Fort Collins Barrel Licked Bock

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

Date: May 24, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Ticker Tasting
Appearance: clear dark red, fine beige head, streaks of lace
Aroma: sweet caramel and vanilla aroma, lots of smokey earthyness
Flavor: sweet candy malt flavor, sweet caramel, balancing smoke, touch of vanilla, light oak
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: **4

( 22oz bottle ) Pours a clear amber body with a small off-white head. Aroma of roasted grain, wood, caramel, vanilla, and light smoke. Flavor of wood, caramel, and roasted malt.

Bottle... Clear, deep, burnt orange lager with a mid-sized, creamy, off-white head. The aroma is all caramel and light smoke. Full-bodied with a 2%-milk mouthfeel and lively carbonation. Sweet, caramelly flavor and finish. Bottle courtesy of juiceisloose!

Bottle. Filtered, force-carbonated. Rich tawny tobacco brown colored body. A hefty swirl produces a thick and frothy burnt caramel colored dense head. Nose is sweaty vienna and munich malts with a twang of peanut oil and bourbon - moderately sweet, somewhat fusel but all around enjoyable. Thick and viscous body, the maple, oak and sweet tobacco flavors seem to explode up front only to quickly mellow and sweeten as it passes across the palate and on the back of the tongue. The smoke character is especially mild, but performs well with the slightly sweet and sticky maple and caramelized apples in play. Alcohol is present but not the focus. Very good.

How the heck does a barrel aged Doppelbock get listed as a Smoked beer? Nothing in the listed commercial description or the actual description on the bomber that I picked up from Sam’s in Downers Grove, IL, mentions smoked malts. (It reminds me of an Imperial Stout that I once had that was aged in oak barrels. Most of the raters tasted the Bourbon, although the barrels were virgin.) Anywhat - It’s a nice brew. It poured a clear brown body with red highlights and a manilla head that rapidly reduced to a film. It had an aroma of dark caramel, charred wood, dark dried fruit, and a touch of booze. Very smooth yet somewhat warm mouthfeel. The flavor did have a smokiness to it - old bacon, mayhaps - but the tastes were mainly the sweet dark toffee malt, a touch of the dried fruit, alcohol, powdered chocolate, and a hint of vanilla. The finish was dry with a low alcohol burn.... which should be stronger, in my opinion, if only to remind one how seriously strong this very drinkable Doppelbock is.

Umber to garnet in color. Smaller but stable lid of dark beige bubbles. Very meaty aroma. If handed blind to me, I would have guess smoked bock from the scent, so it’s got that going for it. Scents of caramel, light vanilla and peat as well. Whiskey settles in as it sets. Caramel and grain flavors in the front. Whiskey in the middle. Rather spicy in the finish. Having purchased a bottle of Stranahan’s a couple weeks ago, I sat down with a dram last week. A caught the spice at the very end of the glass, and that seems to transcended to this brew. Cloves, allspice and cinnamon. Just noticed this is actually listed as a smoked brew, so my earlier comments are mute, and make me look only slightly stupider than I am. I assumed this was just another barrel aged brew, but this does have a lot going on. Middle also has some dark cherries, dates and hints of some other fruits. Perhaps a bit too sweet. Long linger with earthy smoke, caramel an toffee. I would enjoy this any fall night outside by the fire pit.

Bottle from Keg Liquor. Poured hazy brown color with a large frothy brown head that was mostly lasting with excellent lacing. Moderate smoke malty aroma. Medium to full body with a smooth texture and flat carbonation. Medium to heavy woody bourbon flavor with a medium to heavy bourbon bittersweet finish of moderate duration. My expectations where exceeded.

Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is medium to dark brown. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted grain, caramel, roasted nuts, cookie), lightly hoppy (flowers), with notes of smoked meat, wood, vanilla, brown sugar. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly to moderately bitter. Medium to full body, velvety/syrupy texture, lively/soft carbonation, lightly to moderately alcoholic. As good as the regular Doppelbock, but in different ways. Great balance of aromatic characters, and the smoke itself is very enticing and rich/meaty (not stark ashes and char), albeit more subdued than the Doppelbock. Clearly eight weeks in the barrel was plenty to get the woody and vanilla-ish notes to come out, as they’re very apparent (without being aggressive or overdone). Well hidden alcohol. Quite sweet, so don’t let this warm up too much, but then again this is a bock/doppelbock so it’s not exactly out of character. Still, more bittering would be helpful (perhaps a year of cellaring was too long?). Overall a very well-done, successful effort.