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    Cigar City Week in South Florida

    August 23, 2011
    / Beer Events /
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    Let’s face it, you love Cigar City.  Who in Florida doesn’t really?  Tampa’s pride and joy of the craft beer community will be hosting 6 events in 3 days down here.  And coming with them are a number of interesting and rare kegs of CCB deliciousness.  Here is what to expect.

    August 23, Tap Takeover @ Laser Wolf
    901 Progresso Dr. ste. #101
    Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304

    Enjoy nine Cigar City drafts, including
    Jai Alai IPA
    Maduro Brown
    Peach IPA
    Vanilla Maduro
    The Hills have Coffee
    Guava Grove
    Florida Cracker White Ale
    Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
    White Oak Aged Jai Alai

    Starts at 8 pm

    August 23, Unsual Wood Aged Beers @ BX Beer Depot
    2964 Second Ave.
    Lake Worth, FL 33461

    Justin Clark of Cigar City Brewing will be giving a presentation on aging quality beer on different kinds of wood at BX Beer Depot. During the presentation, BX will be offering a ridiculous selection of Cigar City ales aged on wood, including:
    White Oak Jai Alai IPA
    White Oak-aged Florida Cracker
    Humidor IPA
    Heavy Toast Oak IPA
    Soft Maple Brown Ale
    Hickory IPA
    Humidor Zhukov’s

    Starts at 6 pm, cost is $5 and includes lecture and samples. Beers will be available by the glass after 7 p.m.

    August 24, Cigar City Beer Dinner @ Sustain
    3252 NE First Ave. ste. #107
    Miami, FL 33137

    It’s a night of outstanding pairings as Sustain Miami teams up with Cigar City Brewing for a six-course pairing dinner. Both the beer and the menu look outrageous:

    First course: homemade corndogs
    paired with Jai Alai IPA

    Second course: Taylor Bay scallops
    with preserved lemon, mustard oil, and cucumber
    paired with Cucumber Saison (draft)

    Third course: chille-rubbed quail
    with fava bean, mint, and horseradish
    paired with Tocobaga Red Ale (draft)

    Fourth course: braised pork shank
    with sweet-and-sour cabbage and corn bread
    paired with Maduro Brown Ale

    Cheese course: beer-washed cheese with guava marmalade
    paired with Guava Groove Saison

    Dessert: homemade truffles
    paired with Cubano Espresso (draft)

    Seats cost $50, plus tax and gratuity. To make a reservation, call 305-424-9079, or write to info@sustainmiami.com. Reception starts at 5:30 pm and dinner starts at 6.

    August 24, Tap Takeover @ Cervezas
    5835 Sunset Dr.
    Miami, FL 33143

    More CCB brews on tap including:
    Jai Alai IPA
    Maduro Brown
    Peach IPA
    Humidor IPA
    Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
    Puppy’s Breath Porter
    Florida Cracker White Ale
    Minarett ESB
    Misseur Zhukov’s Biere De Stout
    Big Dummy
    Carmel Graham Cracker Brown Ale
    Jose Marti

    The kegs get tapped at 8 pm. sharp!

    August 25, Tap Takeover @ World of Beer
    4437 Lyons Rd.
    Coconut Creek, FL 33073

    Cigar City Week continues with a massive tap takeover at WoB Coconut Creek with the following:
    Jai Alai IPA
    Maduro Brown
    Peach IPA
    Humidor IPA
    Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
    Puppy’s Breath Porter
    Tocobaga Red Ale
    Florida Cracker White Ale
    Minaret ESB
    Table Saison
    Vanilla Maduro
    Cubano Espresso
    Hot Blooded Foriegn Stout

    Starts at 5 pm

    August 25, Tap Takeover @ Funky Buddha
    2621 N. Federal Hwy.
    Boca Raton, FL 33431

    Cigar City and Funky Buddha share the taps as CCB brings:
    Barrel Aged Sea Bass
    Vuja De
    Dirac
    Hot Blooded Foreign Stout
    Cucumber Saison
    and may a special surprise

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    Narragansett Porter

    August 22, 2011
    / Beer Review /
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    Name – Narragansett Porter
    Country – United States
    Type – American Porter

    Another weekend down.  This weekend I had some friends over for a BBQ and sour beer tasting.  I’ve been collecting up a number of good sour beers for this specific reason.  Although a few friends couldn’t make it we had a good time and sampled some pretty awesome beers.

    My friend Blake brought over a number of non sours, to break things up you know?  He left them over so I felt I had to open up one for my Sunday.  Sure enough one caught my eye that I’ve wanted to try for a little bit now.

    I’ve become a fan of the straight forward Narragansett Lager over the past few months for it’s light body but full flavor.  It’s price point is pretty sweet too.  But when I heard we would be getting their porter I was very much looking forward to it.  I needed a new sessionable porter ever since the local Anchor distributor decided to no longer carry Anchor Porter down here.  But I had never gotten around to picking up the ‘Gansett one.  Luckily Blake brought one by, it wasn’t drunk and I was happy to find it a good home.

    I popped the tall boy can open and poured it into my pint glass.  It arrives a mostly black color with some brown hues in there.  A big, thick light brown head sits on top and leaves a lot of lacing on the glass.

    The nose is faint but you can pick up roasted malts and hints of caramel.

    The taste starts off with a surprising hop bite then goes to the roasted malts.  Some hints of cocoa, caramel and vanilla in there too.  Then it finishes with another hit of the hop bitterness.  Medium in body.

    Was caught a bit off guard by the hoppy character in there.  I wasn’t expecting it at all.  But it wasn’t a bad thing.  Add a nice layer of something extra to the beer.

    Overall I really enjoyed the beer.  I was sad I only had one can.  I think I may have found my replacement for Anchor Porter in the meantime.  It had a lot of flavor to it but wasn’t very big in body.  So that made it quite sessionable.

    Grade – B-

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    Life and Limb 2

    August 19, 2011
    / Beer News /
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    Name – Life & Limb 2
    Country – United States
    Type – American Strong Ale

    A couple years ago two big name craft breweries got together to make a collaboration that sent a buzz all over the community.  To make a long story short those breweries were Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head.  The beer was Life & Limb.  I don’t know about the rest of the country but South Florida got a very small amount of these bottles.  So small in fact that I never saw a single bottle on a shelf.  Yup they were gone before I even had a chance to look.

    But go back a couple months ago and the breweries announced that they were going to do it again.  Life & Limb 2, but this time in a bigger batch and in corked and caged 750 ml bottles.  Well to be honest I completely forgot about this beer coming out again until I was on a day trip a bit north with Casey and at the Total Wine in Stuart I spotted bottles of this.  Knowing that we didn’t have it down south yet I grabbed a bottle.  Also not taking a risk that we didn’t get a whole lot and again I would be left out.

    So I popped the cork on this and poured it into my Dogfish Head snifter.  It pours a very dark brown color.  From distance it looks black but getting right up and looking at it you can see it’s brown.  There are a few red highlights along the edge of the glass and it’s topped off by a big full beige head.

    The nose is sweet smelling with hints of maple syrup, cocoa, caramel and brown sugar.  You get some spices in there as well but they are definitely in the back.

    The taste is again pretty sweet with the same tastes as mentioned in the nose.  The alcohol can be picked up with a warming feeling.  It becomes even more intense as the beer warms up.

    After not having the first edition and then being disappointed by the barrel aged version I had a GABF last year I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this.  It has a lot of qualities of a brown ale that is kicked up a few notches.  Maybe not all the way to 11 but probably a 9 at least.  I sat and sipped on this one for a couple hours and thoroughly enjoyed it.

    I’m glad I got a chance to get a hold of one of these bottles this time around.  If you missed it before or you had it before and liked it be sure to head out and grab a bottle.  They even recommend you can lay this down for a few years if you so please.

    Grade – B+

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