Cigar City Capricho Oscuro (Batch 2)
A blend of Big Sound Scotch Ale, 110k+OT Batch 2 (IRIS), and Bolita Brown. Aged in Makers Mark Barrel.
3.9
164 reviews
Tampa, United States
Community reviews
’09 notes
huge thanks to tpd975 for saving me some of this nectar. This is definitely a more bourbon, boozy approach than Batch1. pours black, thin golden head with insane amounts of golden lacing that stain the glass after it’s empty. Aroma lots of bourbon, chocolate and roasted malts with hints of coffee. Taste, again it’s loaded with tons of bourbon goodness, some wood. Lots of malts, chocolate and vanilla adding some sweetness for a monster beer that is so easy to drink. Bourbon gives the mouthfeel a warming touch, yet everything remains so highly balanced. Beer had medium carbonation because of the growler and will need another review.
Tasted on 1/1/11 from a 12oz bottle obtained in a trade, bottle number 343/450. Pours dark brown with an average tan head that leaves thin tan lace. The nose is funky and sour, ripe with infection. There are also aromas of dill and bourbon without much else. The sour flavor presents itself very briefly on the front of the palate, but then moves to caramel malt, bourbon, some nuttiness, and vanilla. The body is full and creamy with fairly light carbonation, and a long caramel, bourbon, and dill finish. On the palate, this beer is actually fairly nice and enjoyable, but on the nose, there is a very intense sour aroma that leaves me with no doubt that this beer is infected.
Bottle thanks to cmillward: Poured a deep black brown with a little bubble head. Aroma is very boozy up front with nice barrel age to it, there is also some dark fruits mixed in as well. Taste is nice with barrel edge, dark biter bakers chocolate, dark fruit like raisin, and yet some coffee stout finish.
The aroma is rather bland, with some light dark fruit notes, some light roast and a ton of oak cubes (very light char, mostly raw). The taste is stale coffee, watery toffee, some dark fruit and lots of spicy oak. The texture is very chalky. Bleh.
Shared with bmanning, Amyliz4, and Heather at a recent tasting. Big thanks to ahatcher78 for the bottle.
A: Very dark brown with a nice tan head and pretty good lacing.
S: A good amount of bourbon alongside caramel, sweet brown malt, vanilla, and bits of dark fruit.
T: Very similar to the smell, with a bit of molasses sweetness coming through as well.
M: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation and not much of a hint of alcohol.
D: Quite drinkable. Not much of an alcohol presence and fairly complex.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 04-03-2010
Bottle shared by alexsdad06. Poured black color with an small to average frothy brown head that mostly lasted with fair lacing. Moderate to heavy toasted chocolate malt, woody with a small alcohol aroma. Medium to full body with a smooth texture and flat carbonation. Medium to heavy bourbon woody and dark sweet flavor with a medium to heavy bittersweet finish of moderate to long duration. This is a standout beer.
Bottle. Courtesy of mothman. Pours a dark brown color with a nice frothy tan head that settles nicely. Holy bourbon/whiskey notes in the nose, pretty boozy smelling. The whiskey notes dance around throughout the entire drink of this beer along with dark roast, sherry, and hints of oak. Medium mouthfeel. Ends with a lingering boozy slightly sweet taste. As it warms the roast really comes through nicely.
Pretty enoyable.
Small bottle that is nr 125/450 from 2009. The pour is dark brown and topped with a nice dark brown head. The nose is actually pretty sour ale like - a bit like a flamish sour ale with lots of wooden notes, caramels and chocolate.The taste has a sour edge but dominated of fine caramels with some berries and dried apricots. Somewhere theres is a faint touch of smoke The finish is long lasting with bitter notes dominating the picture and a profound alcohol feeling that bites your tounge. The palate is medium and not as fat and sticky as CCs normaly is.
12oz bottle, thanks sebletitje. Small brown head atop dark brown body. Aroma is sweet, Bourbon/vinous, milk chocolate/syrup, some sour, light smoke. Taste is moderately sweet, vinous, some Brett, syrup/bittersweet chocolate, light alcohol/Bourbon, smoke. Sticky medium-full body, low carbonation.
bottle 152/450 poured a black in color with little head and a fairly still look. aroma has interesting funk, brown malt, light bourbon sweetness, some vanilla barrel, and a bit of roast. mouth feel is lighter than imagined with a little carbonation. flavor has more roast, coffee, chocolate, some bitterness, a little funky, and moves towards the scotch side. this has held up well and the barrel aging has not taken over. interesting that you can pick apart the different base beers and there is the complementing bourbon. cool and interesting!
12oz bottle looks like an imperial stout with a thin, beige head. Nose is nice, chocolate, vanilla, brown sugar, milk chocolate, toast, apples. Flavor is sweet, coffee with cream, brown sugar, caramel, bourbon, wood. Full bodied and a touch hot. Nice, but sort of all over the place.
Bottle courtesy of seabass at the DC local tasting. Dark brown color. Aroma of port wine and prominent alcohol. Taste is like a chocolate liqeur. Very boozy.
In short: An unfocussed strong boozy dark ale of some kind. All over the place but still a fun mess.
How: Bottle 12oz. Consumed almost one year after the beer release. Bottle sent to me by tarheels86, thanks a lot GT
The look: Cloudy dark burgundy body, small particles, medium beige head
In long: Nose is nutty, boozy, woody, milk chocolate, roasted, etc… Taste is.. well… I started writing down the flavor elements I noted and after about 25 of them I found the exercise rather futile. This is a blend of three beers (a scotch ale, an imperial stout and a brown ale on steroids) that are then aged in bourbon barrel. That’s a “yeah, sure, whatever” recipe that gives a “whatever” beer. Totally all over the place. The three base beers do come through as well as the barrels. And if all that was not enough the resulting beer packs a lot of fruity flavors that I did not find in any of the three base beers. So you can imagine the mess. Also the alcohol feels more than 9%, I would have guessed 12%. Very hot beer. I could write a three page rating just listing individual flavors in this beer. The end-result is more an unfocussed mess than a complex beer. But it is a fun mess nonetheless. Another fun but overrated CC brew. Same old story, nothing new. CCB is an extreme over-the-top brewery, nothing more, nothing less. It’s ok. The problem here is that people are starting to take them way too seriously. They should consider wearing bunny slippers at the brewery. That should fix the problem.
12 oz bottle 429 of 450 batch #2 2009 via trade with daknole, thanks Dak. Wow did they make one complicated blend on this one, three beers and some barrel aging. Poured a deep dark brown body with a smaler foamy beige head and lots of visible floaties since I dumped the whole bottle into my Sam Adams snifter as I didn’t want to waste a single drop of this one. Aroma really changes a lot with this as it warms up. While cold it had some serious Makers Mark goin on with some roasted coconut and unbaked raisin bread dough. With some warming notes of molasses, sweet milk chocolate and English toffee creep in to the mix. A little more warming reveals rum soaked cake and the inside of a Dunkin Donuts which is sweet and roasty at the same time as the coffee and donuts meld into an indistinguishable aroma. The body is medium/full and oily coating your mouth nicely and leaving a lingering slick inside your mouth that contributes to a long lasting aftertaste. Flavors of bourbon dominate along with that Dunkin Donuts aroma which now has taken on a new dimension in the flavor, sweet and roasty all at once. This is agreat sipper I just wish I had the patience to sit on it a few more months because this one deserves to be enjoyed ouside on a nice cool late October Sunday afternoon after watching the Vikings kick some ass.
Bottle.
Dark brown with a tanned head.
The aroma is of roasted malts, dark chocolate, cookie dough and lots of bourbon.
The flavor is basically more of the same. Very prominent bourbon character with notes of vanilla and almonds. Lots of malts, roasty and doughy. The end is warming and slightly bitter.
Full bodied and smooth.
A good beer.
67/450 from 2009 series...a nice ruddy brown pour, almost black..big, creamy beige head..bizarre aroma. slightly woody, with hints of tobacco, leather and an interesting vinous tartness that i have noticed in their batch 3 oscuro. not exactly the most inviting, considering the beers that are involved in this bottle. flavor is much better. big chocolate, oak, lactose, vanilla and a touch of that tartness noticed in the smell. it works better than the batch 3, but still doesnt seem to be a beer that meshes its components well
Bottle 358 thanks to laroja.. Pours dark dark brown with a brown head...Aroma is very tart...Flavor is nothing like the aroma, roasty with some dark chocolate...Interesting beer.
Bottle shared between the Chicago crew, thanks to Adam! Poured near black with a yellowish brown head that dissipated slowly. Aroma was complex with some tart fruits (cherries mainly), dark chocolate, coffee and a touch of whiskey. Flavor was similar as there was a bit of tart cherry at the start with dark notes such as dark chocolate and coffee becoming dominant and a bit of underlying whiskey, especially at the finish. Seemed a bit like a beer version of chocolate covered cherry.
Bottle from tarheels86. Bottle 107/450. Pours dark black with rimming, brown head. Licorice, vanilla, whiskey, and chocolate dominate the nose with lots of bourbon. Flavor is chocolate with vanilla, coffee, cherry and dark fruits and lots and lots of bourbon. A touch light on body. Very good.
From bottle courtesy of dpjuart. Very oaky, with vanilla, licorice, and bourbon. Rich aroma and musky, vaporous. Dark brown-black hazy with thin light tan lacing head. Medium body with medium carbonation and lot of alcohol warming. Sweet, rich, malty with tons of bourbon flavor - a bit watery, however. Dates, raisins, oak, vanilla. Finishes bitter and nutty, fairly complex.
A: The pour is a muddled brown color with with very little in terms of head.
S: There is a surprising amount of fruitiness to the nose, mostly of the stone variety. I also pick up plenty of barrel character in the form of vanilla, oak, and leather.
T: A nice balance of the whiskey component and caramel, vanilla, and the subtle, underlying fruit flavors (a lot of cherries). On top of all that, a bit of roast and perhaps even chocolate. A really complex flavor profile.
M: A medium bodied beer with a somewhat subtle carbonation that does prick the tongue a bit.
D: A really interesting beer from CCB and one that I enjoyed quite a bit. Lots of different flavors going on here and not too much in terms of detectable booze.
Bottle 15/450 shared by someone at DLD 2k10. The beer pours to a black body with a light brown head. The aroma is sour cherry-like mash and light chocolate. The flavor is chocolate and tobacco. Some strange woody thing too. The palate is tart and has a long lingering flavor. I wasn’t impressed.
Terrific aroma of bourbon barrel vanilla and the super rich nuttiness of the Bolita and Big Sound. Deceptively dark roasted flavor is not something you see coming - testifying to the presence of 110K#2. A bit better than the sum of it’s parts - the barrel aging isn’t too heavy handed.
From deep murky brown-black depths emerge a thin cappuccino film ending along the sides of my glass for an equally sporty collar. She swirls with no lace, but considering how thick and heavy her pour was I’m not particularly surprised. A good head is as good as it is relative to the beer in question. Instead, I get bourbon, and lots of it. Oh sweet Gambrinus, how did CCB know my other weakness is bourbon. Rich bourbon sweetness is equally matched by fall fruits, spice, and a hit of heat in the back. Peach and apricot fruitiness intermingles with bakers’ chocolate, espresso beans covered in chocolate, burnt marshmallows, and wood. Tasty! But wait, I haven’t even tasted it yet; this is just the nose. Dry brown spices sprinkle about while her ABV warmth and bourbon continue to tickle the back of my nose. Red apple skins lay peeled before me even as toffee crunchies and caramel crunchies await that perfect apply marriage. Flavor in beer is one thing, but aroma is easily as important, if not maybe just a wee bit more. Already smitten, I perform the ultimate sacrifice of taste evaluation, I drink the beer. Ahh… bourbon. Lighter in body than her nose implied, my mouth dries almost immediately. As the top of my tongue dries, bourbon soaked wood barrels, nutmeg, and cinnamon sticks come to the forefront of my attentions. Rich and full, her warm touch is already working its magic while red apple, peach, and apricot skins refresh. Awaiting each turn of flavor is bourbon in all its vanillin, toffee, caramel, and chocolate concentrate glory. Hershey’s anyone? Vanilla bean forgoes subtlety, drowning instead its entirety into the bourbon beery mash currently seducing my palate. A final lick of dry roastiness and she is all about quaff and repeat. That’s ok; there is more than enough going on in her nose and palate to keep me more than happily occupied. But enough talking, there’s drinking to be done.
Once more, Cigar City Brewing doesn’t disappoint. Out of the three Capricho Obscuro batches, I have so far tasted the 2nd and 3rd, both equally delightful in their own unique and exciting way. Some may say one is better than the other, and having preferences is ok, but for me, both stand tall on their own. Now, to get my hands on the first batch, if I can. They are limited releases, after all…
355ml Bottle brought to Amsterdam by GodOfThunder, thanks Jay! Deep dark brown to black colour, thin creamy beige head that lasts. Aroma of light tart vinous notes, vanilla, roasted malts, berries, a bit of coffee, some chocolate. Flavour is light sweet, lots of roasted malts, light tart vinous notes, chocolate, vanilla, coffee and roasted malts with a hint of tartness in the finish. Creamy mouthfeel, fullbodied. Lots going on, but the barrel ageing made this beer a whole lot less I think. I just don’t dig it.
Thanks to Kevin for the bottle, #15/450. Poured dark brown with a dusting of deep beige head. The aroma picked up sour bourbon over dark chocolate and graham cracker sweetness.. some coffee too.. quite tart. The flavor found sour bourbon throughout with metallic character to it.. chocolate and coffee support plus increasing nutty notes as the drink progressed.. some smoke on the finish.. just OK. Tart and spicy overall on the palate.. kind of messy.
12 oz bottle shared at RBWG 2010. Pours a deep woody amber brown with a thin yet lasting fizzy head. Aroma is sour notes up front with red wine barrels oak, vanilla, some old and hairy dog earthy funkiness, mineral licorice, caramel, toast, molasses, nuts chocolate and roast. Flavor is funky with earthy tones light wine and astringent earthy woody wine-like brett, hints of char vanilla and bourbon, some fruity notes, toast, and roasted malts with some grassy and piney hops in the backbone for decent bitterness. lots going on here, but still pretty tasty.
Dark slightly viscous pour with a small head. Aroma has vanilla, molasses, wood, and is sweet, sweet bourbon. Flavor is mellow, nice and sweet, very well balanced. Sweet bourbon and vanilla with a touch of nuts and caramel. Nice.
Sampled at RBWG 2010. This is awesome! Full of dark fruits, malt, bourbon, and so much more. Amazing!
Black color with a dark brown sheen. Big wet wood, red wine, vanilla, tart cherry, chocolate aromas. Rich, smooth mouthfeel. Great flavors of bourbon soaked chocolate cherry bon bons, toasted oak, dark roasted malts. Best CC barrel brew to date for me.