Cigar City Campeador - Fergus Mor

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

Pours dark milk chocolate brown with virtually no head. Aroma is tootsie rolls, black plums, and bourbon soaked fruit-cake. Flavor reflects the nose, but stops short of being too sweet or cloying. ’Thick’ and richly lingering; this finishes well, with just a little bit of excessive ’heat’ showing through. Overall, an extremely enjoyable blend, and one I am delighted to have been able to try. I gave the brew itself a 3 for appearance, but bumped it up to a 4 because of the stellar bottle presentation. That is important too ... in my opinion.

Big thanks to Solan for sending this in our trade (helped my buddy with a trade, and he shared with me!) Pours a murky brown color. aroma was biscuit, chocolate, bourbon, and nutty. Poured different than I was expecting. Not a super thick beer here. Taste was big bourbon up front, fairly sweet and nutty, with chocolate, a hint of roast, spent grain, and a very interesting finish. I have to admit, I am a fan of big well rounded, thick, bourbon aged beers. This was fairly thin, bourbon forward, but I enjoyed the flavors a lot, and thought it had a nice lasting finish. Nice beer overall.

Huge thanks to SoLan for hooking me up with one of these from his personal stash. Guys generosity knows no bounds, and Antoine Walker would be proud. Bottle number 96 of 204 bottles. Pours a dark brown color, with a light brown head. Smells of huge rich matl, toffee, caramel, bourbon, and scotch notes. Really dug that nose. Flavors were big on the vanilla and toffee, with the scotch and bourbon notes and alcohol hints really show up in the finish and the heat lingers in the aftertaste. Graha crackers and chocolate cream are also evident. really great blend of flavor and heat. Big and bold, I like it. SoLan for Heisman.

Bottle via trade thanks to Sebletitje. Bottle 131 of 204. Also sampled this from the bottle earlier at GABF 2009. This was the least of the Cigar City brews we had that night, but that’s like calling someone the dumbest rocket scientist at NASA. Joey and Wayne, you guys put out some crazy stuff. Before I start, a couple comments. First of all, "Fergus" is really not a hardcore name at all. The fact that the guy this beer is named for became a respected ruler of Scotland despite being named Fergus is impressive. Second, this is a collaboration between Cigar City and a liquor store? That is a new one. So...this beer pours darkest brown with a medium beige head that leaves a ring and decent lacing. Aroma is nice with bourbon, toffee, caramel, spice, and some prune and raisin. Flavor is fairly complex and good with chocolate, roasted malt, caramel, toffee, dark fruits, wood, and honey. Oh yeah, and bourbon, lots of it. The bourbon in this was a little more intense and harsher than in Capricho Oscuro batch 2. Would like to have seen a little less of it. Medium body with a fairly smooth mouthfeel, yet just a bit boozy. Overall good, but not quite as amazing as its current score on here would suggest.

750mL bottle, #112/204, poured into a tulip. Pours a dark reddish brown with very little light penetrating underneath a small creamy tan head that recedes slowly leaving some legs on the sides. The aroma is sweet with caramel malts and lots of dark fruit - raisins and plums especially. There is also some molasses and dark chocolate as well as hints of smoked peat. The taste is excellent and just a bigger, bolder version of the nose. The initial taste is of dark roasted malts and chocolate with some sweet molasses in the background. The finish has a subtle bourbon character with some vanilla sweetness and a dry, woody character. The smoked peat doesn’t seem to be as prevalent, but the more I sip, the more the peat shows up. The mouthfeel is meidium to full bodied with soft carbonation and a booze soaked dessert-like feel overall. This is another excellent beer from CCB and a wonderful evening sipper with the bourbon adding just the right amount of complexity to the already-solid underlying beers. Fantastic.

Bottle 46/204: pours a dark brown some amber hues come through also small tan head with some lacing. Aroma is great full of all different smells rich malts some very good barrell and great hints of vanilla very slight roast great balance of aromas flavor is very full and lively great rich malts and a good hint of alcohol some of the wood comes through. Very enjoyable and great.

Bottle thanks to Ashley and Brent. Lots of hot Buffalo Trace bourbon in the nose. Some rich caramel and toffee. Not what I’d call smoky, but I do get hints of bacon in the back. A very complex though easy to drink flavor. Roasted malts, a lot of Big Sound. That perhaps overwhelms the other flavors, but it is still very good.

750mL bottle, blue waxed from darkguardian. Clear brown with a smallbeige head, fading to a ring before long. Nose is of sweet bourbon and caramel with some toasted malts and chocolate behind. Flavor is much the same with a little bit of roast and a fair amount of spicy alcohol, bitterness peaking @ a 3. Full body with moderate carbonation. Good use of BAing--unlike some of their other offerings. That said, this is tasty, but doesn’t quite mesh together, thus the 4.0 rating. I also liked the little piece of charcoal in my bottle!