Daily Loaf

Cigar City Brewing is relentless; they refuse to stop making ridiculously great beer. RateBeer recognizes their Hunaphus Imperial Stout as one of the world’s ten best Imperial Stouts, and Big Sound Scotch Ale ranks among the top ten of its style. Then there’s Bolita Double Nut Brown Ale, which ranks #1 in the brown ale category on RateBeer – it’s the best brown ale currently produced on the planet as judged by a massive group of very critical beer nerds. Yep, in our own backyard, folks. This is truly beer history in the making.

The side of Bolita bottles reads:

Bolita was a type of lottery popular with the working class citizens of the Ybor City district of Tampa. Bolita means, ‘little ball’ but profits from the illegal (and often rigged) game were anything but little. In the 1920’s Tampa native Charlie Wall was the undisputed kingpin of the Bolita racket.

Our Bolita is a Double Northern English-style brown ale that has a complex malt forward character with notes of chocolate, toffee and hints of roasted nuts in the finish. Bolita pairs well with Baklava, Big Band music, cool evenings and robust cigars.

Sounds great. Now check out this variation — Bourbon Barrel Bolita. It begins with Cigar City’s Bolita Double Nut Brown. After three weeks of fermentation, the brew is transferred to Maker’s Mark barrels. Three months later, it hits the bottling line, where each bottle is filled by hand and then individually numbered. Since this batch of Bourbon Bolita only yielded 221 bottles, it is a pricey beer, but it’s completely worth it. Read the rest of this entry »

Big Sound Scotch Ale, the latest seasonal release from Cigar City Brewing, can be purchased in 25 ounce bottles at Whole Foods, Leukens, Kingdom Liquors, World of Beer Clearwater, and several Total Wine locations. But get it soon; bottles are going fast, and once they’re gone, there’ll be no more until next year.

Luckily enough, I was able to persuade Wayne Wambles, the head brewer and man with the beer plan, to score a bottle that we could split. So we sat down at the Oldsmar Tap House and proceeded to geek the hell out on a really great beer. Read the rest of this entry »

Cigar City Brewing Launch Party
Oldsmar Tap House
Saturday, March 28. Starts at 2pm
I am really excited about this event, not only because I will be serving as a guest bartender for the day, but I will also be surrounded by a mountain of Cigar City’s brewed delights. I’ve sampled these joyous concoctions several times at trade shows and beer nerd events, but not a collection this extensive and drool-worthy.

As far as the beer lineup, 16 ounce pints of Maduro Oatmeal Brown Ale and Jai Alai IPA will be available all day. Limited edition beers will be tapped on a schedule until the keg or cask runs dry.

Schedule and more info after the break:

Read the rest of this entry »