Cigar City Big Sound Scotch Ale

Brewed by Cigar City Brewing
Style: Scotch Ale
Tampa, Florida USA

Richmond 9th Gathering, courtesy of dkachur. Deep brown, nice head. Big molasses and toffee aroma. Flavor is dark fruit, more massive molasses malts, toffee, faint chocolate. Big, complex, rich flavor. Really nice.

750 mL bottle courtesy of Joey. Thanks! Pours a dark slightly hazy reddish bronze color with a thin head. Aroma of caramel, toffee, toasted malts, chocolate, alcohol, green apple, red apple and other fruity notes. Taste is toffee, caramel, leafy and bitter hop notes and a fruity apple finish. A hint of chocolate. Full bodied. This is a damn good beer.

Thanks to TampaBrew. Clear, dark brown pour with red highlights, minimal lace. Aroma of plums, alcohol, smoke, molasses. Flavor is an enormous malt bomb, toffee, molasses, prunes, toasted bread, walnut, cider. Would rate higher, but had trouble enjoying. Flavor is poorly harmonized with a very overt alcohol presence and fusel off note, like a blend of root beer and cough syrup. Improves after some time spent mellowing in the glass. Very full mouthfeel, warming, slightly still.

Bottle thanks to Tarheels86. Also thanks to Alexsdad06 for letting me sample his bottle too.

I’m not really a fan of Scotch Ales yet and have only had a few. This has an aroma of malts and caramel. Looks great, dark brown with a thick creamy beige head that sticks around. Flavor is unique, sweet malts, caramel, maybe a touch of smoke. Good mouthfeel.

Bottle, thanks to alexdad06 at Natifest. I forgot to rank this one, but stumbled accross my notes this morning. Pours a dark amber-copper color with a thin head. Aroma is strong with carmalized malts. Notes of chocolate, roasted malts, a bit of wood, and the smallest amount of coffee come out. On the palate, it is thick and dry. The flavor brings out a bit of a nutty taste and brings the roasted malts to the front. Pretty good beer overall, but nothing too special.

750mL bottle courtesy of Gillard, poured into a snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown in the glass that shows a dark, clear copper when held up to light. There’s a solid creamy tan head that recedes fairly slowly and leaves almost no lacing. The aroma is pretty subtle and straight-forward for the style with a big slightly-smoked caramel malt backbone with some dark fruit mixed in. Hints of molasses and chocolate are in there is well. The taste is a more vibrant version of the nose with the sweetness still dominating but with a more pronounced smoked peat flavor, especially in the finish which is slightly dry and has more coffee bitterness than I was expecting. The dark fruits, chocolate and vanilla all contribute to the sweetness. The mouthfeel is very smooth and medium to full bodied with good carbonation. This is a solid effort from Cigar City and a very good Scotch ale. I wouldn’t put it near the top of the list of their beers, but it’s a drinkable and sweeter version of the style.

Woo-hoo, my first CC beer, and looking forward to it, with mucho thanks to dchmela! 750ml bottle pours a nice reddish brown with a good sized lasting tan head. Aroma is milder but still plenty going on, with toffee, peat, coffee, bread, brown sugar and a touch of smoke. As expected, flavor is more malts, with continued toffee, bread, peat, brown sugar and touches of coffee and smoke. Nicely done, and while it doesn’t beat out Alesmith Wee Heavy in this style for me, it sure is enjoyable. Thanks again Dave!

ྶoz bomber) Pours a cloudy reddish-brown with great lacing. Nose of brown sugar, sweet corn, taste of smoky roasted malts, slightly bitter, light coffee, and a heavy body. Very nice overall, a little unbalanced towards the sweet side and maybe even a little too smoky.