Cigar City Campeador - Rurik

Formerly brewed at Cigar City Brewing
Style: American Strong Ale
Tampa, Florida USA

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Sampled at Redlight Redlight courtesy of the Orlando ratebeer crew; January 2011
The beer is a bit of a gusher and pours with a brown-tinged foamy head that sits on top of a black beer. The nose has a fruity, green apple like note that starts to get funky with notes of dank-cheese and moldy wood that speaks to at least a Brettanomyces influence of some sort. The malt is certainly not surpressed here though as there is a rich notes of cocoa, and ample roast grain notes towards the finish. The ripe cheese-character seems boosted by diacetyl notes. The aroma is actually quite complex and fun to be smelling, this is certainly going in a completely different direction than intended; it makes me think of Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Reserve in that it is a funky, dark / roasted beer.

The taste is actually not nearly as funky as I had expected given the nose of this beer; flavors of brandy, caramelized candy apples, ample vanilla, and some toasted coconut all jump out at me and are much more in line what I would have expected of this beer. The finish has some astringent, burnt roast-grain character to it that provides some burnt acidity to it (the acidity is definitely more from the dark malt as opposed to from the funkiness). The funkiness does seem to have contributed some tartness to this beer though, and there is only a very light mustiness and a touch of over-ripe cheese character. This is still a big, rich, chewy beer with a dark malt sweetness and it hasn’t shown too many signs of drying out; this could become quite explosive over time though. The finish has a hot alcohol note to it and there is quite a bit of spicy oak in the finish as well; this definitely finishes with a belly warming character. I definitely enjoyed this beer quite a bit, it was definitely an experience and I like where the funkiness took this beer in the nose, even if it wasn’t intended.

2010 bottle 6/204 on 11/25/11. dark...almost black with sharp orange tinted carbonation. a+f shortly after the bottle is opened up show some caramel, choco, roast, vitamin pills/barrel and vinous fruit. aggressive harsh carbonation... pretty dece but not great.... too messy and sweet.... something is off.

second pour about 30 minutes later are horribly infected... pencil shavings, bandaids, vinous sourness, vegetal/rotting garbage, metal, multi vitamins, salt, sour and still sweet. yikes.5/4/4/3/11

Old rating. Bottle # 164 of 204 produced. Pours jet black with huge brownish head with multiple layers of froth. Sticky palate, strong aromas of scotch, brownie, sour wood, caramel, tofee, sticky candy sugar. Taste is chocolate, roasted malts, buttercream icing, coffee beans, dark chocolate. This is honestly a perfect beer for a cold winter night next to a fire. Tons of warming qualities, a rich beer and a true rarity from the Tampa brewers.

Bottle in trade. Dark rich dense pour. Aroma has lots going on. Sweetness, caramel, roasted malts, some fruit and spice with a touch of wood and funk. Flavor is complex, maybe a bit too much on the fruity odd malt side. Some roasted malts and cocoa on the finish with a touch of plums and wood. Strange, sort of strangely good.

UPDATED: JAN 26, 2012 In short: An inexplicably good dark beer going in all kinds of directions at once. A fun mess
How: Bottle 750ml, bottle #74 of 204, consumed when a little over one year of age. Bottle from jtclockwork, thanks a lot James
The look: Near black topped by a an initially huge tan head that quickly dissipates into a small persistent beige head
In long: Strong and intriguing nose blending toasted wood, apple pie, roast. Taste is even more of an unusual blend of stuff. Burnt apple pie, earthy tree roots, toasted wood, dried dark fruits, alcohol burn, graham cookies, coconuts, lots of highly roasted malts, cheese cake, “hot” spiciness, cocoa beans, figs, more... Surprisingly low sweetness sensation. The beer soda-pop carbonation should be considered excessive, but in this case it lightens up the beer and increases drinkability. It is not unusual for a special CCB barrel aged beer to go in all directions and unfortunately too many of them turn out to be just all-over-the-place messes rather than complex beers. This Rurik is a special case. The beer is clearly all-over-the-place but it was a fun mess, and despite the excessive alcohol presence I found it easy to drink a full bottle. It was so all over the place that I suspect that the beer I drank wasn’t the intended result, that is if there was an intended result in the first place. This beer tasted like an unplanned “let’s see what happens if we through all that stuff in” experiment that turned out to be a fun beer. This is even something I would really like to drink again but given the low number of bottles produced this is about as unlikely as me washing my hand when there is nobody else is in the washroom.

Bottle@Home, thanks Noize. Exceptional beer with complex and surprising flavours. A combination of cinnamon, citrus and very dark malts. Lovely.

Entering old-rates. 75cl bottle. Couleur brune foncée, col épais beige. Arôme est alcoolisé, bourbon léger vanille, notes de malt et pas mal de fruits noirs allant vers prunes et dates. Palais est malté avec une belle note douce de vanille, le tout reste bien épais en bouche. Un peu en dessous de la première bière de la série. Bourbon est un peu en retrait mais reste bien agréable. Une autre bouteille fût goutée à Washington et cette dernière présentait qcq signes d’infection avec une aigreur minime au palais.

(Bottle #6 shared by Sparky at the Black Friday tasting). This was a beer I had been wanting to try for quite a while. Thanks Eric, for sharing this. Pours a dark brown color-almost cola colored. Aroma is bourbon, wood and band-aid. Taste is sweet with some oxidation. Medium bodied and oily. Dry finish. Probably past its prime, but again, I’m super happy I got to try this one.

Bottle 6 of 204 shared generously on BF by Sparky! Really enjoyed this! Dark mahogany bordering onyx with a creamy latte head. Complex brew with loads of dark bitter chocolate, rich roasted coffee, oak, gooey caramel, vanilla, and a hint of fruit. Full bodied and chewy...my kind of beer! No indication of any type of infection, which some had concerns about. Delicious...wish more than 204 bottles made it into circulation!

Bottle 6/204 at Black Friday tasting. Tart raspberry in the nose oddly enough. Flavor is messy. Some spend coffee grounds. Vegetal.

Like drinking a glass of old motor oil. Pours a viscous thick black with minimal brown head. Taste and aroma are very complex but dont mesh well imo. All over the place with roasty, nutty, funky, sweet, and salty? elements. It was definitely interesting and I did not dislike it but it was kind of a mess.