(Tampa Bay, FL) – If more breweries could update fans like Cigar City Brewing does, I probably would have started a very different site last February. The brewery has published fresh labels of some upcoming beers on its blog, posted tasting notes on its Twitter account, and was a part of the beer community well before opening. Got some info from Head Honcho, Joey Redner, on what folks can tentatively expect this summer. With 15 beers or more in the fold, let’s sort out what is happening at the brewery . . .

Tasting Room and Distribution

For a little background on Cigar City Brewing, you can check out my post from December. Months later, they have opened up a new tasting room (last Monday) which will be open going forward from 11am to 5pm M-F so keep in mind that it should be easier to get to try the beers discussed below. The brewery can do growler fills legally- pretty much any size except 64 oz. because of some Florida law and they’ve posted up their pricing online so you have some idea as to what to expect to pay before you go in.

If you can’t make it to the brewery, beers are primarily distributed through World Class Beverages though only in Florida for now. This page should give you some idea as to what is available on draft out in the market. Beers are generally available in the Tampa/Orlando markets though you can find more finely tuned info on distro on the brewery website.

Year-Round Beers

Cigar City started off with two year-round beers: Jai Alai IPA and Madura Oatmeal Brown Ale. These are available in kegs in the Tampa/Orlando areas and can now be had in growlers at the brewery. When asked what the third year-round beer would be, Redner said they are still undecided but that Bolita Brown Double Nut Brown Ale is a strong candidate.

Seasonals

The brewery is aiming for three bottle releases with respect to its seasonals which is major progress considering only one seasonal has been bottled so far: Big Sound Scotch Ale. Only about 110 cases went out the door, about 70 to the Tampa area and 40 to the Orlando area. Bolita Brown is the next seasonal that should hit bottles and it will be released sometime in mid-July or August. Marshall Zhukov’s Imperial Stout will be brewed in July for an August release. Guava Grove, a Belgian-inspired Saison brewed with Guava that uses Bob Sylvester’s yeast at Saint Somewhere Brewing, will also come out in bottles over the summer. The winter seasonal, “Warmer Winter, Winter Warmer Ale” will obviously come out later in the year. Patio Pils is on hold until they get more fermenters and brite tanks

Limited-release beers

Other than Big Sound, the only other bottle release so far for the brewery was the second batch of 110k+OT Batch 2, an Imperial Russian Stout. With each batch, the beer will completely change. That beer hit shelves in late May to the tune of only 87 cases. The brewery is shooting for a July release for its next limited beer: Improvisacion, a 9% “Oatmeal Rye India-style Brown Ale.” Also on tap to hit bottles in the future is Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout though Redner does not yet have a timetable. This will be the brewery’s first 15 bbl batch of this brew, one that is currently rated in the top 20 beers at RateBeer.

Humidor and Wood Aged Series

Finally, we arrived to the Wood-Aged beers. According to the brewery website, “The Humidor Series is a rotating offering of Cigar City Brewing beer aged on cedar. We change the offering for every release so that more of our beers get to luxuriate in cigar box cedar.” The first beer to be bottled from this set will be Bourbon Aged Bolita Brown:

“Fans of Bolita Brown Ale we’ll be pleased to know that the Bolita we had aging in a Maker’s Mark barrel was bottled on Wednesday. This will be a brewery only release, though the date has not been determined, and only 170 of the 750 ml (25.4 oz) bottles will be sold to the public. The Price will be $20 per bottle with a limit of 3 bottles per person.”

Because I’m starting lose some steam here (if you can’t tell already, Head Brewer, Wayne Wambles, has a full plate on his hands), here are some notes on the others to come from the series, straight from Redner:

Jai Alai aged on cedar (Humidor Series, next to be bottled)

Campeador (Special to Knightly Spirits in Orlando…3/4ths Bolita 1/4th Big Sound Scotch Ale blend aged in Buffalo Trace Barrel)

Bourbon Big Sound Scotch Ale ( Needs another month barrel time, maybe longer)

Capricho Oscuro Batch #2 (Probably needs another month as well, but the barrel is full. Batch #3 still needs some more beer blended into it)

Bourbon BA 110K+OT Batch #2 (I’d guess 6 months in the barrel minimum, but I’ll evaluate it every month or so)

We will also be doing a small barrel aged batch of Guava Grove that will get at least some Brett and possibly some Lacto and Pedi bugs as well, but we are still doing some gameplanning on how to approach it. It will probably take a year to be ready either way.

And we have Puppy’s Breath Porter (Robust 6.6% porter) bottle and draft which we’ll release in September. There are many other potential beers including our Imperial Pumpkin beer, Good Gourd!, but we most likely wont get to them all this year.”

Phew. Was that 15? I’ve lost count. If any locals want to chip in additional info, corrections, thoughts, feel free.