Sweetwater Cigar City Tap Take Over

How sexy are those handles?

Tonight at Sweetwater Bar & Grill in Boynton Beach, Cigar City is taking over all 6 draft lines with the following beers;

• Cucumber Saison
• Humidor Imperial Stout
• Oatmeal Cookie Raisin
• Sugar Plum Brown Ale
• Maduro
• Hotter than Helles
• Peach IPA
• Hot Blooded Foreign Stout

That is 8 beers though?! Yep, the amount of beer is pretty limited that will be tapped tonight starting at 7pm so there are two backup kegs ready to come in and save the day!

The address is; 1507 S Federal Hwy Boynton Beach FL 33435

See yah at 7 pm!

Today is the Day: Cigar City vs City of Tampa

Well that's right today is the day that Joey and his crew go in front of the city for approval to keep the doors of the tasting room open.

The hearing is open to the public so head down if you can.

Date: Thursday December 2nd
Time: 10:30 AM
Location: 315 East Kennedy Boulevard (Downtown)
City Hall, 3rd Floor
Tampa, FL 33602

If you can't then you can always watch it online by clicking here: Watch CCB vs Tampa

I am staying optimistic about this all considering the voice that has been made in Tampa by all of the beer lovers around the United States! Thanks for your support in the matter!

Well with fingers crossed and a bottle of Jai Alai in my back pocket I will wait and listen for the final result.

GOOD LUCK CCB!

Cigar City Sea Bass

Sea Bass
Cigar City Brewing Company
Tampa, FL
ABV ?
Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale

C: Slightly Cloudy
H: Dark Brown/Amber
N: Tart Cherry, Dark Fruits (Figs/Plums)

The Ferm: Can't miss a collaboration ale with two of my favorite Florida Breweries. Sea Bass is a crazy collaboration with St. Somewhere and Cigar City. Ohh Yeah...a sour/funky combo.
This beer was labeled as a "dark-bodied farmhouse", I would say that is spot on when it comes to the appearance of the beer as well as the flavor profile. I personally got a ton of sour from this beer, hints of dark malt, and acetic cherry. The Sourness of the beer really comes out once it warms up.
After first trying this beer I decided I would age one for at least a year to see what it does. I plan to "reboot" this review later and update anything that changed.
Damn Good Beer that is just plan different from anything on the shelf right now. Great job by two very good breweries!

Score: 4.48

Sign the Cigar City Online Petition

So a lot of people have been writing me on here and on facebook asking how they can help Cigar City save the tasting room besides calling, emailing, and writing the City Council of Tampa.

Well now you can sign the Online Petition to Save the Tasting Room.

Simply Click: Save the Tasting Room

Let's show the City Council of Tampa Bay how large of a community we are!

BTW, our support for the brewery is not going un-noticed. Several of the City Council Members have removed direct links to their email from the website, as well as having people screen their phone calls. This means we are getting to them! Keep it up! You can follow the progress through #SAVECCB on Twitter as well as following daily updates from local #FlaBrew Members on Facebook and Twitter!

Also the brewery is taking notice. Below is part of a thank you letter from Joey Redner of Cigar City which was posted on the CCB Blog:

First of all, we are speechless at the amount of support we have received in the last 24 hours for our Tasting Room that now hangs in the balance of the Tampa City Council's decision to let us continue operating. Your continued support is what is going to keep our doors open; so please keep the phone calls, letters, and emails flowing!

Please help out and sign the petition.  We do not want to lose this brewery or our right to enjoy their beers in the tasting room!

Cigar City Jose Marti India Porter

Jose Marti India Porter
Cigar City Brewing
Tampa, FL
ABV 8.00%
Style: Porter

C: Clear
H: Brown
N: Sweet Coffee, Dark Malts...Roasted Chocolate (faint)

KirkDiggler:
A: Poured dark brown with a thin light tan head w/ quick dissipation.
A: Roasted and dark malts, medium coffee aroma, no hop aromatics.
F: Roasted cubano coffee flavor from start to finish with some residual malt sweetness and backing. This is a breakfast beer for sure. I didn't get any hop bitterness. The coffee was the dominating flavor to me.
M: Medium body and mouthfeel w/ light carbonation, no warmth. No creaminess.
O: I enjoyed this beer. Well brewed with no major defects. I would have liked some more smoothness / carbonation. I would pair this beer with my morning eggs and bacon.
Score 3.85

The Ferm: Jose Marti was another treat brought from the Cigar City Brewery from KirkDiggler to share.....this is one of the newer porters that Cigar City has released in the past few months. As of now it is the only one to make it to bottle. The beer had a nice strong coffee presence. There is a hint of vanilla in the taste of the beer. While there is a bit of hop bitterness, it doesnt bother me at all. Pretty solid Porter from a 12oz bottle.
Score: 4.012

Overall: 3.931

Cigar City Jai Alai White Oak

Jai Alai White Oak
Cigar City Brewing
Tampa, FL
7.5% ABV
Style: IPA

C: Cloudy
H: Golden Amber
N: Pine Needles, Sweet Oak, Hints of Citrus, Dill

KirkDiggler;
A: Poured golden amber with a thin off white head w/ no persistance / lacing.
A: Fruity maple sweetness with piney and sweet oak aromatics. The wood really stands out and is really complimentary with the piney hops. Imagine an oak tree, a maple tree, and a hop plant got busy one night...this is their offspring in regards to aroma.
F: Piney hops and oak stands out all the way through. The malts are sweet (maple, caramel) and give great body. The finish is lightly bitter with hints of remnant oak.
M: Medium across the board (Mouthfeel, body, and carbonation), no alcohol warmth.
O: One of the more complex and enjoyable noses of an IPA I've ever had. The taste is equally enjoyable. My only issue with this one is appearance and mouthfeel. I like my IPA's to have a creamy kick and some nice head retention. Other than that this smells and tastes great. Hopheads will enjoy a change of pace with this beer.
Score 4.20

Phil: Had this beer before at the Double Barrel Aged Zhukov release, but I did not get a real good try of it. I expected something similar to the Humidor Jai Alai, which is aged on Spanish Cedar. The nose of the beer was dominated by piney and oak notes that carried over to the taste of the beer. One thing that was just a bit off was a hint of dill that showed up in the nose, once it was pin-pointed it kept re-appearing in the taste as well. While I felt it was an odd flavor, it worked really well. Better than Humidor IPA????? NOPE, but still a very good beer.
Score: 4.21

Overall: 4.205

PS HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE CERVEZA CHICA! 2 YEARS OF PUTTING UP WITH ME! LOVE YOU BABE!

Cigar City - Vanilla Aged Maduro Oatmeal Brown

Cigar City Vanilla Aged Maduro Oatmeal Brown
Cigar City Brewing Company
Tampa, FL.
5.50% ABV

C. Clear
H. Dark Brown with Red Highlights
N. Hints of Tootsie Rolls, Carmel, Milk Chocolate

El Guapo; Thanks to "The Ferm" for bringing a growler of this down from the Hunahpu release party. Wish I could have been there... I was too busy in California drinking over-hyped beers *cough* Pliny *cough*. So this beer had a pretty weak nose with Tootsie Rollish notes. The vanilla hit hard the first sip then died down a bit as I kept drinking... then came back as it warmed up. A vanilla roller coaster if you will... Not that I have ever ridden one. Nothing too crazy great about this beer. Just Maduro with a lot of vanilla. Some chocolate/caramel notes as well and again that Tootsie Roll thing coming through in the taste. I liked it but wouldn't want to drink more than one at a time. I think the vanilla would get obnoxious after a while. Anyways I love how CCB experiments with their beers and ages them on a bunch of different crap.
Score: 3.45678910

The Ferm; If Cigar City was to make a beer of theirs into a syrup for pancakes (I love pancakes btw), I think this would be a prime selection. The beer is sort-a sweet but not over-powering, has a very strong artificial vanilla flavor to it, and a hint of weak coffee. The aftertaste is almost maple syrup-y. Very interesting beer. Sadly, this is probably my least favor Cigar City Beer, but it is still very good. Just like all of their beers it is easy to drink and enjoy more than one. Good but not Great Beer!
Score: 3.42

Overall: 3.43839455

**Keep in mind that the scoring is done completely separately, we were pretty close on this one.**