At some point, I resolved to get my hands on more Cigar City beers, and they do distribute to this area… but their offerings have been scarce of late. I have no idea why, but when I saw this one about a month ago, I quickly bought it, not realizing that it was from last year! It’s a big, dark beer, so it should be able to hold up to the time, but it’s also got a big hop component which I’m assuming I lost out on a bit. In any case, this beer officially kicks off the Christmas beer season. Here at Kaedrin, we take these things seriously, so expect to see a boatload of other wintery themed beers in the near future. This particular offering falls into the “make it stronger” school of holiday beer thought (with maybe a bit of “do whatever the hell you want”, just for good measure.) The label sez it’s a mashup of barleywines and old ale winter-warmer styles, but with a big citrusy American hop presence. They call it a Floridian Winter Ale:
Cigar City Warmer Winter Winter Warmer – Pours a very deep, dark amber brown color with a solid 3 fingers of fluffy head, good retention, and plenty of lacing. Smells full of caramel and citrusy, piney hops. Taste is very sweet, dominated by rich caramel, brown sugar, and toffee tones. Big citrus and pine hop flavors lighten things up a bit, but those sugary caramel/toffee flavors rule the day. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and chewy, but very well carbonated, which really helps cut all the rich flavors a bit. That being said, there’s a lot of mouth coating here, and a finish that lingers. Fortunately, these flavors are all right up my alley, so it works well enough in the end. The booze is well hidden in the taste, but you get that warming alcohol feeling in the belly soon enough. Overall, this is an interesting beer, along the lines of a barleywine or old ale, but kinda doing its own thing. A whole 750 gets to be a bit much, but I really enjoyed it. B+
Beer Nerd Details: 11% ABV bottled (750 ml capped). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/23/12. Bottled November 2011 for consumption in 2011/2012.
I still haven’t tried a lot of Cigar City’s brews, but I’ll be sure to snag a few the next time they make their way up here… Anywho, lots of Christmas, holiday, and otherwise wintery offerings coming up in the near future, even including a few deliberately aged brews. Stay tuned!
I would launch in to my usual tirade about you getting something we don’t (particularly because they have to pass me to get to you), but I had the version of this stuff aged in apple brandy barrels. Yummy.
Ohhh, I’d love to get a taste of that stuff (or any other Cigrar City BA beer!) I’m totally kicking myself because I distinctly remember seeing a bunch of Cigar City stuff at a local beer shop, but held off on purchasing it for some reason… And I haven’t really seen much of their stuff since then. I’ve had Guava Grove and this and… that’s about it since last year. Hoping their expansion plans means more distribution!
I had the Apple Brandy version during beer week. I liked it, but to say it was sweet would be understating things. Apple Brandy barrels do special things to beers though.
Well, this is a pretty sweet beer to start with, so that’s not surprising. Is Calvados apple brandy? I’ve had a few beers aged in Calvados barrels, with mixed success. Seems like it would be a good match for this particular beer though… Was it sour? Or did you just get some tartness out of the apples, and then standard oak character type stuff?
I don’t think Calvados is apple brandy but I honestly have no idea. You get a sweetness with a little bit of a tart apple from the barrels. I find it blends really well with stouts.
Apparently Calvados is apple brandy from a specific region in France. I’ve had a few Euro brews aged in old calvados barrels, with mixed success. Some good, some middling, some horrible. I’d like to try the Cigar City Apple Brandy BA stuff though, just to compare…