Cigar City Humidor Series Jai Alai Cedar Aged India Pale Ale

Brewed by Cigar City Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Tampa, Florida USA

Bottle and big thanks to Hopscotch for this one! I had pretty high hopes for this one... and I was NOT let down. Jai Alai was pretty good, this definitely gave a nice extra character to it. Pours a medium amber orange with thick off-white head that sticks around the entire glass long, tons of lacing. Aroma strong of citrus hops, slight floral, pine, decent grass, some fruity character, and apparently a mild cedar character. Flavor matches well and the cedar adds a nice character that isn’t as dominant as oak, bourbon, etc. Mouthfeel is slightly dry, body is medium, and aftertaste is very nice of citrus hops that doesn’t start to turn ugly. Very nice brew!

Thanks TampaBrew. Powerful penetrating, coniferous aromatics. It’ hard to tell where the hops stops and the cedarwood begins, but blended together, they have a wonderful scent. Pours a medium orange-amber, thick beige head, good lace. Flavor dominated by the hops aromatics and wood found in the aroma. The hops aromas far outweigh the hops bitterness. Malt profile slightly wheaty, papery. Medium bodied, hot and dry to the point of astringency.

75cl bottle to my head, courtesy of daknole, thank you so much man, been wanting this for a minute now! 1st glass pours a very nice hazy dark amber color with generous red hints as well. 2nd is much hazier and slightly more brown. the 3rd and final glass is opaque burnt orange color with darker thicker head, should be a 6 on appearance. pours with a late forming 2 finger head that leaves nice rings and legs. head is very dense and creamy, and hangs around for just the right amount of time. aroma is nice and woody, yet not the spicy part of the cedar that i had expected in the aroma. more of a mellowed, earthy piece of cedar. perhaps an artifact that was buried underground.slight musty dank funk to the smell, with even some smoke from the torches they used to light their way as well. nice undertone of a funky cave aged cheese at the end of all of it. however, the super sharp cedar does come through quite nicely in the taste. starts with a slightly funky crisp sweetness on the tongue, then proceeds into an explosion of hops in the mid palate, blending seamlessly into the slightly hot kick of the cedar effervescence in the back. the sips seem to alternate between an slightly sweet and slightly bitter aftertaste, very interesting. but mostly it’s a nicely crisp dryness and bitterness on the palate, i keep getting hints of sour ale funk in the after taste. this brew had very nice carbonation on it. a choppy re-swirling easily brings up a nice 1 finger head at any point through the glass, but feels just right on the palate all the way through. this is def one of the most interesting ipas i’ve ever had, if not the most. not an everyday beer, but easily killed the bottle with a want for more! the aftertaste after several minutes is still very nice and lingers for quite a while. awesome beer, with extra points for innovation resulting in tangible goodness.

750ml bottle acquired in trade. Poured a medum and slightly hszy amber color wtih a larger sized off white head. Laing left on the glass. Aromas of citrus, woodiness, some smoke, floral hopa, and earthy. Tastes of woodiness, earthy, floral, and some caramel. Lighter bitterness factor for an IPA, but quite drinkable.

22 oz bottle via thecheesman (big thanks!). Pours a hazy amber/copper with a small head. Nose is pinepples, pine and wood. Let us take some sips...THe hop and wood cancel each other out..sorry but this does not work for me..after several sips i am left with a boring ipa on wood that does not taste all that good.....

Hazy light amber pour with thick creamy head. Big floral, citrus hop aroma with a nice touch of cedar woodiness. Good malt body and a big citrus hop bitterness with a cedar smoothness. Very good IPA.

750ml bottle from briank... Pours a hazy light amber brown with medium fluffy white head...assertive red grapefruit rinds and floralness all around. is that the cedar intertwining with the hops? slightly woody as well... flavors also maintain the same consistency. really tasty and juicy grapefruit. Furthermore a nice hoppy dryness in the finish... very tasty and juicy ipa.

Huge thanks to daknole for hooking me up with this brew. One hell of a beer. Nose has nice citrus hops and wood notes. Flavor is very hoppy, with an incredible finish of bitter hops and more woodiness. Damn, that cedar wood compared to oak is different, but it’s also fucking excellent. I loved this beer.