Boss Cox was real, that much is true. According to the fine folks at Cincinnati’s Barrel House Brewery , Boss George Cox was a sort of Tammany Hall type who ran a Cincinnati political machine from a saloon in the Over-the-Rhine district. That’s the same area where Barrel House began as a brewpub back in 1995. Since then, the company has evolved into a bottling microbrewery. The motto on my bottle of Boss Cox is “corrupt and content”, and I can imagine myself quite content after a few bottles of this fine brew.

Interestingly enough, I picked this beer up while in the process of reading a biography of President Theodore Roosevelt, a contemporary of George Cox. Teddy was none too fond of political machines, and fought them in all of their various guises throughout his political career. Luckily for Boss Cox, Roosevelt spent most of his political capital in New York, far and away from Ohio.

Boss Cox Double Dark IPA pours to a, well, dark reddish brown color with a light creamy tan head and a spicy citric hop nose. A fine layer of Brussels lace coats the side of my glass as I drink.  Thanks to the moniker, I was expecting something a little different here, and I surely got it. The ubiquitous caramel malt is present, but it’s tempered by a hearty dash of roasty chocolate flavor, adding a decidedly different element to the brew. The Munich malt used here, uncharacteristically for an IPA but not surprising in Germanic Cincy, imparts that.

After I had picked apart the malt flavors, I went for the hops. They come through early with a delightful citric twang, and quickly build into the finish where they virtually explode with a very citric, fresh orange and grapefruit flavor and aroma. As the beer warms, resiny and grassy hop flavors emerge as well. The multi-faceted hop character is a result of the multitude of hop varieties tossed in to this one: Cascades, Perles, Simcoes, Saaz, and Clusters.

Boss Cox has a firm but drinkable body, and doesn’t really seem as strong as it is at 8.6% alcohol by volume. It is delicious, however, and I finished off my 22 ounce bottle in no time. I’ll surely be after more. Good old Teddy Roosevelt likely was none too fond of Boss Cox the politico, but were he around today, one imagines The Colonel would have let loose with a hearty cry of “Bully!” upon sipping a glass of Boss Cox the beer.

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