Cigar City Big Sound Scotch Ale

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

0.75L bottle pours deep mahogany with clear amber to rose edges and full tan head. The initial aroma as the pours ends is a pulse of cherries. Upon further inspection I get more cherries, faint dark grape jam mixing with a growing cornucopia of malts like biscuit, melanoidin, caramunich, toffee and other notes I can’t put my finger on . . . maybe chicory too. The taste starts smooth and sweet moving toward increasing levels of roasted maltiness. But first I get cherries and toffee mixing with a brief pulse of dark grape jam. Then an array of malts descend on the palate jabbing away with toffee, biscuit, melanoidin, more toffee and malt roastiness. Beyond midway coffee and chicory goodness enter and help bring the dark fruitiness and malts toward the finish. It ends with chocolate, chicory, faint dark roasted coffee beans, figs, cherries, toffee and mildly drying roasted malts. This brew has tons and tons of flavor and is a bit much for one person (me) to finish off a big bottle.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours barely translucent ruby-mahogany with a thin buff head. Aroma delivers caramel, toasted malt and toffee tones. Flavor nicely echoes the aroma and adds a woody hint,vas well as candy sweetness but not too much. Firm, viscous mouthfeel is smooth but has some decent fizz. Make a big sound!

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours out EXTREMLY dark brown with a massive tan foam head. The aroma is of sweet dark fruits. The mouthfeel is smooth rich and thick. The taste is really good but not $30 worth. Wish I could have it for $15-$20. This does sort of remind me of Goose Island Black Friday bourbon barrel.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

Very generous sample from #KnoxBeerCrew tasting. Non-murky brown pour, nice tight creamy head, good lacing throughout. Sweet malted aroma, caramels, toffee, earthy hops, ripe fruits, shortbread, a hint of Scotch Whiskey. Taste is magnificent! Sweet caramel and toffees, shortbread, malts, very slight vanilla, butterscotch, very slight booze - This was my favorite beer of the night's tasting. A magnificent Big Malty Bomb! Loved it.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

I found this beer to be more Porter like than a Scotch Ale, but either style it is not one to be missed. A dark pour with huge aromas of roasted malt, molasses, sugar, and cherry. Flavour is quite complex with the malt and molasses up front, and some cherry filling in the finish. The molasses lingers a while as well. Alcohol is well hidden.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

slight cherry my #$%! this was odd in a wat that only a few breweries can pull off. luckily for us, CC is one of them. Kind of a cross between a good, traditional scotch ale with dark fruit and hints of smoke, and Cuvee de Tomme with it's cherry-twang thing going on. the fruitiness was not subtle in the aroma or flavor, as the label would have you beleive, but was quite enjoyable. I am now intrigued by the bourbon version of this brew...

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This was a little too sweet for me, but a solid beer nonetheless. Lots of flavor going on with the toffee and cherry. I noticed the fruit, but wasn't sure what it was until I read the bottle. Also tasted some dark sugar as well, but could of been the toffee. Has a medium to dark brown- redish appearance....or burgundy is more like it. I think I prefer my Scotch Ales a bit on the mellower side, but wanted to try something new from a local brewer. Don't think I'd get again though, especially at this price.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Bottle: Poured a deep brown burgundy color ale with a medium size foamy head with good retention and minimal lacing. Aroma of rich sweet malt with some deep notes of caramel and toffee is enjoyable though very close to the overly sweet territory. Taste is also an enjoyable mix between some rich sweet malt with deep notes toffee and caramelized sugar. Body is quite full with OK carbonation and no apparent alcohol. I usually like some peat malt in my scotch ale but not sure it would have benefited this one since there is so much residual sugar.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Reddish tinges blackness on pur. Big frothy textured tan head rises above and stays around for awhile. Eventually settles into light film and fat ring and clouds atop the body. Pours with a viscosity that reminded me of syrup. Full bodied though low carbonation. The aroma roasted malt, some coffee and a lot of molasses. So too do these scents translate to the taste. Quite good.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This is a big bold bad-mama-jama Scotch! .. light chocolate smoke right off the bat.. . smell of oak and chocolate and light alcohol . .. murky brown on the pour.. more than decent.. good with cheese.. big.. Ha. Lucky guess. I just lost a buck. To myself.