Sonoran 100
Sonoran Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

Bottle 959/1000 - Aged since approximately 2006

A: Pours a very cloudy dark amber to medium brown in color. The beer has a minimal head that reduces to absolutely nothing. No amount of lacing is observed.

S: Moderate aromas of malty sweetness with some hints of maple syrup and oak/bourbon from the barrel aging. Light hints of chocolate malts. Just the lightest hint of alcohol as the beer warms.

T: Surprisingly the flavor of alcohol is not present (even as the beer warms). Very malty with moderate amounts of sweetness. Notes of maple syrup, wood/oak, bourbon, and vanilla. Slight hints of bacon smokiness in the finish.

M: Medium to full bodied with low amounts of carbonation. Light amounts of alcohol heat.

O: Considering the very high ABV, the alcohol is much better hidden than I would have expected. This one smells/tastes/appears more like an old ale or barleywine than a malt liquor. Way too strong to have more than a small glass as a serving (more like cordial than a beer). Certainly this beer improves with age.

 

A: The beer is cloudy, murky brown in color. It poured with a thin ring of bubbles on the surface around the edge of the glass that eventually completely faded away.
S: The beer has aromas of chocolate with notes of Worcestershire sauce along with hints of maple and oak.
T: The taste is quite malty and has flavors of chocolate with notes of maple and hints of bourbon and vanilla from the barrel aging. A strong taste reminiscent of bacon is present in the finish.
M: It feels medium- to full-bodied, a bit thin and somewhat smooth on the palate with a low amount of carbonation. Only a hint of warming from the alcohol is perceptible.
O: The alcohol in this beer is very well masked considering its strength but will quickly catch up with you if you drink it too quick. The taste definitely seems to improve after aging it for five years. It's an interesting sipping beer, especially when enjoyed in small quantities.

Note: Bottle #757/1000

Someone had this brilliant idea to do a malt liquor tasting. Someone has bad ideas.

A - This beer comes in a cool looking bottle but is pretty damn ugly. Burnt umber color with some floaty stuff in there that may or may not have been intentional.

S - Well, at 19.5% you expect to get a ton of booze in there, and it doesn't disappoint. Some weird maple and grease, although I didn't get bacon like everyone else. It smells sweet, and a little like galvanized rubber at the end. I can't believe this shit cost something like $37.

T - I apparently did not find this so hard to get down as my comrades. Lots of grain alcohol, sweet sickly maple, and some rubber. There's so much alcohol I think it kind of masked the other horriblness for me that everyone else hated so badly. It still sucks though.

M - Flat and gross.

O - Nice bottle, you should keep it and throw the beer out.

Thanks nate for bottle # 862/1000

A-lots of sediment, brown water. Toy could have put toilet water in another cup and I wouldnt be able to tell the difference

S-no thanks

T-not bad but not certainly good. some char. some alcohol something i would never want to try again

M-Medium body. not very smooth

O-worth the try, not the buy

First Annual(?) Chicago Malt Liquor Tasting. Bottle #862/1000. Thanks Nate for this gem. Served in a Cigar City snifter, as drinking this oddball bottle from a paper bag proved too difficult.

A - Still, transparent dark brown-orange body. Random spots of sediment, and some legs when swished in the glass. It's like a crappier looking Utopias.

S - Huge alcohol - my nostril hairs will never be the same. Maple syrup-soaked breakfast sausages, bacon, and a light note of inner tube. The cloying sweetness had me feeling ill well before I even took a sip.

T - Taste is less potent, but actually worse. Huge alcohol burn, char, tires, dog food, and a smoked bacon finish.

M - It's still. Huge alcohol burn and warmth persists throughout. Sticky and full-bodied, and lingers on the palate in a slimy manner for far too long.

D - One of the few beers I've had that made me want to gag. At least the odd presentation and listed ABV encouraged me to take a mercifully small pour. If four years hasn't cut the alcohol on this, I don't think anything will.

Thanks to schmittymack for sharing this one at his 50th birthday party earlier this month.

Pours a flat mahogany color, with (not unexpectedly) no head to speak of. Aromas of vanilla, maple syrup, bourbon and heat. On the palate, the sweetness was very cloying, even with the small sample size, with lots of alcohol heat, a little agave, maple, and wood. thanks to Dan for sharing.

"Thanks" to Bobby for this. I don't see what could possibly go wrong with a 19.5% malt liquor in a tequila bottle...

A: The pour is a flat, dark amber color with no head at all (not surprising given that it's still).

S: This beer smells like a smorgasbord of various wastes and landfill odors. Let's pick out a few...tires, burnt rubber, sawdust, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, smoke, and bacon.

T: The nose was nowhere near enough punishment, so I moved on to drinking the beer. Let's just say it's not an improvement. Maple syrup, bacon, booze, rubber, and salt. The finish is cloyingly sweet, too.

M: The body, well, it's sort of syrupy and the complete lack of carbonation doesn't do this one any favors.

D: This beer is a serious test of your gag reflex. I found myself asking "why?" while tasting it...just because you can, it doesn't mean you should.

Generously / vindictively shared by t0rin0. Thanks Bobby!

A: Pours a clear amber body. No carbonation, but it has nice legs down the sides of my tulip.

S: The conversation that ensued as we were sipping this had some of the most lively descriptions I've ever heard for beer, and I've recently had the Mikkeller Black Holes.

"Maple-smoked bacon ... Chocolate-covered tire ... Sawdust ... I bet this was aged in a tire"

T: I compared it to maple-smoked bacon, above, and the taste is what clinched it for me. It has maple syrup sweetness up front; a mid-flavor that is defined by smoke, salt, and wood; the smoke pulls into the finish for an overall effect of a terrible breakfast, the kind that could make you ill.

M: It's viscous, heavy, leggy, syrupy.

D: This could be an excellent strong ale in the same vein as Utopias, if it weren't so awful. It's kind of like the Bizarro Utopias in that regard. "ME AM TERRIBLE!!!"

Thanks, t0rin0!

Still and clear with a port-like color and syrupy consistency.

Smells like bacon, soy sauce, burning rubber and alcohol. Delectable.

The palate is syrupy and boozy; tons of bacon and maple syrup, maybe even a bit or fried egg. I pick up burning tire and burning alcohol in the mid-palate, and it finishes with diabetes inducing maple syrup sweetness.

This is one of the worst beers ever.

Received this bottle as a novelty from a friend, a reminder of the good times in college when we would drink at these beers all the time (from Sonoran).

Beer is from a squarish bottle, #36. Bottle is clear and there is a cork in the top affixed to a wooden handle. I pop the top and there is no carbonation. The cork did not form a seal, I suppose this is intentional. I poured some of the beer into a sipping goblet. Beer is copper / amber in color, syrupy, no carbonation or head. Leaves a film on the glass much like a wine or a liquor would do.

Beer aroma is really strong, of alcohol. Some roasted character in the smell. I also smell the quark which has an odd, moldy smell to it, I may have gotten a bad one.

Taste is strong, wooden, solvent. Hard to drink, thin in the mouth but it get everywhere. Its overwhelming. Help, how am I going to finish. Drinkablility low. This is basically liquor. Mine tastes a lot like wood, hard to stomach. Sorry Sonora, I hope I got a bad one.

Bottle #350/1000

Thanks to Tayner for this one!

Great packaging here with the square bottle and wood topped cork. Nice effort! Once into my tulip, this beer appears a dark brown but glows like rubies when held to the light. No head at all here.

Smells of tamarind, dry walnut, sticky old caramel, sweet barley with a backing of oak and whiskey.

Tastes very thin and flat, much to my surprise. It starts with a tannin dryness that fades to dry walnut, a touch of homemade bread crusts and a touch of smoke. The dryness lingers on in the finish. The lack of booziness here is remarkable.

Feels quite flat with a slow warming alcohol that creeps up on you.

Not too bad. Novel at least.

sampled from the bottle at the coles rare beer festival, jan 24/09. corked 390ml bottle, #850/1000.

pours very hazy muddy light brown with no sign of head or carbonation. pretty nice legs though.

aroma is good. nice big smokey component. dark fruit - raisin, date, fig. alcohol, but less intense than in the utopias i sampled before it. bit of chocolate. light toasted whole wheat bread. hint of biscuit. honey.

taste is good. super smokey blast to start, and it continues to dominate the taste. the smoke masks or hides much of what i liked in the aroma. lightly toasted whole wheat bread. bit of alcohol. hard to find much else under the smoke.

mouthfeel is ok. no carbonation. medium body.

drinkability is nice. it is balanced, hiding the alcohol very well, but otherwise completely dominated by the smoke. interesting, but not really for me.

Had a snifter of this at Coles rare beer fest. Bottle #850/1000.

Browns a very cloudy/chunk brownish orange, no head or lacing, some legs on the glass, doesn't look so appealing. Smell is neat, very smoky, raisins, lots of fruit, alcohol, wood and vanilla, honey/toffee, very rich a nice mix of aromas. Taste is weird, very smoky and not in a good way, caramel and honey, brown sugar, alcohol, raisins, very bready, some toast, a bit fruity, more smoke, kind of a let down. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with low carbonation, dry in the finish, some warmth, but covers the alcohol exceptionally well. Strange beer, maybe shouldn't have had it after Utopias but I found the smokiness a bit offputting and just not well put together. Neat one to try though.

Reviewed 1/13/2009 (bottle #715?/1000):

Pours a cloudy brown color body, no head. Very strong brown sugar maple aroma. A lot of honey. Alcoholy. Syrupy. Sticky syrupy taste. Gritty palate, sticky. Hides the alconol but tastes like fermented brown sugar. Not good. Aftertaste like a a liquor.

Thanks to hopdog for sharing this so called beer(bottle # 169/1000. To me, it's bordering liquor but I don't believe this one ever saw a still...
Appears a dark brown toned amber with no head, or collar to speak of but this was expected.
Smell is of heavy wood tannins, maple, nougat, hazlenuts, honey, vanilla, and light smoke...very interesting.
Taste is of the mentioned aromas with lots of vanilla, nougat, and maple standing out in the flavors.
Mouthfeel is medium bodied, with maple and nougat lingering. The syrupy sugar blend reminds me very much of a distilled spirit.