Cigar City 110K+OT Batch #3
A 10% ABV, 110 IBU, Double India Pale Ale
3.4
179 reviews
Tampa, United States
Community reviews
Bottle. Hazy orange with white head. Caramel, sweet fruit, metallic tone, bit of cardboard oxidation, boozy tones, more of a barleywine at this point.
Poured a hazy amber orange color with aromas of overly sweet malts, citrus, hops, and grapefruit. Flvaor is citrus and sweet, with the sweet malts overpowing the piney hops, grapefruit, and citrus. Still a good brew, and to me doesnt taste like a 10% heavy hitter.
Poured a nice burnt orange/gold color with 1 finger of head of head and nice retention. Aroma is of raisins and brown sugar. Can’t really detect much hop character. Overall the smell is not bad, but it is not an IPA aroma. Ok this stuff is just plain bad. I do not detect a hop presence. Malty, sweet, syrupy, raisins, brown sugar, more sweetness. Tastes like a blend of orange soda and prune juice. This was very sticky and sweet and too thick for this level of sweetness. Drinkability was obviously not good. I drank only a few sips before this became a drain pour. Someone brought me a bottle some time later. I gave it a second chance and it seemed even worse than the first time.
Bottle from freshbeercaesar Pours a cool looking orange with an almost orange looking head. The hops are dieing. It still has resinous and fruity hop notes but the nose really reminds me if a cellared barleywine with heavy malt sweetness and toasted bread aromas. Flavor is a muddled up sweet mess of hops and malts and sugars. Mouthfeel is as expected. It could have possibly been good when fresh but too sweet for my tastes.
The aroma had hops, but lost some, some sweet notes as well. The beer pours golden amber with a nice head on top. The flavor is syrupy at this point. There are still some nice hops, but the malts have set in nicely on a thicker body than was in the past. Overall good, not great.
A: The beer pours a somewhat murky/yeasty orange color with a slightly off-white head.
S: Some nice citrus hops to start with, and a little bit of tropical fruitiness, but overall this beer is too sweet for me. Moderately bready with quite a bit of caramel. Hints of brown sugar and booze.
T: There are some good points to the flavor, for instance it has a nice citrus and tropical fruit note. Unfortunately, it’s absolutely too sweet and sugary. Minimal pine bitterness can’t save that.
M: Medium in body with a definite stickiness and medium carbonation.
O: Too sweet and malty (and yes, this was when it was pretty fresh). Not my kind of IPA.
great beer cigar city makes some of the greatest ive had. amazing taste with hops and citrus. good palate and an overall amazing beer.
Reviewed from notes. Thanks to ktrillionaire for the bottle.
Pours a nice orange color with a white head and some pretty good lacing. The nose is pretty strange with some nice tropical notes followed up with a bit of cardboard and moderate citrus. The taste has some cardboard but is mostly fairly sweet with some mild citrus and tropical notes. A bit cloying in general. Drinkability is low and I’m a bit disappointed with this one after being quite excited to try it out.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 11-08-2010
Super fresh, this beer had the nose of a good IPA, with lots of peaches and some grapefruit notes. But it was sweet, loaded with caramel malt, and overly viscous. I imagine that it will either age delightfully, into a solid barley wine with lingering sweet citrus fruits, or terribly, into an even harder to drink beer. Not a good look, certainly not for the style.
750 ml bottle thanks to cmillward. Pours a hazy orange amber color with a small white head. The aroma has a big dose of tropical fruits, caramel sweetness with a mild woodiness. This is more like a barley wine than an imperial ipa. The flavor is big sweet caramel malts, loads of ripe tropical fruit, citrus, woody with some earthy hops. Fairly smooth and syrupy. Again, I see this more as an English barley wine than an Imperial IPA. The sweetness does take away from the overall enjoyment of this beer.
750, capped. Thanks bvc! Pours cloudy dark orange with a loose whitish head. Big orange, toffee, caramel, and must on the nose. Sticky thickish body. Caramel, white sugar, and oranges on the mid palate. Cloying finish.
Nose is sweet, doughy, floral, caramelly, sugary. Pours hazy golden amber, head and lace are minimal. Fuck. Sweet as fuck, hot as fuck. Caramel, dough, cake, floral hops, citrus later. Hella residual sugar. Fuck this. This is giving me heartburn.
750ml capped, thanks Dave. Clear dark caramel golden with tight beige head. Sweet, green, woody, pine, resin. Whoa!...sweet as hell. Pineapple, mango...under attenuated, syurpy. Still has some hops in there, but this is a sweet, out of balance mess.
Cigar City smokes NYC event at Rattle N Hum. This dark amber and lacey offering was listed incorrectly as a barleywine, which it was corrected by the Florida Cigar City sales rep to this listing. Neutral aroma, this is the batch from six months back, and the hops are present but subdued in taste and aroma. I found it hard to drink.
I like beers that change my mind. Having heard this selection was rather sweet, I decided to taste it for myself. Just glanced at the specs for a second, and wonder how this has 110 IBU’s. The smell the taste and the finish all indicate a brew with a distinct amount hops, however, this beer is just not that bitter. Color is hazy orange to golden with a white head. Smell is citrusy, but not pungent, more like apricots, over-ripe peaches and carrot cake. Mouthfeel is solid, not too thin. Taste is something out of a homebrew. Not sure what to think here... there’s some resemblance of beer, but it is rich, rich to a fault. Alcohol flavor remains non existent. Finish is sweet and mildly hoppy. This sucker would be much more enjoyable if it was not so darn sweet. At it’s best: an easy introduction to the style. At it’s worst: Poor example of the ceiling of the style. This beer has not changed my love for the style, however is has taught me to be wary of what it might become. Drink Responsibly.
Bottle. 25.4 oz. Split with and courtesy of James. Pours a dank hazy caramel toffee brown. Head is perfect; half finger of beige cream. Brilliant lacing down the sides of the glass. Aroma of malty caramel hops, juicy hop resin, vanilla, oak, and massive amounts of pine and honey. Medium, mellow body on this IPA. The first sip is smooth and creamy, followed through by oaky vanilla flavors and finishing with a caramely, malty burn The finish is so delicious and rewarding. This beer is outstanding. Another VASTLY underrated Cigar City ale.
750ml from Beerlando - thanks, Bryan! This bottle went on quite a journey, passing between several RB folk between its arrival at JCB manor and its eventual consumption. Thanks to Josh and Spencer for the eagle eye! Anyways, not super impressed with the beer after all that. I wasn’t too worried about sitting on a DIPA, since it was supposed to be quite faded and malty from the get go. And in fact, it was both of those things, with an intense dose of sweetness at the center, almost like one of those weird bubble gums that contain sugary ooze inside. Body also a bit thin, making for an overall disappointment.
Appearance: pours thick with no head, just a thin white collar. Amber sap and blood orange hues; clear. Swirls with dotty lace which recede back into a thin white collar.
Nose: apples, peaches, and orange skins. Fresh whole hop cones; herbaceous and a touch fruity. Dew-dropped green grass blades glistening in the sun. Forests waking up to the gentle touch of morn, damp sweetness in the air. Pith, red apple skins.
Palate: full sweet sticky mouthfeel coats everything and leaves licks happily sticky. Honey dipped apples. Dry and bitter underneath with apple skins and green grass blades. Long after each swallow are apple slices and honey married as one and yet still individualistic. Hop cones. Pretty much everything is drenched in amber hued honey. Warmth slowly ekes through back of throat and chest. Cinnamon sticks and spice tickle the back of each quaff along with the warmth of her hearty ABV.
Final Thoughts: wonderful. A fusion of east coast IPA meets west coast IPA with a dab of England thrown in for good measure. Either way I call it tasty.
750 ml bottle. Thick, murky orange-brown. Steady beige head. Resinous, thick hop aroma, a little faded/devolved over time I’d guess. Creamy and sticky sweet, this one really has a different mouthfeel than most beers. Mellow carbonation, but that could be the fault of age. Thick caramel vanilla tones. The hops don’t really jump out at me, just seem to offer a thick, sticky pine backdrop. Big and sugary, but the big ABV is downplayed quite nicely. Some Barleywine notes for sure. Another World Class beer from Cigar City.
Bottle shared by... JCB. Cheers, Jason! Pours dark orange. Hops smell really old, and the malt dominates. This is a huge sweet bomb... almost so much so that it’s clearly no longer even an IIPA, and almost something else that’s also good... almost.
Cloudy amber with a small white head. Big fruity hop aroma with peach and citrus. Bready malt and toffee flavour with green tobacco and exotic fruits leading to a bitter finish. Despite this, it’s ridiculously sweet and cloying with notable hot alcohol.
Bottle. Pours a hazy orange body with a white head. Oxidized hop tones, metals and pungent notes. Caramel, honey, cardboard, oxidation galore. Big etoh sweetness and fruit tones. Big messy barley wine ain’t no ipa in here.
750ml bottle from Liquor Loft. Murky orange brown pour with a thin light tan head. Aroma of peach, sugars, grapefruit, and butterscotch. Tastes are sticky sweet caramel, honey, pine hops, molasses, brown sugar, and raisin. Comes off like a barley wine to me. Texture is medium to thick oily and sticky with scant carbonation.
In short: A very bland, flaccid, sweet and fruity IPA. Meh.
How: Bottle 750ml. Consumed about 4 months after release. Tasting session with Montreal crew.
The look: Cloudy dark orange topped by an off-white ring of foam
In long: The nose is fruity and sweet, nothing vibrant or bright here. Like canned fruits with a twist of pine-tree. Taste is sweetened breakfast fruit juice (apples, grapefruits, oranges) and some buttery cookies. Too sweet. No crispness, everything seemed a bit muted and a bit muddy. Lifeless juicy mouthfeel. I expected a train wreck here but this beer is simply just really boring. Something went wrong with this 110K batch. Third time’s not a charm.
Pours an orange umber with. Nose is earthy and leafy, definitely some age as the malt character seems out of balance. Malty with some bread. Flavor is rich, caramel and piny hops. Meh.
Tried this at a tasting. Cloudy orange pour, small white head. Aroma was of sweet juicy pineapples, like wow. Big time sweet pineapple flavors from top to bottom on this one. Semi-sweet finish with a big full mouthfeel. This had pineapple lifesaver written all over it, thanks steve. Not much booze anywhere in this one. Albeit this was sweet it was pretty solid.
Bottle shared with my ugly friend beardface. Could this beer be any sweeter? Aroma, flavor, just sticky sweetness. If you attempt to get past the sweetness you’ll get some fruitiness but then the sweetness comes back. Not nearly enough hop bitterness or aroma/flavor. Maybe 220 IBU? And about twice as much late hops.
Disappointing brew from an otherwise great brewery.
[750ml bottle courtesy of cgarvieuk] Big frothy head, amber colour. Massive imperial aromas – piney hops, alcohol esters. Pineapple cordial sweetness on the palate, very syrupy. Then the hops and alcohol kick in. Sweet and strong – not sure how much of the bottle you could drink. Good with strong cheese however – a standard big, ballsy American IPA, but one that jumps into the ‘cloying’ category too quickly [14112010]
Bottle shared by JCB. This has been sitting for some time and I hadn’t heard great things upon its initial release so I didn’t have the highest hopes for this beer. It didn’t surprise me. The hops were gone. Just a malty mess. And when I say mess, I mean mess. Not a good double ipa turned into an okay barleywine. Pretty undrinkable at this point. Wonder how different it was when release
750 that my friend Lemur acquired in a trade, poured into snifters. Hazy amber pour with a sticky two finger white head. The aroma was heavy on sugar, caramel malt, tropical fruit. Extremely sweet smelling. Taste is much the same, the sweetness of sugar and tropical fruit overwhelming everything else, and made even more cloying by the heaviness of the mouthfeel, way too thick and syrupy for an IPA. This is by far the worst CC brew I’ve ever had, and was especially disappointing considering how incredible the Humidor Series Jai Alai is.