I enjoy breweries who really love to have fun with their product. Whether it be a unique name, label or ad campaign, being clever in promoting your product will always get points with me.
Points go to DuClaw Brewing in Maryland. DuClaw sports several different locations and more than a handful of year round and seasonal brews. With interesting names like Alchemy, Repent, Misery, Mad Bishop, and Enigma you can tell these guys are thinking out side of the box.
But it was their recent release of Colossus that really caught my eye. The brewery did a spirited social media run on its Facebook page proclaiming wild accusations such as “That’s not vomiting. Colossus is just bored being inside you” and “Steroids once tested positive for Colossus”. And recently after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake shook a large portion of the east coast, DuClaw was quick to post the reason why “A keg of Colossus fell. Sorry about that”.
But quick wit alone does not a great brew make. While catchy sayings and cute names are fun, it IS about the beer. So does Colossus live up to its name? Let’s find out.
THEM : The grain bill for Colossus consists of pale, crystal and dark crystal malts. DuClaw uses chinook and nugget hops targeting the IBUs at 70. Gravity is 40 plato, with final ABV finishing at 21% which they claim is achieved totally by fermentation – wow.
ME : Colossus pours cloudy with little to no head retention. In my glass the color starts at the bottom as a dark amber and moves up to a dark brown. The nose and flavor are very much in sync. Hints of apple, cinnamon and honey dance across your tongue from front to back ending in a noticeable alcohol bite. After tasting, I was please when I read the label and saw that those flavors were very much expected from the beer. Colossus is very much truth in advertising, a big beer with notes of apple, cinnamon and honey. If that sounds good to you, then you’ll like this beer very much.
But Colossus? Well at 21% ABV who am I to argue. This definitely isn’t a session beer, so keep that in mind while you’re enjoying it. And it does have the backbone to support the alcohol content. It’s a very tasty, solid beer. Sadly however Colossus lives up to its name in price as well. My 22oz bottle cost $25+ which puts it outside of my “beers that I’ll normally have in my beer fridge” category. But every now and then as a treat (or if I’m lucky enough to catch it on draft) I’ll definitely revisit this beer.
Have you had colossus? What did you think?
The Dogs of Beer 