Cigar City Jai Alai

I'm actually pretty surprised I've never written about this beer. Jai Alai is Cigar City's flagship IPA and is massively popular in Florida. We used to see a lot of it here in Philly but their popularity down South has grown exponentially so there has been a pretty long drought of Cigar City beer up here. It's a shame since they make good stuff, but maybe we're close to the end of that problem since we're seeing stuff in Philly again.

Lots of orange juice and citrus flavor in the nose with a little sugary sweetness. Body was similar in that it was basically bitter orange juice with a little caramel sweetness in the back. Enjoyable ipa with a slightly thicker than average body. Definitely makes sense why this would be their top seller in this age of hoppy beer. Always a good choice if you are looking for something not too strong that tastes great.

Cigar City Marshall Zhukov

Even with working from home now, I'm still continuing my weekly trips to Kite & Key disregarding the month I just missed because it was unrelated to that. This time I was excited to see that Marshall Zhukov, an imperial stout, was still available. It was put on for the Superbowl but considering it's strength, no surprise it was still here. In fact, I went yesterday and it's still available, so go now since it was tasty.

Big nose. Very strong smelling. Chocolate, molasses, and sweet sugar along with a little nuttiness. Lots of chocolate sweetness started things off with a little brown sugar and a lot of molasses. Strong tasting too. Definitely a bit sweet but pretty great in the small amount I ordered. Apparently the word treacle (a blend of molasses, invert sugar, and corn syrup used as syrup) would fit really well here. I'll admit I only know it because I just read it in a BeerAdvocate review. So, yeah, tasted like that a bit too. Regardless, go to Kite & Key and get a pour of it while it's still on if you like sweeter imperial stouts. Well worth your time. They might still have Bell's Hopslam on from yesterday too. Win win.

And yes I still have my return to Tired Hands and some other stuff to write about. I'm lazy, so sue me. If you didn't know, though, Tired Hands is having another bottle release on Sunday. Happily I'm in the believer's club so don't have to worry about lining up just yet. Hurray!

Philly Beer Week Day 1: Devil's Den

We decided to start off the this year's Philly Beer Week the same way we started off last year's by going to Devil's Den for the Bella Vista Beer Bash. It was so awesome last year that I figured it was a good choice for this one. I got there plenty early this year to ensure I got a seat and got one right on the side of the bar. By about 6:30, the place was pretty jam packed so it was a good thing I got there when I did. Here's what it looked like then.

Okay well that doesn't actually show the crowd real well but it was busy, I swear.

Wednesday Beer Share

Once again I took the PATCO out to the wilds of NJ (okay it was only Collingswood but going to NJ is scary) to share some beer with my buddy Craig. He had just spent some time in Florida visiting Cigar City to buy some Hunahpu's, their crazy imperial stout, and I picked up a Midnight Sun Arctic Devil, a barrel aged barleywine, when in San Francisco.

We decided to start with the Cigar City Hunahpu's. This is aged on cacao nibs, ancho and pasilla chili peppers, cinnamon, and madagascar vanilla beans. As I said, pretty crazy.

A Small Bottle Share

I had some friends over this weekend and and they brought a couple of bottles over to share. We started with one of my bottles, a Captain Lawrence Smoke from the Oak. This one was an Imperial Smoked Porter that was aged in wine barrels.

Very smoky aroma with a slight hint of red wine. On my first sip, the major flavor was smoke. Not harsh, more pleasant campfire. The wine part of it though sort of came and went and was sort of interesting. Not bad, just interesting. The major issue is the barrel flavors and the smoke flavors didn't blend well. Luckily, they didn't clash either but without the blending the beer just doesn't come together. Also, even with the smoke not being overwhelming, I'm not sure how a big glass of it would have gone down. I have bottles of rum barrel and apple brandy barrel and hope their flavors blend a bit better and cause the smoke to relax some.

Bella Vista takes over Devil's Den

Ahh, Philly Beer Week finally begins. I put up my schedule the other day and so far I've kept to it pretty well. While this post is going to concentrate on the Devil's Den event, my first beer of beer week was actually at the Kite & Key. It was the Troegs Scratch 42, Razzmadizzle, a chocolate raspberry dubbel as far as I know.

IPA Block Party outside Hawthornes Cafe

This past Saturday, Hawthornes Cafe held their second annual IPA Block Party.  They claimed they had 24 different IPAs on draft and I had no reason to doubt them.  They were also supposed to have something special from Dark Horse, but unfortunately that never made it.  However, I was still able to try a bunch of different IPAs I've never had before and finally got to meet the owners of PhillyTapFinder so it was a pretty great day.

Beer Tasting 2

I held another get together for a few people this past Friday.  This is the second time I've done this with the first in October.  They each brought a couple bottles of beer they wanted to try and I supplied some pizza and banana brownies.  Some bought based on the labels (one bought his bottles because there were dogs on the label) and others (me) bought because there were some beers they wanted to try but never get around to picking up.  Either way, we ended up with another fun lineup.

From left to right, we have: Why I Oughta IPA (Pete G's Double Black IPA), Ballast Point Victory at Sea, Troegs Flying Mouflan, Uintas Labyrinth, Terrapin Big Daddy Vlady's, and Cigar City Bolita.

Visit to Hulmeville Inn

I had a free afternoon and hadn't seen my friend in a while so we decided to meet up at the Hulmeville Inn.  Great beer, decent food, and an awesome owner, what's not to like?  I was excited to try a couple of the things on draft (the owner, Jeff, lists all of their current drafts on the website and I check it entirely too often) plus my friend let me know that they had some new Cigar City stuff in bottles.

The main thing I wanted to try was the Dark Horse One Oatmeal Stout as I loved the Plead the Fifth and wanted to try another of their stouts.  This was the dead man walking, the oldest keg on draft, so it was also heavily discounted (although Hulmeville's prices are ridiculously low anyway.)

It had a mild roasted aroma but not much else.  No strong oatmeal smell on this one.  First sip had a little oatmeal, some malt and a small finish of alcohol bitterness.  As I worked through it, the oatmeal started to dominate the other flavors which was pleasant.  Good stout, but nothing compared to the Plead the Fifth.

After that, we were offered a small taste of Sam Adams Utopias which pretends to be an American Strong Ale.  Really it's a liquor aged for a number of years in all sorts of different barrels and ends up at a whopping 27%.

Considering its ABV, it wasn't surprising that it smelled and tasted like a liqueur.  I thought it was sweet and syrupy and tasted a little like some bourbon stouts taste.  I'm incredibly glad to have been able to try it since it's expensive ($175 a bottle) but seeing as how I'm not a big liqueur fan, I don't know if I'd get it again.

After that, my friend and I ordered bottles of Cigar City Either and Or so we could check them out side by side.

While they are both Black IPAs and made with similar recipes, the differences shine through quite clearly.  The two beers are a result of a collaboration between Cigar City and two breweries; Hill Farmstead, located in Vermont, and Grassroots, located in Denmark.  You can read all about the specifics here but the gist (as far as I could tell) is that Either is Cigar City's version and Or is the collaboration of the other two breweries.

The Either smelled delicious.  Hints of alcohol, some hops but not too much, and some malt. Flavor was very smooth with some hops but no bitterness to it.  I thought it tasted similar to Jack & Ken's, Sierra Nevada's 30th Anniversary Black Barleywine which I talked about in this post.  On the opposite side of the coin, the Or smelled much, much hoppier without the delicious malt smell from the Either.  First sip just punches you with hops and bitterness and it never relents.  I called Hop'solutely a Hopwine in the previous post and Or is in exactly the same category except I guess it would be a Dark Hopwine.  It wasn't bad, but compared to the Either, I didn't feel it competed.  Of course my friend who likes IPAs more than me enjoyed the Or a lot more than the Either.  So, if you like hops a lot, drink the Or.  If you like maltier beers with some warming alcohol, get the Either.  You win either way but you win more if you choose wisely.

Then, the owner Jeff happened to be drinking a bottle of Jubel 2010.  Notice in my "beer cellar" list I currently have a bottle of that on my shelf.  I was curious where he picked it up and while chatting he offered me and my friend a sample of it since they weren't going to finish the bottle and because he's awesome.

It poured a dark brown color with minimal head, but the bottle had been opened for a bit so the carbonation may have been higher in the beginning.  It tasted of caramel, toffee, and some spices.  Super delicious and now I cannot wait to open my bottle.

Finished up with a glass of Boaks Wooden Beanie, a Dubbel aged in oak.  Actually, forgot to get a picture of this, but think of a glass filled with a brown liquid and very little head.  Smell was very Belgian, bananas and sugar.  Taste followed with some caramel, bananas, and sort of a biscuit flavor.  I also got some apple as I drank more.  Good dubbel and I'd order it again.  Plus Boaks is in Pompton Lakes, NJ near where I grew up.

Once again, a great trip to the Hulmeville Inn.  Everyone is always really nice there and Jeff, the owner, is always willing to chat with me which is awesome.  His beer knowledge is really thorough and it shines through in the draft lists at the Inn.  Plus, the prices there are always the lowest in the area.  The bottles of Either and Or were only $8, the same as my friend found them in Florida.  Just crazy good.  So, if you're in the area, definitely stop in for a drink.

Sly Fox Gold Rush and Cigar City Maduro

This will be a double beer post since I'm a little backed up with notes right now.  Need to get these two down as I have some super exciting events coming up this weekend.  Really cool stuff, but first two normal beer posts.

To start with, Sly Fox Gold Rush Lager, a Steam Beer.

Obviously, we picked up a growler of it when we visited the brewery over the weekend which means it was a beer that Jo liked.  For those that like beer but not the crazy stuff, this would be a good choice.  It smelled malty and sweet like a lager as expected.  Some sweetness, some maltiness, no bitterness at all in the flavors.  Very well balanced beer, quite enjoyable and easy to drink.  Great choice for relaxing in the afternoon.

Later in the week, I opened a bottle of Cigar City Maduro Brown, an American Brown Ale.

Cigar City is a brewery out of Tampa, Florida.  It makes some awesome beers, but right now only a few are available in Philly although I'm sure Bella Vista is working hard to get more here.  Getting back to the Maduro, I'll warn you now I'm going to use the word roasted quite a lot in this post.  I'd try to avoid it, but I have 3 lines of notes and used it 3 times so I'm sort of screwed.  I could consult a thesaurus but it's a blog not a novel so deal with my repetitiveness.  The smell was roasty but not too strong.  Flavor had a little sweetness, but once again the roasted malts came to the forefront and left their mark.  Aftertaste was also, surprise surprise, quite roasty.  There wasn't any bitterness in it and I thought it was closer to a porter than anything, but regardless I enjoyed it quite a lot.  So there we go.  I used roasted three times in three sentences.  Go out and try the beer and let me know if I'm wrong.

So yeah that's my current backlog (sort of.  I drank a Coronado Islander IPA today and it was good but I'm not going to post about it any more than this.)  Look for some cool stuff from the coming weekend although I know everyone will just read it Monday morning when they get to work.  And, sorry Jeff, they are probably going to be long posts.