Perfect Beer to Pair with a Cigar?
PuroFreak
Posts: 4,131 ✭✭
I'm sure someone has already posted this, but a friend emailed it to me and I got a bit excited!
TAMPA, Florida - When a friend gave Joey Redner a taste of a beer that had been aged with Spanish cedar - the wood used to wrap and box cigars - he knew it was an idea worth stealing. The aroma and flavor instantly reminded the then avid home brewer of his hometown's historic Ybor City and the hand-rolled cigars Tampa is famous for. And he knew that if he ever owned a brewery, his beer needed to evoke the same memories.
"It just blew me away because when I smelled it, it was like waking down 7th Avenue in Ybor City, walking past a cigar shop," said Redner, who now owns Cigar City Brewing. "It was a win/win. It was good and it really pinpointed it on the map as coming from my city."
Plenty of brewers name their beers for the regions where they are made. But Cigar City takes it further, using ingredients such as Spanish cedar, guava, Cuban espresso and citrus woods to craft beers that also taste of Tampa's heritage.
Doing so also has helped prop up the craft beer industry in a state once mocked for its offerings. Cigar City has become the most visible brewer in a suddenly hot Florida beer industry.
"Cigar City led the way and said, "We're going to make big beer, we're going to make hoppy beers, we're going to have sour beers and funky oak-aged spiced beers" and the response has been amazing for them," said Ben Davis, the owner and brewer at Jacksonville's Intuition Ale Works, which opened last fall. "They're the best brewery in the state of Florida. They're definitely bringing credibility to our entire state.." ...
TAMPA, Florida - When a friend gave Joey Redner a taste of a beer that had been aged with Spanish cedar - the wood used to wrap and box cigars - he knew it was an idea worth stealing. The aroma and flavor instantly reminded the then avid home brewer of his hometown's historic Ybor City and the hand-rolled cigars Tampa is famous for. And he knew that if he ever owned a brewery, his beer needed to evoke the same memories.
"It just blew me away because when I smelled it, it was like waking down 7th Avenue in Ybor City, walking past a cigar shop," said Redner, who now owns Cigar City Brewing. "It was a win/win. It was good and it really pinpointed it on the map as coming from my city."
Plenty of brewers name their beers for the regions where they are made. But Cigar City takes it further, using ingredients such as Spanish cedar, guava, Cuban espresso and citrus woods to craft beers that also taste of Tampa's heritage.
Doing so also has helped prop up the craft beer industry in a state once mocked for its offerings. Cigar City has become the most visible brewer in a suddenly hot Florida beer industry.
"Cigar City led the way and said, "We're going to make big beer, we're going to make hoppy beers, we're going to have sour beers and funky oak-aged spiced beers" and the response has been amazing for them," said Ben Davis, the owner and brewer at Jacksonville's Intuition Ale Works, which opened last fall. "They're the best brewery in the state of Florida. They're definitely bringing credibility to our entire state.." ...
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Fun fact for those out of towners - Ybor city is a great place to grab cigars or beer, but it's got a high crime rate; if you come, don't go to any ATM's after dark and watch yourself. It's a fun town, but gets kinda freaky.
Oh man these threads make me so homesick. Cigar City Brewery used to be blocks from my old work. I was one of the 1st to fill a growler there and Joey gifted me 2 local cigars. Great guy. The espresso maduro brown is amazing. The Jai Alai IPA also.
Ybor can be shady but I used to go there all the time with no problems. My favorite time to be there was in the day though hangin at The King Corona. Man I miss Tampa.