David Humphrey's
Cigar City Brewing

 

 

 

 

Very sweet, bold, malty barleywine, with a touch of piney hops and ample bitterness. Warming finish. Mild coconut notes from the barrel. Bourbon adds a kick, but not a ton of bourbon flavor. Rye-like spiciness, earthy, pepper, dark fruit. A bold and aggressive beer that is somewhat smoothed out by the barrel aging.

 

Mahogany brown to syrupy black with a puffy tan head settling to a ridged collar.

Dusty old port barrel actually veers into a splintery madiera character that's nougatty and caramelly. It starts off sweet but the the woodiness of the barrel comes in quickly after. Dates, figs and prunes come through cleanly in the middle, but the finish is semi-sticky. The medium-light body has a crackly fizz that makes it easier to drink and brings out vanilla, toffee and a hint black pepper. Graham biscuit develops as it warms, and some heat surfaces out as it goes down.

Another excellent Cigar City barleywine, but actually not one of my favorites of theirs, and there are many. A lot of people talked this bottle up quite a bit, and it was pretty difficult for me to finally get ahold of, but it didn't quite live up to the expectations I and others had built for it. Nothing to get down about though, still loved it.

 

 

 

 

A - Dark brown soapy cream lacing.

S - Dark fruit, dark sugar, some mineral oak character, bourbon.

T - Oak, toasted toffee, bourbon, some dark fruit, piney bitterness on the back side.

M - Thick and viscous with silky smooth body and sticky on the lips.

O - Would live to have another bottle of this.

Pours a nice brown color with some floaters in it. No real head on top. The smell of the beer is boozy with some wood-like notes. The taste of the beer has a molasses notes with some boozy caramel. The feel is smooth yet kinda hot. Overall it’s a solid barley wine.

 

 

 

 

 

A: Poured into a snifter to a deep brown beer that for all intents and purposes may be regarded as black The beer had a small light tan head which faded quickly into nothingness leaving no lacing
S: Smells of caramel, oak, chocolate, and vanilla with a little bit of a wine note. Hints of toffee ans slight raisin
T: Taste is chocolate, caramel and dark fruits with some raisins, light wine, vanilla, molasses, and oak. Swallow is huge bourbon and port wine notes, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, oak and lingering dark fruits and wine on the finish
M: This beer is thick and a little sryupy on the palate while carbonation is on the lower side but adequate for the style. The beer has a drying finish which is nice and expected from the ABV and style
O: Overall this beer is incredible. Fantastic flavors and an absolutely insane amount of complexity. Very good fresh and I imagine it could hold up to a couple years as well. If you didn't get this during TBBW you missed out.