Cigar City Brewing – which has been in negotiations to begin distribution in South Carolina soon – is looking to build a separate brewery in addition to its Tampa base, and South Carolina is on the shortlist to host it, according to a new report.
Tag Archives: Florida
Cigar City SC expansion definite; Southeast rollout could happen by year’s end
Back in January, I reported that Cigar City was in negotiations with South Carolina distributors to begin shipping its product to the Palmetto State as part of a regional expansion throughout the Southeast. Well, it’s the middle of the year, and there’s no Jai Alai or Maduro Brown on South Carolina shelves yet, but the Tampa brewery is definitely on the verge of regional expansion, which is expected to begin by the end of the year.
Cigar City negotiating SC distribution
Tampa, Florida’s Cigar City Brewing is in talks to begin distribution in South Carolina by the middle of the year, multiple sources have confirmed.
While in the early stages of negotiations, the Florida brewery – best known for its creativity and constant flow of new and inventive beers – has been in talks with distributors throughout SC as well as retailers to begin hashing out a plan for expansion into the Palmetto State. Multiple distributors are reportedly heavily courting the brewery in the state’s major markets.
The brewery hopes to be available in South Carolina by this summer, although no official launch date has been set. Whenever they do arrive, expect supplies to be limited at first as they are in Georgia and Alabama, other states in the Southeast CCB distributes to.
CCB has been eyeing distribution in the Southeast and up the East Coast, but they’ve been hesitant to expand far outside of the Sunshine State. This is partially due to ensuring a quality product and partially due to keeping up with demand in the Florida market. The brewery’s output grew about 75% in 2013 to 30,000 barrels produced. That number is expected to increase to 50,000 barrels this year, buoyed by an army of 120 BBL fermenters the brewery purchased last year.
Cigar City Jai Alai
Cigar City Brewing
Tampa, FL
Jai Alai IPA
7.5% ABV
In addition to picking up packs of the I-10 and People’s Pale Ale during my recent trip down to the Sunshine State, one of the standbys I sought out – and really couldn’t leave without getting – was Cigar City‘s Jai Alai.
Named after the sport that I vaguely remember playing during gym in elementary school, as well as one that became the focus of an episode of Mad Men, Jai Ali is the oft-applauded year-round IPA the Tampa-based brewery produces. In addition to the standard IPA, a white oak-aged variation is produced, as is a cedar-aged variety.
The first time I tried Jai Alai, I came away a little underwhelmed. I blame it partially on the hype. But it’s hard to pass up the chance to try it again, and on second taste, it turned out to be much better than I remember.
Jai Alai pours a deep hazy orange with a sort of rust brown tint toward the middle. There’s an almost creamy look finger worth of head on top, although it does settle and dissipate pretty quickly. The lacing does fall off pretty quickly and leaves a kind of watery film along the edges of the glass. Good alcohol legs, though.
The nose is much better than I remember. There’s a big, wet juicy hop aroma of orange juice, grapefruit and pineapple. There’s definitely a bit of alcohol on the nose as well. The sweet malt backbone is definitely present as well. Overall, it’s just really rich, juicy and delicious.
The maltiness is the first thing that’s really present on the taste. There’s a very mild bite of hop bitterness on the front of the tongue and across the palate. It’s a sort of wet pine flavor. The hops do bite a little more on the end with a big tartness and a lot of grapefruit flavor. That sweeter malt character is there to temper the hop bite a bit, but it clings to the back of your tongue. The alcohol does have a bit of a punch on the finish as well, but it’s not boozy. Very well-balanced.
Second time was a charm with this one. Then again, it’s hard to pass on anything from Cigar City.
Intuition Ale Works People’s Pale Ale
Intuition Ale Works
Jacksonville, FL
People’s Pale Ale
5.3% ABV
In case you didn’t know – and if you didn’t, where the hell have you been? – Tuesday of last week was Election Day in the good ol’ U.S.A. Americans across the country lined up to exercise their civic right and cast their ballot, thus playing a roll in the democratic process.
But democracy doesn’t come easy, especially in South Carolina.
After waiting in line for nearly three hours, I was able to cast my vote and head home to relax before heading off to work to cover the election for the rest of the night. Before working until the early morning hours of Wednesday, I decided to enjoy a civic-themed pale ale from Intuition Ale Works.
Their People’s Pale Ale is the brewery’s flagship beer. Like their I-10 IPA, it’s inspired by pale ales from the West Coast. While it’s certainly hoppy, this pale ale leans a little more toward the malty side of the style, with great results.
The beer pours very dark for a pale ale. It’s super clear, a sort of dark orange verging on a brown. There was a finger of a really light head on top that settled quickly. It left some mild lacing and alcohol legs behind.
The nose is very sweet and malty. There was a light nut note and a big hit of caramel to it. I got only a little hop bite but it’s covered up by the sweet malt. Different, but in a good way.
There was a very mild hop bitterness bite on the front of the tongue. Very smooth across the palate with some mild carbonation to boot. Right on the back of the tongue is this slight pinch of a piney hop bitterness that washes away quickly into that sweet, mellow malt flavor. Lots of sweet orange peel, caramel, a little brown sugar. Much sweeter pale ale than I’m used to, but again, it’s really good.
While no Zombie Dust of Dale’s , People’s Pale Ale is still great for a malt-forward pale ale.
Intuition Ale Works I-10 IPA
Intuition Ale Works
Jacksonville, FL
I-10 IPA
6.75% ABV
The weekend before last, my wife and I drove down to Fernandina Beach, FL – just off Amelia Island near the Georgia border – for my father-in-law’s wedding to his longtime fiancée. They both plan to retire to the city and enjoy life on the beach just off the pier.
As I am wont to do in a new city and state, I made an effort to sample some of the local brews. Jacksonville is just about 45 minutes outside of Fernandina Beach, so the area got a good sampling of beers from around the area, including a few from Intuition Ale Works. Our first night in Florida, I got to try the I-10 West Coast-style IPA – named for the interstate that stretches from Jacksonville all the way out to Santa Monica, CA – on draft and was kind of blown away by it. A subsequent tour of local grocery stores yielded even more of the canned IPA brewed with four varieties of Northwestern hops, and then dry-hopped to boot.
I-10 pours a very hazy brownish orange color, sort of like a deeper ice tea color. There were about three fingers of an off-white foamy head on top that stuck around. On the end was some very nice lacing and some slight alcohol legs.
It definitely had a big West Coast-style IPA nose. Really big grapefruit and some slight wet pine shine through the most. There was a sort of sweeter quality to it too that reminded me of candied sugar. Overall, it was really balanced, but not as strong as some other West Coast IPAs I’ve had.
The taste starts with a really bitter pine bite on the front of the tongue. There was some nice carbonation and a medium-bodied mouthfeel, followed by a blanket of wet pine that settles over the palate first. The big citrus and grapefruit notes pop soon after, and the finish is full and, again, just slightly sweet.
I always love discovering new beers and breweries in cities I visit. I had never heard of Intuition before, but whenever I head back to that area for some family time, I’ll be making it a point to seek them out.
Cigar City Cucumber Saison
Cigar City Brewing
Tampa, FL
Cucumber Saison
6% ABV
As the summer begins to wane in South Carolina, so to does my desire to drink as many lighter beers as possible. That includes saisons, one of my favorite styles of beers. So, if saison season is coming to a close, I better let it go out with a bang. That’s just what I did last Friday night.
Cigar City is tantalizingly out of reach for the rest of us in the South. Georgia’s lucky enough to get a shipment here and there, but for the most part, if you don’t live around Florida, you’re SOL.
But beer people are good people, and I was lucky enough to get my hands on a bottle of their Cucumber Saison. (SPOILER ALERT: It’s a saison brewed with cucumbers.) I had heard raves about this one for a long time, but none of that hype did the beer any justice.
This is – hands down – the single best non-traditional saison I have ever had.
The beer pours a hazy translucent sunset orange color that’s a big lighter around the edges. On top is a massive foamy head about three fingers thick that settles slowly. There really wasn’t much lacing and the alcohol legs are nonexistent.
First thing on the nose is the crisp, clean cucumbers. It’s unmistakable, and you know what it smells like. It’s an incredibly refreshing smell. That’s backed with a big saison funk, that classic saison smell. There’s a definite citrus note to it and a slight grassy hop character, but the thing lives up to its name.
On the front of tongue, you get a big bite of tartness. It’s not overly strong but really nice, probably mellowed by the cucumber flavors. There’s huge carbonation follows throughout mouth as well. As it settles, the cucumber is unmistakable. It’s fresh, crisp, clean and works perfectly with the tartness of the saison. It needs little description: Just bite into a cucumber and you’ve got it. The best part is, the flavors linger on the back of the throat. That amazing taste sticks around and begs you to drink more.
This was a truly outstanding beer. I’ll never pass up a good saison, and the classic style is hard to beat for me. But damn, if this thing wasn’t perfect. I recently brewed a jalapeno saison, and the slight heat and flavors of the peppers worked as a perfect balance to the funk and sour saison. Cucumbers seem to do the exact same thing. The clean, mellow tastes keeps the funk from overpowering everything else and makes this a insanely good beer.
