Confectionator
Cigar City Brewing

 

 

wow! far surpassed my expectations!

 

 

 

Beautiful beer on the pour, with a dark brown body with garnet highlights, and a thick, firm dark beige head with excellent retention.

Nose: OH my GAWD! Brown sugar, raisin, booze, rum, nuts, fruit bread, wheat, rye, grape, prune, cream, coconut.

Similar on the palate. While there's a wonderfully sweet and full malt base, there's also an almost harsh booziness, which along with the rum takes over on the initial taste. Coconut comes in quite strong mid-sip, and there is a chocolate-and-raisin finish. Despite the initial harshness, it's a deep and rewarding sip.

Sweet, but by no means cloying - certainly sweeter than your standard doppelbock. The coconut and raisin add lovely layers of flavor without becoming distracting or overbearing; the rum, for all its assertiveness up front and contribution to the overall booziness, really works well with the style (better, I would argue, than bourbon - I think rye might have been the perfect complement).

Despite the massive ABV, this has a body on par with higher ABV bocks from Germany (including super potent Eisbocks). Very, very drinkable. Perhaps a touch too syrupy or slick, and not quite lively enough, although the booziness helps offset the relatively mild carbonation. Mostly a sipper, it's still quite drinkable.

Doppelbock isn't a style frequently visited by American craft brewers, and even less frequently as a base for a flavored, barrel aged brew. Here, it unquestionably works.

 

 

Big 750ML bottle with quite an odd description. Legendary or bound for the drain with a side of throat vomit? I trust CC. I’ll wager the former.

The play here is glinting garnet with shades of muddiness. Smells like rum, plum, coconut, & a bad country song.

Confectionator resembles a bock like Maggie resembles Eugene. Tastes like an evening in Bequia: light rum with a slice of coconut, a big slice. The raisins are an odd addition; maybe they fell off a shelf into the boil? I hope. They slice the enjoyment like a paper cut to the scrotum. I could drink a lot of this.

Odd. The addition of the raisins is a bit baffling, & should be seen as a mark of poor planning. A pretty good beer that might have improved by subtraction.

 

 

 

 

750ml bottle poured into a snifter. Bottles on 06/24/19 and part of the 10th edition of CCB’s El Catador Club. Careful pour produces a large fizzy tan colored head that quickly dissipated into a ring of lace around the glass. Rum, dark fruits and raisins dominate the nose. The taste is sweet and boozy with rum-soaked dark fruits. The excessive carbonation dings the appearance and mouthfeel. The rum and raisin combonation is perfect for a dopplebock but the coconut seems to be overpowered. Also, the alcohol warmth in the finish comes across as harsh and medicinal which detracts from the flavors. Not my favorite El Cat brew.