Mike Loves Beer -

Bolita Brown Double Nut Brown Ale

January 19, 2011

Name – Bolita Brown Double Nut Brown Ale
Country – United States
Type – English Brown Ale

Let me take you back a tad over a year ago. I was in Orlando visiting a friend and stopped into Knightly Spirits to get some beer. People were telling me this is the place to go for beer in Orlando. They weren’t kidding. But anyway I was searching for Cigar City stuff. We in South Florida had not yet gotten them down here so I wanted whatever I could get. They only had two things from them and they were Marshal Zhukov’s Imperial Stout and this one, Bolita Brown.

A couple days after coming home with my haul I read Cigar City’s blog to find out that Bolita had gotten infected. They were accepting bottles to be returned to the brewery for credit and they would then take all the infected bottles and make a sour out of it.

I could not just make the drive to Tampa to return the bottle so I held onto it as they said some might find the sour taste enjoyable but it was not what Bolita was meant to be. So I held onto it and eventually opened it up at our first meeting of the minds (or livers as I said) early in 2010 where we shared beers and talked improving the beer community in South Florida. A number of us really enjoyed it but we had no idea what the beer was suppose to taste like as Bolita Brown.

Well fast forward to the present and the new batch of Bolita is on the shelves now. So I picked up a bottle for this very special week of all Cigar City reviews. So will I like the real version as much as the infected one?

Popping the cap off of the 750 ml bottle and it pours a dark brown color into my snifter. There are some dark red highlights along the edges of the glass as well. The head is a nice tan color that looks creamy in consistency.

The nose has a good amount of malty character to it. Lots of caramel and brown sugar come across along with some cherries and nuts.

The taste is much of the same with some very pleasant vanilla and chocolate notes in there to match up with the malty profile. The body is creamy and bigger than I thought it would be.

This is actually a pretty damn good beer. I really enjoyed sipping on it during the evening.

Now was it as good or better than the infected version? To me? No, but I’m a bit of a sour head so that was quite a treat. But that is not to take away from this beer as what it is suppose to be. It is a big English brown ale. Lots of malt, brown sugar and nuts in it. Very good in itself.

I would like to add that while in Sarasota over the past weekend Phil from Dos Beerigos and United We Drink fame picked up a bottle of last year’s Bolita from Cock n Bull Pub. It had the old label on it and had a strange light blue wax top on it. So we are hoping this is a remaining infected bottle.

So if you enjoy big, bold brown ales I say go out and get this one. Then crack it open and share with a friend.

Grade – B+

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Brown Ale

January 18, 2011

/ Beer Review /

10 Comments

Name – Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Brown Ale
Country – United States
Type – American Brown Ale

Cheating is frowned upon in almost every aspect that it can occur. Athletes on steroids, big no no. Being unfaithful to your significant other, way bad. Having a nice big piece of chocolate cake while on a diet, probably not as bad as the previous two examples but in many minds it’s still bad.

Well I think I have found one instance where I cheated and it’s okay. Hear me out first before clicking back or the X in the corner. You see I have had the beer I am about to review numerous times in the past. But it has always been off tap that I have enjoyed it.

Cigar City now makes their Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Brown Ale in bottles. And I for one think this was a great idea. Ever since the first time tasting it at last years Jupiter Craft Brewer’s Festival I said this needs to be in bottles. Well now it is. And now I have some bottles to enjoy in the comfort of my own home. So let’s see how it is.

The top is popped and I pour the brew into my Cigar City snifter. It lays in the glass a dark brown color with a sandy tan head. It looks a lot like a cola in the glass.

The smell is bursting with cinnamon and oats. This really reminds me of the draft version so far.

The moment the first sip hits my tongue I know what it is. Lots of mixing of raisins, cinnamon, oats and a little bit of vanilla.

The bottle is dead on to what I was hoping it would be. It tastes just like the last draft I had. And most importantly it tastes just like an oatmeal raisin cookie.

Many breweries make beers that have a certain food in the name and a lot of the times they fall short. But when a brewery can make a claim and call their beer something like Oatmeal Raisin Cookie and have it taste like that then they have done something magical.

Great job to the boys at Cigar City on this one. You hit the flavor profile dead on and made an amazing beer.

Grade – A

Jose Marti American Porter

January 17, 2011

/ Beer Review /

3 Comments

Name – Jose Marti American Porter
Country – United States
Type – American Porter

It is the start of the new week. This can be good or bad depending on the person. Many suffer from what is called a case of the “Mondays.” But where I come from you get your ass kicked for saying something like that.

But for me it should be a good week. Firstly I am back at Dos Beerigos site as the guest blogger this week. This will mark my third time teaming up on the blog with Phil to review brews.

Secondly I have decided to dedicate this week on my blog to a brewery that in it’s short time of existence has taken the craft beer world by storm and helped establish Florida as not just another state anymore. That brewery is none other than Cigar City Brewing. So each day this week you will get a review of a different Cigar City brew. And what do you know, I have one right here for you.

Jose Marti is an America Porter that CCB released last year. At the time it was unknown if it was going to be a seasonal, one time or regular brew. After it’s success across the state it appears to have gotten the nod as a semi regular brew. Pretty much they will brew it through out the year but not as regularly as the two main regulars (Jai Alai and Maduro).

A recent trip to Sarasota for a #FlaBrew meet up (I’m going to try to get an article on that up soon) took us also to the Sarasota branch of Total Wine and More. There I picked up a number of Cigar City brews that haven’t quit made it south yet. Jose Marti was one of those beers.

So I cracked off the cap and poured the pretty much all black beer into my Cigar City snifter. It made a good sized light brown head atop the brew.

The smell was a mix of coffee, vanilla, cocoa and roasted malts. The coffee scent is a bit more prominent than I like for my taste because well, I don’t like coffee. But we move on.

The taste is much of the same as the smell. You know by now I hate saying that because it translates so wonderfully to text when writing (end sarcasm). But it really is a big blend of the flavors that were present in the taste. The coffee taste has a bitterness to it though. It is kind of like a mix of bittersweet chocolate and coffee. The body is not that heavy at all and makes it pretty easy to drink.

So how was Jose Marti overall? Did I hate it because of the strong coffee qualities? No not at all. I actually didn’t even find them terribly strong. Yes there is a definite coffee smell and taste to it but it is not like a Terrapin Wake n Bake or Southern Tier Jahvah. The cocoa and vanilla flavors balance it out to make it drink easier.

So that makes one brew down and 4 more to go this week. Are you looking forward to all this Cigar City goodness? I sure am.

Grade – B+