Overshift
Cigar City Brewing

 

Imperial Golden Ale aged in brown sugar rum barrels

A: Pours cola colored with a fizzy cola like tan head, I mean this could be a coke and I wouldn’t know otherwise. Head dissipates almost immediately. It looks nothing like a type of Golden Ale I’ve ever seen, and it looks still in the glass after a few second. Looks infected actually. 2

S: Aroma is sweet dark fruits and tons of brown sugar. Not really much of anything else. 2.75

T: Taste has some nice brown sugar, a bit of dark fruits, maybe subtle tart berry. It actually has quite nice flavors up front but I can’t get over the body and mouthfeel which is dead flat. 3

M/D: Almost no carbonation which completelty detracts from the drink. It's not finishable. 1

O: I’m not sure what’s up with this one, it’s either early stages of infection or there was a seal/bottling issue. Or it could just be a really poorly done beer, which considering it’s Cigar City and has been the case with other offerings in this series, may be the most plausible scenario. 2.25

Poured a muddy brown body with minimal offwhite head that quickly died. Smells like booze and wood but mostly dark fruits like figs and prune juice. Smooth, easy to drink, the booze is hidden in this medium to heavy body that has a sweet, sugary, vanilla sweetness underneath a dark fruit taste that reminds me of raisins and grape juice. The dark fruit taste adds a touch of bitterness to beer that balances out the sweetness and the beer has a slightly boozy finish which makes it a slow sipper.