Mike Loves Beer

Name – Sea Bass
Country – United States
Type – Saison

Here we are on Friday.  The end of a work week for many.  For me it is the end of a week of reviewing beers from Florida’s own Cigar City Brewing.  It was a fun week to say the least.  And to end things I brought out something pretty special.

Sea Bass is in Cigar City’s words a dark farmhouse ale.  I’m told by a number of people that this beer is what became of the infected Bolita Brown bottles that were returned to the brewery.  After having my bottle of the infected Bolita earlier this year I can only think of how great Sea Bass is going to be.

And contrary to many beliefs this is not a collaboration between Cigar City and St. Somewhere.  In fact Cigar City just simply uses St. Somewhere’s yeast strain.  The official collaboration between the two breweries will be out later in 2011.

So let’s see if Sea Bass kicks some ass.

I pour the 750 ml bottle into my trusty Cigar City snifter.  It comes out a murky reddish brown color.  There is a nice tan head sitting on top of the brew.

To be honest I started getting the smell as soon as I popped the top on it.  Lots of funky farmhouse smells to it with some sour cherry scents to go with it.

The first sip is a rush of funkiness.  You are hit with the tart cherry taste along with your just general funk (not to be confused with General Funk of course).  There is a slightly metallic taste I get in it as well but with a funk beer you are expecting off flavors.  It was no big deal.  It has a slightly dry finish as well that is similar to many farmhouse style brews.

Sea Bass is an incredible beer.  I can only hope that they make it again despite it supposedly coming from a mistake.

While bottles might be hard to find there are probably still some bars in central Florida that still have kegs of this.  A matter of fact the Cock n Bull in Sarasota had this on tap there.  So there you go.

Well I had a blast doing beers from a great brewery here in Florida for the week.  I know their name is catching on like wild fire around the craft beer community.  I just wanted to share with you all some of their masterful brews.

For those in Florida Cigar City is pretty much distributed throughout the entire state.  So check your local craft beer store for them and if they don’t have them ask them to order stuff from them.

CCB is also in the Philadelphia and New York City areas.  They are not in the entire states of Pennsylvania and New York but just those metropolitan areas.  My trips to Philly have found Cigar City beers in a number of locations.

I hear they are also very slowly getting into Georgia and the Carolinas so this young brewery is really starting to get out there to people.

And if you find yourself drinking a CCB beer just know that Florida is not a big beer wasteland any longer.

Grade - A

Name – Saison Du BUFF
Country – United States
Type – Saison

Collaborations are often talked about topics in craft beer and 2010 has had no shortage of them.  A lot of people are talking about all the collaborations that Sierra Nevada did this year for their 30th Anniversary but I think one in particular caught the community’s attention even more.

Three of the countries most on the rise breweries decided to get together and make a beer.  Not once, but three times.  Once at each brewer’s facilities.  Those brewers were Stone, Dogfish Head and Victory.  The result is today’s beer, Saison Du Buff.  And I will be having the first of the three versions, the one made at Stone’s brewery.

I poured the beer into my Bruery tulip glass.  Yes I could have used my Dogfish Head snifter but I just think saisons look so much nicer in a tulip.  It is a very cloudy golden straw yellow color.  There is big bubbly white head that is left and it does take a bit of time to subside.

The herbs and spices really come out in the nose.  I can pick up the rosemary definitely in there.  I get some citrus hints along with the yeast.

The taste is again pretty herbal and spicy but they are not in your face.  They all blend well with a citrus taste and makes it a very refreshing beer.  And as with most saisons you get a slight yeasty funk to it.  But you know it’s the good kind of funk.

All in all this is a pretty good beer from three awesome brewers.  I find it especially cool because none of them really have a saison in their normal lineups besides maybe Victory with Helios.  So they did a style that they don’t commonly work with.  And the challenge paid off.

I know we didn’t get this down here in South Florida despite having distribution for all three breweries.  Each version was limited.  I got mine in Colorado.  But if you can get your hands on one and enjoy your saisons then go ahead and get this.

Grade – B

Name – Guava Grove
Country – United States
Type – Saison

Appearance – Poured a pretty cloudy copper color.  There was a very thin white head that was gone very quickly no matter how vigorous I poured it.

Smell – You get tropical like fruit.  I’ve never eaten guava before so I’m not sure if it is that.  But I get some banana and some peaches in the smell.  There is a funky yeast smell to it that really compliments everything.

Taste – Peaches and funky followed by a slight tart sourness.  It has some dry qualities to it as well.

This is Cigar City’s take on a Florida styled Saison and I must say they did a great job.  It has enough to remind you of the style but then the tropical fruit like tastes and smells give it a unique aspect.  I was pleasantly surprised with the bit of sourness in there as well.  A welcomed addition to this beer.  Make we want to try the Jolly Guava version of this really bad.  For those who don’t know what it is, the Jolly Guava is Guava Grove aged on a Jolly Pumpkin barrel.  Sounds yummy right?

Overall Grade – A-