Fort Collins Big Shot

Brewed by Fort Collins Brewery
Style: Brown Ale
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Shaker

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Location: 22 oz bottle from Buy Rite, 3/18/13,

Aroma: The nose is heavy malty, with lots of toffee, plenty of nutty notes, light caramel, and roast
Appearance: It pours a clear mahogany color with a thick foam of beige head and fairly heavy lace
Flavor: Tastes heavy malty and pretty sweet, fairly nutty as well, and doesn’t have much bitterness
Palate: This one is medium bodied with a solid mouthfeel that’s fairly typical in the style
Overall Impression: This is a decent beer for what it is trying to be. All the components seem to be pretty well intentioned and well executed, but the beer itself just isn’t all that exciting.

This was a good non-spicy winter warmer. Some good heft to the body and a nuttiness that is not too much.

On tap at Steakout Saloon in Fort Collins in December. Pours a reddish brown color with white head. Toffee, nutty, caramel, malty flavors. Not bad.

December 18th, 2011 - Every November and December the local beer stashes fill up with a plethora of brown ales, all of them promising some mixture of toffee and chocolate flavors, and all of them projecting an image of friends and family gulping down dark brown beer near a roaring fireplace. I like the idea, but I find that there are so many beers that I’d have to turn the family fireside chat into a regular, daily institution just to cover all the beers released. The family, of course, is unwilling to indulge my Normal Rockwell style gatherings near the fire, so only a select few beers make it past the cashier’s counter. This year (2011) Fort Collins’ Big Shot Seasonal Ale was one of the picks, mostly on account of the Colorado friendly image of a skiing snowman - seasonal without being too classically Christmas. The color is a nice, deep brown and orange and red, like the aforementioned hearth, and from it the smell is a rich, dense roasted caramel with lots of burnt malt swimming around in the bouquet, and oozing ribbons of toffee. Chocolate shavings accent this rich menu of smells, and a dusting of cinnamon rounds out the concoction. The flavor has a much hopper and bitter dimension, with many of the good flavors of fall, like cinnamon and leather and even dried fruit skins, especially mango. Overall this is an engaging "winter warmer", and though I may get burnt out from sitting next to the idyllic fire place so often (ha!) this will be there when I do.

Bottle. Pours a dark amber with hints of red and a smallish head. Awfully malty in the nose, and a fairly easy drink. Little bit of coffee and caramel, but not a lot to the taste.

Aroma is nutty malts, chocolate and toffee. The flavor is dryish malts, a nutty character, fruit and a late bitterness in the finish.

dark red brown clear color with small tan head. Aroma of molasses, toffee, caramel, hazelnut. Flavor is mostly molasses with some nuts on the finish. Palate is disappointing, kind of watery with an odd finish after the nut taste. Okay.

Purchased from Total Wine on sale so may have been around for a while. Poured from a 22oz with a white-tan head that yields decent lacing and has a nice clear dark amber color. Aroma is very minimal with maybe some hints of spice. Tastes of malt and spice although also not quite there. A decent ale but not really close to a seasonal in terms of aroma and taste.

Poured into a snifter. 3.5 A: Nearly clear deep amber color. Two and a half fingers of beige, creamy/frothy head. Retention is average with moderate amounts of irregular lacing. 2.0 S: Light caramel with a strong toastiness. Not really anything in terms of spices. 2.0 T: Same deal but with a touch of spice. Really surprising how bland this is. 3.0 M: Medium body. Perhaps a touch too much carbonation. Not particularly creamy. 2.0 D: Easily the most boring winter warmer I’ve ever had. I’m a big fan of the style, but this doesn’t do it for me. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 02-16-2012 00:26:21

650ml bottle from Route 59 beverage shared with Erica in Brooklyn. Pours a smooth-looking cocoa brown with a pretty substantial white head (small bubbles). Head was probably smaller than it should have been b/c we poured this into wine glasses. Aroma is heavy chocolate, nuts and hops - smells very much like an imperial stout. Palate is a little thin with low carbonation and flavor is nuts, wood and hops. Almost more of a porter in texture.