Cigar City Market Launch Party

Last week's Stone Cask Night turned out to be a total bust, stood in line outside for over 20 minutes waiting on people to leave; no more free glasses, no more cask ale...you can see why we split.

Last night, however, was a completely different story. Cigar City Brewing Market Launch Party at Proof and it was Marvelous. 13 of proof's taps were taken over by Cigar City, some ales in which were made especially for the event, or of a small batch that just may never be brewed again. The menu included:

Bolita Brown: 8% ABV Maduro Brown Ale
Caramel Mate Maduro: 5.5% ABV English Brown Ale
Guava Passion Sour: 8% ABV Sour Ale
Improvisacion: 9% ABV Oatmeal Rye Maduro Brown Ale
Jai Alai IPA: 7.5% ABV American IPA
Jai Alai Humidor: 7.5% ABV Cedar Aged Jai Alai IPA
Maduro Brown Ale: 5.5% ABV Oatmeal English Brown Ale
Or: 11.2% ABV Black IPA- Collaboration between Cigar City, Hill Farmstead Brewery of Vermont and Grassroots Brewing of Denmark.
Sound of Big Chocolate Wood: 8.5% ABV Barrel Aged Big Sound Scotch Ale
Spicy Plum Sour: 8% ABV Saison/farmhouse Ale
Tocabago: 7.4% ABV Red Ale
Twig & Berries: 7.5% ABV Juniper Aged Jai Alai IPA
Jose Marti: 8% ABV American Porter

and

Christmas Improvisacion Cask: 9% ABV Holiday Spiced Oatmeal Rye Maduro Brown Ale

My favorite was the Twig and Berries Jai Alai IPA...it's like my two favoritest things in the whole wide world mixed together, gin and an IPA, Ha!

I had a chance to shortly chat with Cigar City teamster Justin Clark about the brewery. I asked him about some of the special brews and whether or not we'd see them in the market soon and his simple answer was this: "We think of ourselves as the corner bistro. We don't want to be anything other than a Micro Brewery, and so, whatever we come up with for the evening, that's what we make. Will it make it back on the menu? Who knows, but most likely not."

Thanks for good time guys, loved the brews, loved the event and hope to see more of you all over the country.

Brewfest and Proof Tonight

I have no idea why it's taken me this long to finally sit down and write about Brewfest. Tickets were a wonderful belated birthday gift from my old roommate Matt, and we had a blast. I wish I had made an effort to get this written before with it fresh in my mind, but the subsequent week and a half since then was busy. Or at least, that's going to be my excuse. And because the event, for the most part, is shrouded in a vial of boozery, I'm going to simply make a few shout outs to those who made it a great experience.

Thanks to the Blue Point Brewery for remembering me, chattin' it up with me, boozin' me out, and just being genuiene bad ass dudes.



And Tom Moench, owner of Orange Blossom Pilsner, Thanks again for taking the time to speak with me and also thanks for giving the Tallahassee population at large the chance to try the Toasted Coconut Porter. I'm a girl that can live her life without a porter in it, and that beer changed my mind.



And now, a slide show of the event.

TONIGHT AT PROOF

STONE BREWING CASK ALE NIGHT, VERTICAL EPIC, DOUBLE BASTARD LAUNCH & GLASSWARE GIVEAWAY! Everything starts at 8, guys, hope to see you there.