Barrel House Boss Cox Double Dark IPA

Brewed by Barrel House Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Cincinnati, Ohio USA

Thanks to my boy DaytonDave for bringing this over for a nice holiday get together. The beer pours with a nice visual appeal, dark and poofy. But my suspicions about a "double dark IPA" come to fruition as I take the first sniff ... the beer has a super-sweet smell. Indeed the beer drinks with an over-the-top sweet raisiny essence that isn’t at all like any IPA (let alone double dark) that I’ve (#3779, 12/30/2009)

The Pour is deep mahogany, with a big bubble tan head. The aroma is strong. The fruity hops are readily noticable, with hints of apricot. The flavor is right in line with the aroma, the hops are big and fruity, not very piney which is what I had expected. The malts are heavy and sweet. the finish is long and satisfying. Very enjoyable beer.

Bottle sample at a Barrel House tasting at Teller’s in Hyde Park. Pours a clear dark brown with reddish tints and a small off-white head. Aroma of hops, citrus, dark fruits, malts, nuts, wood, and booze. The flavor follows suit pretty well, with a nice hop bitterness and malt backbone complemented by citrus and darker fruits, mixed nuts, and some warming alcohol. Medium bodied, with a good mix of sweet and bitter. I couldn’t help but think of this as a kind of Imperial APA when I was drinking it, so I think the American Strong Ale classification is accurate. Very good, unique beer.

12 oz bottle via Mys Swap 4.0 (thanks alexsdad06). Pours a clear dark reddish brown with a small beige head. Nose is citrus hops on top of some strong grains and alcohol. Smells almost barleywinish. Tastes like i would imagine an Imperial Brown IPA would taste. Strong malt backbone with some chocolate, some well done biscuits, hazlenuts, hickory, orange, and grapefuit. Body is medium/full, carbonation is moderate to high. A bit warm and a little rough around the edges, but over-all a winner. With a little tweaking, i think they would have a world class beer here.

Bottle. Pours muddy, hazy brown with light tan head. Sweet aroma with caramel and pleasant malt blended in. Taste is more of the nose with some very bitter hops and an overall bitter taste, very full and almost a little hard to get down. Something seems a little off here. The malts seem to balance the hops to the point that neither dominates, and with this being labeled a DIPA I expected to see a more dominant hop character. I see it is labeled an American Strong Ale on here, and that sounds a little more spot on with what I’m tasting. A slight hint of alcohol comes through too. This is pretty heavy and full, nothing I would call terrible, but I’d have a hard time getting another bomber down without sharing. Definitely not what you would call a DIPA, if that’s what you’re expecting.

Good india pale ale with okay flavor. Very hoppy with some malts. Easy to drink.

Bottle. Amber off white huge head. Signs of oxidation, soapy hop character harsher pine, moth y malt bill and a grainy dry floral finish. Bitter earthy and full bodied. Eh.