Cigar City / Swamp Head Cognac Barrel-aged Church on a Hill

Brewed by Cigar City Brewing
Style: Barley Wine
Tampa, Florida USA

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle. Sweet booze and caramel malt aromas. Dark brown pour with a fleeting kaki head. Smooth, sweet, and delicious with luscious booze, rich caramel, vanilla, dark fruits, sugar, and mild oak notes. Fantastic mouthfeel. Good body and balance. Couldn’t ask for a better beer to be rating number 1300....

Bottle during RBWG. Brown pour, small khaki head that laces okay. Rich BA aroma with sweet dark fruits, molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, sweet BA, and nuttiness. The flavor largely follows suit. Might be even better with more time on it!

Amazing stuff. Darker brown pour with very little head that is gone in a snap. Nose is an absolute caramel sundae bomb with lots of vanilla. Taste follows the nose with some barrel presence along with some booze. Absolute gem of a brew.

Poured from 750ml bottle. Aroma is lots of dried fruit and toffee. Taste follows with lots of dried fruit and some notes of cognac and caramel. This is some killer stuff.

Bottle: Pours a cloudy dark brown with a thin tan head that diminshes quickly. Aroma has a woody presence with hints of toffee, vanilla, and alcohol. Flavor is sweet brown sugar with hints of dark fruits and a mild cognac presence. Creamy texture with a mild dry, sweet finish. Reminds me of sipping a fine Bourbon. Delicous!

From lost notes of RBWG, bottle shared. Pours a dark brown with a thin tan head a light web of lace. Aroma of dark fruits, molasses, vanilla, booze, and a hint of burnt wood. taste follows, really complex and difficult to decipher everything after so many ballsy beers. Would love to try it again.

Bottle at RBWG 2013 Grand Tasting. ody, thin tan head. Clear dark brown body under a thin tan head. Aroma of dark fruits, brown sugar, vanilla, alcohol. Complex flavor follows the aroma.

excited to try this .. . pours a deep brown .. mild foam, good splats of lacing .. . mild barel wood, brandy, dry vanilla, and booze .. . a very rich beer, is quite boozy too .. . enjoyable stuff, a good one to share with a few people .. . . Aside from the army soldiers, there are also these scorpions, which you can jump on and have them take you for a ride... but only the green scorpions. What? Did you think you can ride on the red scorpions? What are you crazy?

750mL bottle, sent from Elliesbrown (thanks a lot, Zack), pours a dark amber with a small beige head. Aroma of cognac barrels, alcohol, caramel malts and dark fruits. Flavour of intensely sweet cognac barrels, caramel malt, and candied sugar. Extremely complex, accentuated by the cognac barrels, on the border of being too sweet. Remarkable stuff, but drinkable only in small quantities.

Malt/barrel balance is impeccable; booze integrates perfectly. Highly refined, well-structured. Second time with this treat, and I can't get enough. One of the very best barleywines I've had.