Fort Collins Barrel Licked Bock

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

Clear copper color/ tan head. Nice smoked meat aromas with sweetbread and vanilla. medium body. Malty sweet caramel, grainy dark bread flavors with smoked meats.

Pours a nice clear mahogany with a fairly thick pale tan head that is frothy and fine-bubbled. Aroma is rather strong, malty with an overtone of molasses and a good alcohol nip. Lip-smacking malty flavor has a strong molasses component and quite an alcohol bite, rather like a barleywine. Texture is rough and rowdy, quite fizzy so it seems to dance on the tongue and canter down the pipes.

This pours a dark amber color, with mild ruby tinting. About one-finger of light tan colored foam makes the head, which quickly dissipates to a thin, filmy, surface covering. The lacing is foamy, wet and lightly sticky. This is a simple nose. It is filled with lots of rick malty notes and a wonderful smokiness. There may be other scents there, but I can’t get past these things to find them. More of the same, except that the smoke has moved to the foreground now. The dry smokiness is countered by the sweet maltiness, which creates a good balance. Mild hints of caramels, dark fruits and oak come up, only to fade to the background, almost as quickly. This is medium-bodied with a mild level of carbonation. It is very smooth but has not got much creaminess to it. I think that this is a shame. This is nice, but could be worlds better with a nice creaminess factor to it. For 10.20%abv, this drinks like a session beer. The alcohol is extremely well-hidden. The taste is very good, but a bit one-dimensional. I think that I would tire of this one quickly, but I also think that I could come back to it after a night or two, to enjoy again.

Wow! this was a pleasant surprise. This stuff kinda reminds me of Celebrator (not a good) and that ia good stuff. This a a smooth complex beer, shame it is so hard to find, the booze is very well hidden.

Serving: 22 oz. bottle. Appearance: Deep amber color with a small, effervescent, off-white head. The head is gone in seconds. Aroma: A hint of smoke, definite wood notes, some whiskey, and some malty sweetness. Flavor: Lighter in profile than I was expecting. The wood notes dominate with the whiskey playing second fiddle and the smoke playing harmony. It all comes together with some nice sweet malt notes of caramel and some vanilla. Mild, but tasty. Palate: Medium carbonation with a medium mouthfeel and a medium-short finish. Overall: I was expecting big and bruising but was surprised with subtle and easy drinking. I think the alcohol is well hidden and this is a nice use of barrel aging. Recommended.

A diminishing and fizzy head sits atop a copper-brown body, leaving some good spots of lacing. Upfront smoked malt aroma with hints of meat and campfire. A brush of whiskey and wood followed by a faint fruitiness. The aroma fills the air and pulls you in. Clean and medium bodied, sweet and smoky with a soft creaminess. No trace of the high alcohol content. Caramel and doughnut flavors are soon washed out by smoke and wood. Mild bourbon taste is evident in the background and leads way to plums and vanilla. This is one solid beer, not as big as I was expecting which is what makes it fairly easy and enjoyable. The smoked malt is well portioned and the bourbon barrel influence is constantly in the back ground.

From the bottle shared by AgedOak. Reddish copper color with a thin, off white head. Dark sugar nose with hints of extinguished campfire and rum cake. Flavors of burnt caramel, some smoke, faint bourbon and wood tones, and dried fruit and raisen notes. I found this to be a nice use of the barrel to accent the beer.

22oz bomber. What a cool name for a beer. Pours a dark but clear glowing garnet red with a fizzy soda foamy tan head 3.5. Aroma is going to take a second to figure out, leather and smoke, pineapple, canadian bacon, mmm my favorite pizza, some sort of acidity, quite sharp, salted cured ham 7.5. Flavor follows, sharp at first, fuller than it smells, what an odd interesting play of flavors, I think each of the different flavors would work as a pair but when all together it is a bit unfocused, canned pineapple, bacon, ham, light leather, fairly sweet, a lighter bock dopple bock, light choclate tootsie roll, a bit cloying, quick finish leaving behind sweet whisky, completely unique. Medium bodied, feels heavier, ubiquitous softer tightly packed carbonation, viscous but not really syrupy. Strange beer. The pineapple-like acidity is really what throws everything out of balance.