A Cold, Dreary Night in October

Last night, like many of my Friday nights to be honest, I tried a beer that I had never had before. In fact, it was a beer made by a brewery that I don’t have much interaction with, as they don’t distribute to my neck of the woods. Nevertheless, the few and far between brews that I have managed to get my hands on from this particular brewery have been sublime – each and every one of them. The brewery in question is the Cigar City Brewing Company in Tampa, Florida. But before we get in to all of that, let me further dissect the sequence of events that lead me to last night, in the vein of good story telling.

Pride of Tampa, Florida

As I have preached in the past, the secret to tracking down beers from faraway lands that don’t distribute to your home region is a robust network of friends, snitches, well-wishers and benefactors. After all, drinking craft-brewed excellence is a team sport. In this case, the key to my success is a friend of mine who I will refer to throughout this post as Galen.

I'm kind of a big deal. People know me.

Galen is something of a muckity-muck in his career field. People know him, and he’s kind of a big deal. From time to time, his work takes him down to the Tampa Bay area, and being a conscientious beer guy (in training), he thinks of his fellow craft beer enthusiasts from Old Dominion while enjoying the sunshine-soaked Florida brews. It just so happens that he has a relation who works for Cigar City Brewing Company, so he is granted unfettered access to all of the goodness contained therein. Galen has been the nexus between Cigar and myself as long as I've known him.

About six months ago, Galen was sent to Tampa on one of these junkets of his and he brought all kinds of goodies back with him. He brought a six pack of Cigar’s Jai Alai IPA, which was out of this world, and also a six pack of their Hotter Than Helles Lager, which was also quite enjoyable. But the real jewel of his treasure haul was a 750ml wine bottle of Cigar’s special release Big Sound Scotch Ale that was aged in bourbon barrels. This was the specific brew that we enjoyed last night, after letting it sit for six additional months.

Being that it was a very cold, rainy night in October, to say that this beer was perfect for the occasion would be underselling the timeliness of the affair. I would have said the stars aligned perfectly to this beer and the night at hand, but I couldn't see the stars and I have no idea what they were up to. Regardless, let’s just say that the bourbon barrel aged Big Sound went with the last night’s atmosphere like peas and carrots (too many metaphors?).

A rare and delicious find.

The beer was dark (obviously), heavy and very sweet. The sweetness was a careful balance of malt, toffee and oaken vanilla notes from the bourbon. The peat from the scotch was there, but it was subtle, as though the scotch was yielding its rightful claim to “star of the show” status to the bourbon. Also, I might be crazy, but I think I picked up the slightest cherry and coffee notes as well. The alcohol heat was quite noticeable for an 8.5% ABV brew but it was not overwhelming, and the beer was quite heavy and demanded to be sipped. It poured dark brown (almost black) with a tan head and was absolutely phenomenal. Five out of Five, ten out of ten, whatever you want to do – this one is a rock star.

I would tell you to go out and get one (and I definitely recommend it) but distribution limitations being what they are, it will be tough to find this on the open market. The fact that it is a brewery-only release only further complicates matters. If you’re in the Tampa Bay area, certainly stop in and see if this is available. The Big Sound Scotch Ale (minus the bourbon barrel) is a seasonal brew that they release in September, so maybe you should try in the fall. Then again, Galen found our bottle when he was there in April, so who knows? If you know someone in the Tampa area, set up a barter arrangement.

So here’s to Cigar City, team-work, my buddy Galen and his hook-up at Cigar City, and of course, a beautiful beer in Big Sound bourbon barrel aged scotch ale. I can’t wait for my next one.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!