Uinta Brewing Co - Cockeyed Cooper

Hey guys! Hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday night. I'm a little bummed because I head back to work tomorrow after a nice and long 4 day weekend. Tonight I'm drinking my August entry in my wife's beer of the month club and I'm really stoked for this one. I've been looking for it for quite sometime and managed to find a lot of these bottles at my local Cost Plus World Market.

Tonight I'm drinking another beer from Uinta's Crooked Line series. This is their Cockeyed Cooper which is a Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine. That's right, a bourbon barrel barley wine. It's been rather hot here in San Diego the last week or so but that's not going to stop me from enjoying this awesomeness. The Cockeyed Cooper is 11.1% and this particular bottle was bottled on 11/29/12 so, already got nearly a year in the bottle. Let's get this one poured and see how the Cockeyed Cooper tastes.



The CC came in a 750ml corked and caged bottle. There was a very audible pop and quite a bit of "steam" once I go the cork popped. It pours out a really beautiful mahogany color that when held up to the light reveals some really dark, blood red/ruby red hues along the sides and bottom of the glass. There's the slightest bit of carbonation coming up from the bottom of the glass. There was a nice 2 fingers of a fluffy and thick khaki colored head that stuck around for quite a bit, leaving behind a pretty nice, web-like lacing. Just a really solid looking Barleywine. Let's get the nose.

Big Big Big burnt caramel and sugar sweetness. Almost like the top of a creme brulee dessert. There's a nice dark fruit character of raisin and fig. A TON of barrel character. Quite a bit of an oak woodiness. Lots of vanilla sweetness here. There's a noticeable chocolate covered raisin character as well. Of course there's a bit of a bourbon alcohol smell. No surprise there. This is just an awesome smelling beer. Let's see if this tastes anything like it smells.

Wow, this is incredible! First thing I get is that woody, oak-like character. That's intertwined with a really nice vanilla and a caramel sweetness. Middle of the mouth you get a little more woody character and some earthy, bitterness. Maybe even a little bit of a burnt flavor. Sides of the palate you get the dark fruits, those chocolate covered raisins and some more of that caramel sweetness. Back of the palate you get a nice bourbon burn, some more of that vanilla sweetness. A bit of the chocolate flavors coming through. Definitely a warming sensation as it makes it's way down the chest. There's a lot of oak, bourbon, vanilla playing with each other throughout this entire beer.

So overall, this is just an amazing beer. Definitely one to sip on. Definitely one I want to see what happens with some age. Fortunately for me, I have another bottle in my cellar cabinet so I'll get to experience that. This is just another solid effort from Uinta who to date, I've yet to have a bad beer from. If you can get this, check it out. Everything about this beer is a home run. Do yourself a favor, seek this out and purchase/trade for a bottle. You will not regret it if you like Barleywines, especially barrel aged offerings.

Rating: A+