Cigar City Brewing Humidor Series IPA

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Cigar City Brewing Humidor Series IPA. This is yet another beer I had the pleasure of drinking during Tampa Bay Beer Week.  I did manage to bring a couple of these home as well.

From the Cigar City Brewing Company website: “Thanks to our name, the two questions we get asked the most are "Do you guys sell cigars?" and "Are you located in Ybor City?" The answer to both questions is no. However, we still love cigars and we still love Ybor City, which is why we created the Humidor Series. 

Each beer in the Humidor Series is aged on Spanish cedar (cedrela), the same wood used to make cigar boxes. The Spanish cedar imparts notes of white pepper, sandalwood and other spices. 

Our flagship beer in the Humidor Series is Humidor Series India Pale Ale. We start with Jai Alai IPA as a base beer and add the cedar during secondary fermentation. The cedar provides a perfect balance with the assertive hops of Jai Alai to create an entirely new experience. 

We produce Humidor Series India Pale Ale year round, and keep an eye out for other Humidor Series beers in our tasting room and limited bottling runs.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a hazy amber color with lots of particles floating, a big off-white head and excellent lacing.

Aroma: Big cedar aroma with tropical and citrus hops and sweet malt.

Taste: Grapefruit, mango, pineapple and citrus hop flavors balanced with a huge cedar presence and sweet malt.  The cedar imparts a woody bite that mellows sip after sip.

Overall: Cigar City Brewing Humidor Series IPA is yet another incredible offering from an excellent brewery.  The cedar adds an interesting element to an already outstanding beer.  Weighing in at 7.5% ABV this delicious IPA isn’t something I’d want to drink a lot of, but something I plan to pair with foods since I have a couple of bottles left.  I’d say most definitely try it for the cedar flavor alone.  It is incredibly interesting.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

If you haven’t already, please like the NorCal Beer Blog on Facebook (here)