Or
Cigar City Brewing

12 oz. bottle poured into a Kuhnhenn snifter. No bottle date.

Appearance - Jet black. Inky. Small flutter of a khaki head then it fades to a collar.

Smell - Tons of cedar coming through on this one. Molasses, dark chocolate, and cedar. Whoah. This is a lot stronger than I remember the cedar in Either.

Taste - Molasses taste is prominent here at first, but the cedar takes over and gives it a sweetness and bitterness at the same time. The cedar seems much stronger here than it did in Either. Maybe the hops masked the cedar in Either. The dark malt base seems to be holding up nicely. Just a touch of hop bitterness in the finish.

Mouthfeel - Not as boozy as Either. Stronger cedar, which I can handle. Less bitter. Much more like Humidor Zhukov without being cloyingly sweet. Interesting and rather nice.

Overall - I feel that age has treated this one better, if only because it was less hoppy to begin with. The booze is much mellower. The cedar is still pretty strong. The cedar adds a dimension that I'm not sure I love, but it keeps me interested.

355 ml bottle, from Ølbutikken (or possibly Høkeren), Copenhagen. ABV is 11.2%. Pitch black colour, moderate tan head. Compared to CC Either, the aroma is very moderate: Dusty notes up front, followed by notes of mild coffee, hints of dark chocolate and wood. Warming mouthfeel. In the flavour, wood is up front, followed by malts, molasses, chocolate and honey. Distinct resinous hops in the finish. Good stuff, but Either is a tad better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12oz bottle poured into a Night Shift wine glass.

A~ extremely black, with a small brown head and no lacing.

S~ dark malts flood the nose up front, followed by a little burnt coffee and some nice wood. ending with some sweet citrus.

T~ follows the nose so far but wow this has a lot more to offer! roasty dark malts up front which are quickly taken away by an amazing honey sweetness, followed by a bit of burnt coffee, all leading into a crazy bitter citrus hop explosion! meanwhile everything is coated in cedar, which Cigar City seems to be soo good at! (White Oak, Humidor IPA, etc...) and not a hint of booze!

M~ super smooth and refreshing! i'm gonna blame that on the pilsner malt in this version. really nice carbonation and more stout like than most stouts haha!

O~ this little series is fantastic! i definitely got lucky with the bottles that i received, they must have been aged probably because the hop presence is still in your face which is really surprising considering how old these are. i really love the HF influence here, this is very similar to Jim without the crazy honey (which definitely adds a lot) but just remember i'm a little biased cause i love black IPA's/hoppy black ales. oh! and yup its a HF colab. haha!