Recently in Beer Ale and Spirits Category

I recently had the privilege of visiting Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, FL. As a rule, I am not a big fan of Florida, due to the unusually abnormal level of bad drivers and generally abnormal folks - but I found Tampa pretty cool. Folks were nice, the beer was good, and they even have pretty damn fun single track. 

This past Saturday was Hunahpu's day. Cigar City's annual brewfest. Brewers came from around the world to share their brews. Due to 'admission issues' in the past - things are pretty well organized now. Your wristband comes weeks ahead in a box, you activate it online, and entry is only allowed with the rfid wristband. You can pick your bottles of Hunahpu's Stout ahead of the event - which beats picking it up after. Although picking it up after was not an issue for those folks either as most everyone had picked theirs up already, mitigating any lines.

Four free food tickets and a tasting glass were provided, along with admission. The fresh food from Da Kine Poke Bowls and other food trucks was amazing.

The first brew I sampled was from a brewer in Tallinn Estonia - a Scotch Whiskey Barrel Aged Scottish Ale. He says it's changed a bit since I was there last.

My favorites were a couple of brews from 3 Sons, Lumberjack Morning Break - an amazing stout with a great aroma, and Scoop a La Mode a neapolitan stout, which was the best attempt I have had at a neapolitan stout by far. I met a couple of great guys from Chicago while in line and after dinner we headed over to the brewery.

The Cigar City brewery is decently small, had great service and tons of great brews on tap. They sell hand rolled cigars to smoke at the brewery. I sampled a Darkstar November (good stuff) shared by a patron, and enjoyed the tap list. The regular Huna pours with a dark viscous head, has a spicy sweet arouma and flavor. It's balanced with cocoa notes and nice warmth, it's a great stout. A bit expensive, but not disappointing.

I might even try to go back someday. There are a number of other great breweries in the area, and Hunahpu's day falls at the end of craft beer week, and about two weeks before it gets way too hot. So it's not a bad time to be in Florida.

I wrote this one a while back. I am not sure why I never got around to posting it.

Each year Terrapin releases their spin on a fancy Wake n' Bake. Their breakfast beer taken to the next level. This year it poured with a minimal head, minmal nose, till it warmed. Tart Cherry, coffee, pretty much what is was promoted to be.

The first time I tried the one off incanation of Wake n' Bake it was the Cinnamon Roll'd Wake n' Bake. I loved the subltly of it. It was not over the top, just a perfect cinnmanon roll. The next year they did the French Toasted, good but not as good as the Cinnmon Roll'd. I don't even remember what they did last year. Tart Cherry is good, but nothing to get overly worked up about. That said, I love wake n' bake, the Jitty Joe's Coffee addition is pretty amazing and really does make for a great breakfast stout. 

In the end the Jittery Joe's Coffee is the ticket. I had a homebrew from a friend who cloned WnB using the same coffee and it was just as good. So on one hand yeah it's amazing I love it, but on the other hand the ale is not super special, the coffee is.

Mmm... BA Bible Belt pours very dark with minimal head. It's aroma is very complex right off the bat. Spicy, earthy, honestly pretty unique. Flavor profile-wise this is clearly a Prairie ale. It does not fall far from the Bomb, Christmas Bomb tree. It has a nice lingering bourbon character, a nice malty sweetness almost like a lactose sugar. It has a bit of a dusty rotten wood thickness in the aroma that carries through into the palate. Aside from fruit additions, this might be one of the coolest most unique flavored stouts I have ever had. While not quite as big as a Bourbon County, the bourbon is still very prominent. This is like the opposite side the of the spectrum from something like BA Old Rasputin, that while very good has a flatter flavor profile. This is not a simple ale.

If I understand it, the base beer is Evil Twin, with the basic spice profile from Bomb. I keep going back to cork. Remeber that dark cork everyone bought and put on their walls back in the 80's. That is sort of the arouma of this stuff. I could see how someone might not like, I love it. It's unqiue.

I recently visited Total Wine in Daytona. It's the only store in Florida I have found to carry a pretty decent selection of brews. Savannah has a number of great breweries making some great products. But for your barrel aged stuff you pretty much have to venture out of town. I was able to pick up some Cigar City Marshal Zhukov Vanilla Hazelnut and a few other pretty decent ales. One of which was Funky Buddha - Maple Bacon Coffee Porter which seems to garner some popularity.

It poured with a very yummy coffee aroma, not unlike chocolate covered coffee beans. It poured very dark, with a minimal head. Medium bodied, I thought it might have a tannin bite like some lighter porters, but it didn't. Overall I thought it was very good. Not excessively thick like most barrel aged stouts and porters, but very good. At 6.4% the bomber does not put you over the edge, and overall the flavor profile changes little as it warms.

While I was at it - I fixed my website. The backend was getting a bit old, the search engine had ceased functioning, and it was time for an update.