Stronger Than Fiction
Bottle Logic Brewing

4.33/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

500 mL bottle poured into a snifter.

AMber-brown with a half inch beige head.

Nose: Coffee, almond, bourbon.

Taste: Coconut and bourbon dominate up front. Coffee is a bit more peripheral but it’s there and adds an interesting depth.

Feel: Medium body, medium carbonation.

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4.25/5  rDev -3.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Appearance: Arrives dark but as the beer is consumed it reveals a clear burnt caramel color; the head lifts to a finger and leaves some streaky lace

Smell: Toffee, vanilla and coconut with a Bourbon tone; the coffee is apparent but not dominant

Taste: Rather sweet, with toffee, vanilla and coconut, up front; through the middle, the Bourbon adds a presence with the coffee kicking in after the swallow; the finish is a sweet blend of all the flavors

Mouthfeel: Full body with moderate carbonation

Overall: An exquisite blend of flavors but a tad too sweet for my palate

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4.25/5  rDev -3.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

If Niagara Falls was made up of Stronger Than Fiction, Raul would move to The Empire State. I mean this thing is thick, glorious, and luscious like Maureen O’Hara locks flowing in the wind - Raul is talking fire!

Drink it up and drink it good.

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4.67/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

2017 release - 13% abv

Nice ruby amber red color with rich notes of cherry, dark fruit, dried fruits melange, coconut, tobacco, oak barrel, chocolate, coffee, sweet rum, bourbon, vanilla, caramel, dark toffee, toasted bread, and molasses. Smooth on the palate, medium bodied with moderate low carbonation. Real nice mix of flavors that work well together.

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4.6/5  rDev +4.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Dark brown color with tan head. Aroma has sweet notes with dried fruits and brown sugar. Taste follows sweet with toffee, burnt sugar, caramel, toasted malts and light coffee bitterness on the finish. Full bodied with soft mouthfeel. Overall it's quite well balanced with well hidden ABV.

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4.59/5  rDev +4.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

L: see through light brown with no head and plenty of small carbonation bubbles
S: big coffee and sweet bourbon.
T: yum...the bourbon and coffee start off but quickly the sweet and creamy coconut mix in and take over the finish.
F: thinner beer but sticky sweet and oh so easy drinking.

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4.42/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

This one pours a clear medium amber/brown color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells most strongly of fruity and roasty coffee, with toasted coconut, oak, caramel, toffee, and light bourbon.

It's miraculous that there's barely any booze flavor here, given that it's not particularly thick and it's 14.2% ABV. The strong ale is a nice move here- it gives off some molasses, caramel, and toffee flavors. These flavors play off well with the sweet toasted coconut, and fruity/chocolatey/roasty coffee flavors.

This is medium bodied, not super thick, but definitely not thin, with a surprisingly high level of drinkability.

This is a really fun beer- it shows a nice side of the pastry game that isn't explored very often.

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4.33/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Dark brown appearance with slight tan head that disipates quickly. Aroma is a very pleasant malt with a touch of coconut. Taste is also a very pleasant malt with a touch of coconut and little or no coffee. A little thin.

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4.75/5  rDev +8%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

This is a great beer. Crystal clear mahogany. Smells like rum, raisin, bourbon, coffee, oak, cherries, and chocolate. The taste is like the scent with the rum and coconut as the stars. This is a fantastic beer.

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4.26/5  rDev -3.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Wow, what is this? The appearance is a beautiful, crystal clear dark caramel tiger eye brown with a large tan foam that increases in density as it recedes, doing so slowly, retaining a creamy film and thicker collar.

Smell mostly consists of freshly ground, mildly roasted coffee, but additional accents are present enough to keep it from being one note. In particular, biscuit and faint coconut melds with the aromas contributed by the bourbon barrel, which has a nice, mild toffee-vanilla undertone.

Taste is caramelized brown sugar and smooth milk chocolate with roasty coffee grounds, leaving toasted coconut in the background. Vanilla-esque notes of bourbon barrel emerge as it warms, with dark toast and a little woody heat on the swallow.

This has what is possibly the best body in a Bottle Logic beer I've had thus far: medium, smooth with a light but crisp carbonation, semi-dry finish, and a slight, sticky sting.

The only thing about this I can criticize is that it's got a little too much in the coffee department, which masks the base brew to a minor degree.

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4.19/5  rDev -4.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

2017 500ml bottle poured into a snifter.

Medium Brown with a small off white head which mostly diminishes, quickly.

Nose is all coffee.

Taste is more complex, coffee, caramel, malty sweetness, a touch of coconut and vanilla. Finish is coconut and caramel.

Medium body with a syrupy feel

Overall: It improves as it warms with the coffee mellowing and the coconut becoming more pronounced. The coffee in the nose is a bit strong for me. I enjoyed the flavor more, especially when the coconut started to come through as it warmed.
Overall, this is a very good beer,

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4.39/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

2017 bottle. Poured a reddish hue color with a small tan lingering head. Smell is sweet, got coconut, some of the rum barrel character. As it warms you start to get that macoroon aroma. Lots of heat from the booze but can also taste the coconut, caramel and a light hint of coffee. Overall it was very enjoyable and interesting. Glad I have a couple more bottles to age and see how the booziness mellows out.

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4.55/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Poured from fridge temp into Stasis Project snifter. Pours lighter than expected. A nice semi-opaque golden brown. Smell is out of this world. Big mixture of coconut and bourbon. Lots of sticky caramel and cocoa. Taste is amazing, but I would say not as good as the nose. The heat from the alcohol definitely comes through, which isn't surprising since it's up at 14%. I wouldn't say anything bad, but the smell was a bit sweeter and smoother. I could actually see this mellowing out with some age, although I worry about that since it does have coffee. Speaking of which, the coffee doesn't play any dominant role in the taste. I would say it's dominated by bourbon, coconut, and alcohol heat. Lots of caramel layered in there. The feel is thick and creamy. Overall amazing!

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3.92/5  rDev -10.9%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

500mL bottle from j47paco (many thanks!). 2016 release. Served in a Barrel and Barley teku.

Pours a mostly opaque, vibrant deep amber with a good deal of small particulate in suspension. The finger and a half of ecrue head is quick to settle to a modest collar, leaving only a couple modest dashes of lacing.

The nose is sweet and boozey. Bourbon, coconut flakes, creamed coffee, caramel, brown sugar and vanilla tinged oak.

Flavors of bourbon-saturated coconut, cooked caramel, coffee-drenched oak, brown sugar, sweet cereal grains and a hearty whallop of alcohol. Interesting that the coconut seems more dominant than either the coffee or the bourbon.

Full body with fairly restrained carbonation. The strong, boozey finish holds traces of burnt caramel glazed coconut, coffee-infused bourbon and some sweet, grainy malt.

Bottle Logic took a refreshing step in giving the coconut coffee bourbon treatment to a strong ale instead of making "yet" another of their killer stouts. Stronger Than Fiction is a big, burly, flavorful behemoth that delivers huge flavor from start to finish.

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4.24/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Off white head. Dark golden bronze color.

For a strong ale this was nice. Lots of coffee and coconut flavors. Bourbon and oak show a lot. Some hints of vanilla.

Medium to full bodied.

Full beer to try! Wasn't up to the other BL ba beers, but still great.

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4.09/5  rDev -7%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Got this one from vanlingleipa in a recent swap. Cheers!

From a 500ml bottle into a snifter
2016 Release
Coldbot Coffee
Strong Ale aged in bourbon barrels with coconut and coffee

APPEARANCE: Pours a one finger, looser, foamy, fizzy off-white head with lousy retention. Head quickly crackles down to a faint wisp and ring. Clear maroon or burnt umber in color with medium levels of carbonation. Ring remain with no lacing left on the glass.

SMELL: Lovely nose of bourbon, oak, vanilla and definite coconut with faint hints of coffee in there as well. Hints of toffee, butterscotch and alcohol.

TASTE: Coconut and bourbon barrel up front with some decent alcohol and barrel notes at the swallow. Toffee, butterscotch come into play with a long and lingering finish of coconut, some creamy coffee, butterscotch, bourbon and oak character, vanilla, milk chocolate and a firm bed of alcohol. Pretty flavorful and enough going on. Good stuff.

PALATE: Medium body and carbonation. A little prickly on the palate, goes down okay with a decent burn and finishes mouth-coating. A good dose of heat lingers.

OVERALL: This is really good. I must admit that the coffee and milk chocolate character seem out of place given the color, but no matter. Very well done barrel aging and the adjuncts meld with the base very nicely. A bit too much heat perhaps, as I usually ask myself if these types of beers need to be 14%, but that’s a minor question mark. As it is, this is another quality Bottle Logic release and I’d love to see what else these guys can brew up. Thanks again vanlingleipa. Recommended!

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4.49/5  rDev +2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

i am an enormous fan of coconut and coffee together. in fact, thats how i have it almost every day, so its cool to see them go together in a beer, and even cooler that the beer isnt a stout or a porter, but rather something without all the dark roasted grain, it lets these ingredients really showcase themselves and what they do together. the beer has a maple syrup amber color to it an a nice white head with fine lace and retention. aroma here is sweet, lots of toffee and caramel notes from the grain, long boil high gravity kind of thing, a little toasty and nutty, but quite sweet. the coffee is there before the coconut, but both are immediately evident in the aroma, a hint of smoke and honey, rum rather than bourbon, likely due to the coconut, and some sweet vanilla from the whiskey. the flavor is pretty much in line with the nose, but the coconut is really forward here, genuine, not sunscreen or anything, toasted but also fresh, brilliant with the sweet earthy coffee. the roast character all comes from the java here, and the thick sweet malt unites the two elements really well. the barrel character is strong too, sweet oak and the vanilla notes from the whiskey, charcoal and alcohol strength too. smooth and rich in mouthfeel, but not without carbonation. sticky on the palate, but the flavors are like a dessert that needs to get invented. really impressed with all of the barrel aged stuff i have had so far from bottle logic, this is way up there for me in the american strong ale field. a wonderful use of two of my favorite ingredients!

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4.81/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

Look dark amber and clear, minimal head
Smell is a bit boozy but hints of coconut and barrel
Taste is incredible forward on coconut late muted barrel with no burn
Good mouth coating but a bit thin

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4.75/5  rDev +8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75

Poured a thick/viscous dark, muddy brown with a khaki colored head.

Smells phenomenal. Coconut, vanilla, toffee, molasses/carmalized brown sugar, and a little bit of toasted malt

It tastes as amazing as it smells. All of the previously mentioned with a little stronger emphasis on the coconut, but while everything stands out, nothing is overpowering or muddles the rest and the oak lingers.

The body is decadent. A full creamy body that goes down like silk. This is Bourbon County level.

While I never smelled or tasted any of the noted coffee whatsoever, it didn't even need it. One of the best beers I have had in the last year. I would swear Goose Island made this beer. Permanent want.

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4.9/5  rDev +11.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

4 Oz pour at a bottle share

A: Body is a light murky brown with a small khaki head.

S: Tons of coconut, toffee, caramel, vanilla, and dates.

T: Follows the nose quite closely light sweetness nice layered coconut, toffee, light barrel, dates, figs, a little bit of a toasted almond taste.

M: Decadent, rich, creamy, and a touch syrupy.

O: This beer is flat out amazing, if you can find this beer anywhere do so you will not be disappointed. The beer is very nuanced and layered with no flavors folding into the next. Quite amazing.

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4.29/5  rDev -2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.25

A: deep ruby red to amber brown. Thin well defined khaki bubbles.

S: booze. Coconut. Oak. Vanilla. Faint coffee.

T: Candied coconut. Sweet molasses. Bourbon booze. Oak barrel. Vanilla bean ice cream. Burnt caramel.

F: soft and creamy. Chewy full thick body. Smooth finish like a cognac.

O: this is lovey. Not cloying in sweetness but lots of flavors bursting. Drinks like a nice liqueur. Good balance and soft not too raw alcohol bite.

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3.95/5  rDev -10.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4.25

500 mL bottle. Pours amber with no head. Smells of coconut, vanilla, and bourbon. Smells like a coconut cream soda and alcohol. Very sugary. Tastes immensely sweet and boozy, too. Coconut is most prominent. Bourbon and oak. Has a little bit of that cream soda taste here, too, but stronger bourbon and oak. I never really got the coffee. Heavy with medium low carbonation. Sweet without being Bruery or Angry Chair sweet, which I just decided were my two new standards of ridiculous sweetness. Not a style I normally enjoy, but this is very tasty.

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4.46/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

A - Dark burgundy raisin colored pour with thick, dense lacing.

S - Vanilla, oak, delicate roasted toffee, and light bourbon.

T - Follows the nose: vanilla, oak, roasted toffee, bourbon,some butterscotch, and everything blended in a delicate manner where not one flavor overpowers the other. The back end is oaky with some bourbon effervescence.

M - Full bodied velvet and slippery.

O - This beer is one of those epiphany moments. A delicate blend across the board, no overpowering flavors, and the 14.2 is expertly masked. Recommended.

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4.35/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75

Poured out as a golden color with a thin white head on top. The smell of the beer is sweet with coconut and some coffee in there. The taste of the beer is sweet as well, quite boozy. There is a good amount of the coffee and Coconut in the taste though too. The feel is medium to full bodied with a subtle carbonation to it. Overall this is a pretty solid beer.

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4.51/5  rDev +2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

dark golden brown, as he said.... can thick, can almost see through it. sweet and syrup-y. beautiful aroma of chewy coconut and chocolate with a little bit of coffee. very nice!

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