavy citrus from the hops. Bitterness shines through along with the sweetness. No idea how much alcohol is in here, but it only became detectable during the last couple of sips.

M: crisp feeling with decent carbonation for such a heavily bodied beer.

O: glad I picked up a couple of bottles at the release. Drinks a lot like their 10-10-100 but with more roasted malt flavors. Probably worth it at $15 per bottle.

Serving type: on-tap

02-09-2012 03:34:12 | More by Holland