Tampa tantrum

The beers from Cigar City have been packing the off licences of late. It has taken me a while to catch up with what's available but here's what's in the mix so far.

We start with a brand extension since that seems very much in vogue among the American breweries we get over here. Jai Low is a session-strength variant of the Cigar City flagship Jai Alai. It's an even 4% ABV and a clear amber-gold, though worryingly short of head. Jai Alai's iconic punchy bitterness is well represented: right from the start it's pithy and waxy. In something of this strength, that tends to be a recipe for harsh thinness, but this is nicely full-bodied and provides sufficient malt balance for those hyperactive hops. I've had a few of these American 4%-ers and this is the first not to taste compromised. I was sceptical about the Jai Alai associations, but it's worthy of the tie.

Margarita Gose immediately caught my eye. I like a gose and I like a margarita. It's meant to be a bright summer drinker, at just 4.2% ABV, and I caught it just before winter closed in fully. It looked a bit sad in the glass, to be honest: a hazy shade of dull orange with the head disappearing in the first couple of minutes. Salt and herbs is the first hit I got from a huff of the aroma, then the promise of tangy, oily, limes. It's surprisingly flat, with only the merest tingle of carbonation. Combined with a light texture, that made it seem a little lifeless. There's the briny tang and a smidge of citrus bitterness in the flavour, but that's all you really get. I was afraid this would be a cloying alcopop combination, and it's not, it's a real beer, but I found it less engaging than I expected. Refreshing, sure, but sailing close to the point where that means bland.

"Ale brewed with orange lime and salt" is the strapline for After Sesh, and I wonder if it was designed as a gose too, but they couldn't bring themselves to call it that. It's also orange in colour, and the head is lasting this time. 4.5% means just a slight increase in ABV. The aroma doesn't have much to say, other than a mild waft of oily oranges. The mouthfeel is decently thick, much more so than the previous, and I can taste the malt. I can just about taste the hops, but nothing that says real orange or salt. This is another very plain affair, inoffensive and quaffable like many an Irish red ale or English red-brown bitter, especially in their fizzy canned forms. I would expect to get this from a discount supermarket in a brightly-coloured can from an unspecified brewery. It tastes a bit cheap and definitely doesn't deliver on the promise of the description.

We move on to a "Citra Pale Ale" next: Guayabera. Funny how that hop in particular tends to get this special billing. This is a deep orange colour and 5.5% ABV. The aroma certainly says Citra: fresh and zesty lime. The mouthfeel is nicely full and this provides ample legroom for the flavour hops. Zesty again, not skimping on the bitterness, but showing a certain nuance as well: it's a pie or a pastry rather than a mean raw lime. This effect is heightened by the malt base which adds a hint of toffee to the background, a little like the American pale ales of yore. A hint of green onion is the only bum note I found, and it's well concealed by the bittering. While not socks-knocked-off amazing, this is well put together: punchy yet approachable, and enjoyable throughout.

"Belgian-Style White Ale" is a peculiarly awkward American construction. Is it a Blue Moon thing? Cigar City's is called Florida Cracker and is 5.5% ABV. It's surprisingly clear, but that's OK, and the fluffy white head is pleasingly persistent. The aroma is quite herbal: I got sage and cardamom although plain old coriander and orange peel is all that's listed. Shows what I know. It's very dry to begin with, all crunchy grain and citronella oil. From there there's a more nuanced lemon candy and more of that wintery resinous herb I found in the aroma. And that's it. Overall this is quite a severe sort of witbier, and maybe it's the filtration that has removed the usual smooth and fluffy edges. While not bad, I don't really see the point of it -- Cigar City aren't bringing any worthwhile innovations to the style with this.

From cod-Belgium to ersatz-England: would they do any better with a brown ale? Maduro is also 5.5% ABV and a lovely clear garnet colour. The aroma doesn't have much to say. The flavour... is understated, in a good way. It's not bland, and definitely not thin, but it takes a moment for the taste to unfold properly. Burnt caramel is first through, followed swiftly by bitter liquorice, milk chocolate, very black tea, and sticky molasses. A truly great brown ale would have a dusting of meadow flowers on top, but this doesn't, not venturing far from the standard roasted-malt profile, and that's fine by me. You can sip this, explore it, analyse it, but it works just as well as a relaxing wintertime drinking beer. It tastes authentically English to me, and we don't get many like this in these parts. I award it extra points for bringing something a bit different to the scene.

Full-strength IPA is inevitable, of course, and here we have the 6.5% ABV Fancy Papers, a (slightly) hazy example. It smells perfumed rather than juicy, and there's a hint of the hop-studded toffee that I associate with American IPAs of the old school. The flavour is more tropical, but in quite a cloying, fruit-concentrate way. I get pineapple and coconut, intensely so, like some sort of pre-mixed piña colada. It's not exactly unpleasant, but it's very strange: far from an old-fashioned bitter IPA but definitely not anything like the modern sweet sort. I guess it's its own thing, then, and fair play to it. Luckily there's just enough of a candied-lemon bitterness to make it palatable, and a dry note of acidity on the finish to prevent the alcopop taste turning cloying. I can imagine sipping this while gazing across the azure waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which is probably all any Cigar City beer is meant to do. Job done.

"unpredictable... nearly criminal... world's worst superhero": weird way to show local pride, there, CC. Here's Florida Man, a double IPA of 8.5% ABV to round out this selection. It's another translucent pale orange fellow. The aroma is juicy but on the cusp of resinous -- I don't know if mandarin oil is a thing, but if it is it probably smells like this. That juiciness combines with the big malt to create a pleasing tangerine sweetness. There's a suggestion of caramel or milk chocolate but really the hops are in charge, as they should be. And despite 80 purported IBUs that hopping is gentle, subtle even, bringing the flavour without any overdone bittering. Nor is it boozy or difficult to drink, squeaking into the double IPA style category to my palate, but only just. As an old man of simple tastes it suited me perfectly; anyone looking for something as supposedly crazy as its namesake might feel let down.

Once upon a time, Cigar City was one of the American breweries spoken of in hushed tones this side of the Atlantic. I don't know whether they switched to more middle-of-the-road offerings since, or if the market caught up with them. Either way, I was a little surprised by how few big wows I got here. I'd buy that brown ale again, mind.

As above...

At the beginning of the month it was off down to Cork for the first festival of the year, Cask Ales & Strange Brews at Franciscan Well. As usual, before I could enjoy any of the beers, I had to partake in the judging of the best ones in show. Tasting blind, it's a handy way of putting together an honest assessment of what was on offer. I just had to match the numbered reviews to the listings once judging was over. I got through twenty beers at the gig and I'm dividing them geographically, beginning today with all the ones from not-Munster.

And I may as well kick off with the winner, the Baltic porter from Dublin's own Rascals: Absolutely Baltic. This was brand new out and otherwise only available at the brewery. It's an orthodox 7.5% ABV, properly brown-black, though a little flat from the cask. The banana aroma was a surprise but not jarring, leading on to a subtle caramel flavour. There's a lick of liquorice and then a wholesome walnut effect. Nothing is too extreme in this even though it's full of character and cheering winter warmth. Just a smidge more fizz would have perfected it.

The Inchicore brewery also had a dubbel in the running, the fruit flavoured Cherry Poppin'. I've said before that flavoured dubbel doesn't do the style justice and this one, while nothing was wrong with it, at no point reminded me of dubbel. It's only 6.1% ABV, for one thing, a clear and deep ruby with an aroma of dark biscuits. There's a little syrup in the vapours too, and that turns to cough mixture in the flavour. I couldn't identify cherries specifically, just a general sweet and dark fruit, like you'd find in Málaga wine or PX sherry. A touch of dark chocolate brings Raspberry Ruffle bars to mind. It's fun, and a bit silly; treat it with the lack of seriousness it deserves and you'll enjoy.

Staying with the Dubs, DOT had some superb beers on the go, all of which somehow failed to win any awards. I know none came my way for judging. Pick of the bunch, and my personal favourite of the day, was a Barrel Aged Imperial Saison. Wisely, I came to this late in proceedings. It's a whopper 10.4% ABV but is clean and smooth; warm rather than hot. The dominant flavours are a mix of dry Sauvignon Blanc turning to dryer Fino sherry, allied with some sweeter Sauternes. The grape fun is accompanied by the peppery spice found in my favourite saisons. It's a great example of taking the features of a base style and building something different yet amazing from them. I imagine it's more difficult than just squirting fruit syrup in the fermenter, though.

At the opposite end of the scale there was the modestly-named General Sour at 3.5% ABV. It's a hazy yellow colour, and perhaps that contributed to the impression of custard I got from the aroma. Add in the sourness of the flavour, and you get a stick of rhubarb with your custard, the creamy texture enhancing the dessert effect. The sharpness is nicely balanced here: unmistakably tart but rounded and easy-going too.

At the same strength (related recipe?) there was a Session Pale, also with a bit of a vanilla quality in its flavour and a thick-set texture. Sweet orange cordial and a pinch of white pepper also feature. Despite that tiddling ABV I'm not sure a session on this would actually be possible. I was glad I only had a half to enjoy, but enjoy I did.

DOT's blip was a barrel-aged amber-brown yoke called Assorted Nuts. It tasted hugely of hazelnuts with a touch of wafer biscuits. Simple and smooth; clean and easy, there was nothing technically wrong with it, but at 9.4% ABV there really ought to be more happening. It's a strength at which "only OK" is not OK.

There was one beer in competition that I swore was a DOT offering when it came my way for assessment: it had that spicy, pithy oak-and-citrus taste that DOT's barrel-aged pale ales generally show. Except it wasn't DOT, it was YellowBelly's presumably experimental Mixed Fermentation Barrel Aged Special. Coconut/gorse and vanilla come out in the aroma, while the flavour is warm and herbal, like a spiced barleywine, with the weighty mouthfeel to match. Amazingly it's only 5.5% ABV. There's fantastic complexity here, though not the kind I expected. "Mixed Fermentation" means sour to me. Shows what I know.

Just one other YellowBelly beer today: Kazbek Dry-Hopped Ale, showcasing a Czech Saaz-a-like hop I've never encountered before. There's certainly a lot of grass going on; too much really. Steve reckoned it was the hallmark of a beer that's been left to dry hop for too long and I think he's correct there. Behind that it's a decent but unexciting grainy beer, the ABV 4.6%. If I had to put it into a style category I'd suggest a basic English bitter. It left me none the wiser about what makes Kazbek unique, if anything.

New beers from Barrelhead are all too rare, which is a shame. For this gig they sent along a thoroughly unfashionable but quite delicious English-style Strong Ale. It's a very pale example, its appearance resembling the Belgian sort of strong ale. I got no aroma from my judging sample and found the flavour quite hot, but in a clean-burn Duvel sort of way. It doesn't have the Belgian fruit esters, however: the taste settling to a very English bitter wax before some simple candy sweetness and a green weedy spice. No fireworks, no gimmicks, and not too dangerous at 6% ABV. This is one of those beers I wish there was more of a market for. Replace every milkshake IPA with it.

Two Ballykilcavan specials next, both veering away from classic styles, in the spirit of Strange Brews. The first was my second of the day in the blind judging and I didn't care for it at all. Murky, soupy, dreggy and hot; green apples, cheese and feet. None of those descriptors fit the profile of what turned out to be a Peach & Passionfruit Pale Ale. I could tell there was a decent beer at its core, a simple affair with fresh and juicy orange flavours. I blame the serving method for making a mess of it.

My last beer at the festival was their Cherry Chocolate Stout, a bit of a beast at 6.7% ABV. Cherry cough syrup, pie filling and cheap Black Forest gateau say my notes: altogether more wholesome than the previous one. The jammy sweetness is one side but it's balanced by a cherryskin bitterness that was the making of the beer. The base stout takes a bit of searching to find, but it's there too, making this a well-balanced effort, with two complementary aspects to enjoy.

This post began on the festival's official best beer and I'll finish on the official second place: Bullhouse Margarita Gose. Yes the concept is the worst thing to happen to Leipzig since 1943 but I genuinely liked it. It was lovely and smooth from the cask, and an approachable 4.5% ABV. From a red-apple aroma it goes on to be very salty -- the best part of a margarita -- with a jolt of real lime juice and plenty of coriander, something lacking in even straight-up craft-brewed gose these days. It's unsubtle, and risks turning cloying before long, but a judging sample was just right to spark joy. Built for the flight, and that's OK sometimes.

That's all the beer that travelled down the motorways to get to Franciscan Well. The next post will be strictly low mileage.