Fort Collins Barrel Licked Bock

Brewed by Fort Collins Brewery
Style: Smoked
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

22oz Bottle purchased at Rozi’s in Lakewood. Aroma is interesting, the smoke scent comes through in equal parts with some fruity scents. Nice cherry scents with smokey wood combine and to an interesting combo. Flavor is a good smooth bock rich maltimess. The woody flavors are somewhat laxed here, it is mostly the bock flavor and a bit of excess sugars. Not too bad, but could use a bit more refining.

Poured a hazy burgundy color with a small, light tan head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of smoked malts, vanilla, toast, caramel malts, nuts, and oxidation. Taste of more smoked malts, cocoa, some roast, caramel, nuts, tobacco, cardboard, and alcohol.

I have no problem at all with this beer; it is an inventive idea. I was worried the essential bock character, that kind of caramel smokiness, with scratchy leathery fruit elements, would get lost. But it is not and nice layer of char complements the natural sweetness. Excellent woody aroma, forest-like, with fine molasses sweetness; has a natural fermented quality like a bit of soy sauce. Nice carbonation level, nice color, good job. Had no idea at all of the ABV until right now, when I am a third of the way through. How this thing warms is critical to its success in my mind.

This beer pours a deep cherry wood color with a small tan head that lasts only a couple of minutes. The aroma is akin to summer sausage with some dark fruit thrown in. Taste is full of malt with a good amount of roasted notes and a bitterness that crashes in a slow moving wave. It is also smoky and offers enough alcohol to immunize from the Swine Flu. Finish is quite chocolaty and it thins out some. This is a nice beer with a lot of sweetness. No hops on the radar screen here.

Bomber - Acquired @ DLD ’09. A pleasant surprise from what seemed prior a rather lackluster brewery, Fort Collins. This is a Smoked Bock which brags over a year of barrel aging. Its very light-looking, pours a clear copper/amber with decent head. Smell is sweet malts, oak, woods, smoke, etc. Taste is very similar, nice, decently subtle and not at all over the top - which is kind of an issue for me - a Aecht Schlenkerla’s Rauchbier is more than enough for me. This is also incredibly smooth - there is no way I’d guess it’s 10+% - as it doesn’t indicate on bottle. Nice.

On tap. Ruddy brown color, thick tan head that falls to a broken layer. Light caramel and smoke, slight meaty aroma, gets sweeter as it warms. Barrel is more apparent on the taste, more oak and malty sweetness than smoke, although some smoke shows on the finish. Nice palate.

Draft @ redlight redlight. Pours a very appeal dark brown/burgundy. Capped by a small off-tan head. Complex malts, some wood and bourbon, light smoke, all melded together quite well. The sweetness in the flavor is balanced well by the hints of smoke and the oak tannins. Caramel, rich, wort-style doppelbock-malts, some toffee. Very balanced, meedium mouthfeel, nice carb. A smooth sipper.

Bomber. Pours a clear, dark garnet color with cherrywood highlights. A small, frothy, beige head settles to a thin film with a bubbly edge. Wet lacing mostly rejoins the body, but a few jagged spots and splotches remain behind. The nose is really nice, showing a rich, smoky caramel malt base, with underlying dry cocoa. Woodsy oak lends heaps of vanilla and traces of bourbon. Flavors compliment the aroma quite well, with the nicely charred oak imparting a robust smokiness and tasty vanilla to the darkly toasted caramel, bittersweet cocoa and fig. Everything comes together very well. Medium-plus in body, smooth and balanced, the palate is just about perfect for the style. This one really took me by surprise. Very good.