Cigar City Bolita Brown Double Nut Brown Ale

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

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

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750ml bottle from the brewery, Sampled February 2011
A soft pour into my Lost Abbey Teku glass produces an almost five finger thick, lightly browned, darkish head that leaves a fair amount of lacing on the sides of my glass. The beer is a dark, concentrated amber brown hue that shows a clear, deep ruby hue when held up to the light. As I was pouring this beer it smelled quite fruity almost as if infected with some off notes. An actual try at smelling the nose directly sees me noticing that the beer smells sweet and quite fruity, but definitely in a clean way. But, after some time spent with the nose I am starting to note some cheesy and lactic acid notes that lightly perfume this beer. The cheesy / fruity notes combine and become more noticeable with time; there also seems to be something that leans towards Dr. Pepper or a Cola like note. Behind this is a rich, toasted, brown bread character and a touch of roast character.

Fairly sweet, with an light herbal note towards the middle that leans towards a bitterness in the finish that is still dominated by the rich maltiness. This isn’t nearly as sweet as I was expecting and seems to have a certain lactose like sweetness to it. The body of this is rich, satiating and chewy; there is a textured carbonation that is firm, but that is held well in check by the viscous body, despite being a bit more effervescent than might be typical. The is some roast bitterness in the finish that combines with the light hop bitterness. There is a very light tartness here that is held well in check by the malt richness and the cheesy note is actually quite subdued compared to the nose, though it is noticeable in the finish just a bit in the oral-nasal cavity. The fruitiness seems to be a bit amplified compared to what it should be, but more because there seems to be some higher alcohols and esters that accentuate berry notes and perhaps even some faint citrus hop character (but I might be imagining this last) a bit more beyond where they should be. Some raw, slightly rotting, vegetal note is at times prominent in the finish and seems to hide a toasted maltiness that provides a brown bread crust note to this beer.

There seems to be a really rich, satiating, tasty beer here somewhere, but that is slowly being consumed by something that shouldn’t be here. This is still not full blown infected yet, but it is on its way and with all the residual sugars these bottles might get quite explosive.

Backlog dec 2011 Bottle from Vinomnopolet Vika Dark brown, ok foam Medium body & complexity Sweet notes & malt Ok, but not my favourite

bottle. Dark brown colour with a beige head. Aroma is sourness, hop, yeast, burnt sugar. Flavour is dry, yeast, sourness, hop, nuts, alcohol, roasted malt, caramel. Nice beer.

750 ml. Bottle. Pors a brownish color with a thin tan head, caramel and toffee with a nutty finish. Nice complexity for a brown.

Pours a thin brown with tan head. A decent slightly nutty brown. Not my favorite style but still a beer I was happy to try! ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle at Leighton’s Beer, Bocce and Boozer tasting, thanks to jackl. It pours hazy deep ruby, with a decent beige head. The nose is roasted malt, caramel, nut and toffee. The taste caramel, roasted malt, toast, toffee, spice, chocolate, charcoal and nut, with a sweet finish. Medium-full body and moderate carbonation. Well balanced. Good work.

Bottle at the Beer, Bocce and Boozer tasting, London. Thanks to Jack for this one. Pours black-brown with a creamy, tan head. Dusty cocoa nose. Big sweet flavor, dark malts, some booze, mild chocolate, some tangy earth. Medium to full bodied with fine to average carbonation. Sweet finish with dark fruits, cocoa and dark bread. Very good beer.

Bottle @ Beer, Bocce and Boozer tasting. Deep brown color with a light tan head. The nose is brown sugar, hazelnut, some caramel and toffee. The taste is malty sugared nuts, a little vinous. Some notes of milk chocolate and caramel on the finish. Very sweet indeed. Full bodied. Very good, but I can’t imagine when someone in Tampa would ever want to drink this. It’s not exactly the kind of beer to unwind with after a hot day, is it?

Bottle, pours haxy brown with medium tan head. Aroma is toffee, caramel, nuts and roasted malts. Taste is sweet with toffe, caramel, almond, walnut and some medium roasted coffee notes. Some spice in the aftertaste. Medium mouthfeel. Really nice! CCB continues to impress.

750mL bottle, pours an opaque reddish brown with a small tan head. Aroma of toasted nuts, toffee, dark fruits (raisins and plum), and brown sugar - a little chalk character. Flavour of plum and raisins, brown sugar, toasted nuts and toasted bread - basically a slightly sweeter Imperial Brown Ale. Well-balanced with a finish of raisins and brown sugar. Very nice.

Dark brown with a small, but lacing head. The aroma is very spicy and sour-funky for some reason - quite surprising given the style. The flavour is sweet, dominated by spices, roasted nuts and alcohol. Creamy texture, full-bodied.