Beer 365/365 – Cigar City Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout

Style: Imperial Stout

ABV: 11.5%

Purchased at: I traded for it, but can’t even remember who I got it from?

What makes this beer different: The touch of chile really cuts through the sweetness.

Will I be drinking this again: Would love to get my hands on another bottle.

Grade: A+

11/8/2010: So here I am, at the finish line. It is kind of bittersweet… I feel a sense of accomplishment that I made it through an entire year of this, but I am also a bit sad that this is ending. Well technically this is not ending, I’m just going to take a week or so away from drinking beer all together then I am going to update 2-3 new beers a week. Sometime in the next few days I am going to post up an entire recap of my experience, as well as my personal top 10. So keep reading because I am still going to keep updating the site, just not quite as often.

Figured I would dip into my big stouts in the basement for my last beer. I was at a big stout tasting over the summer, and this was the hands down favorite for the group out of 25-30 other imperial stouts. The nose is a lot of sweet chocolate, and you do get a little bit of a chili powder smell. The first thing you notice after sipping the beer is its mouthfeel, most creamy and perfect mouthfeel of any beer I have ever had. Even though it is creamy, its not super heavy/gloopy for an Imperial Stout which made polishing off this whole bottle by myself a lot easier than I thought. The flavor of sweet chocolate and a bit of heat from the chili is really a great combo, they both keep each other in check. While chocolate/chili are the main flavors, there is also a bit of dark fruit, smoke, vanilla, and a tobacco kick (maybe a play on the name Cigar City?). Excellent combination of flavors. This beer is without a doubt in my top 3 beers for the year. Now its time to round up all my A+ beers and decide which ones were my favorite. Again I am going to keep updating the site, but only 2-3 times per week instead of every day. Stay tuned!!

Picture of the day: A map of the world as it really is.

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Beer 236/365 – Cigar City’s 110k +OT Batch 3

Style: Imperial IPA

ABV: 10.0%

Purchased at: Sent to me by mike @bonbeer

What makes this beer different: This beer to be was completely miscategorized. Delicious but not an Imperial Ipa.

Will I be drinking this again: Yes it was awesome, would love to find a bottle to age.

Grade: A

7/2/2010: Thanks so much to Mike and Ruth for sending this to me in a special little care package. I am helping them redo their website, and they sent me a little inspiration. I got this bottle along with a Black Albert and a 2008 Surly Darkness among others. They run a travel agency that specilizes in cuystomized beer tours in Belgium, and other locations around the world. Check out their current site here.

The pour came out thick as all hell for an Imperial IPA. As you can see the color is a bit different for an Imperial also. The smell isn’t hoppy at all? Lots of sweet buttery malt, and actually it smells a bit like dark fruits? The taste really took me by surprise. Tasted nothing like any DIPA I have had before. Heavy and malty, with a little bit of hops. It almost had a Belgian quality to the mouthfeel, maybe some sort of Belgian yeast was used? This beer actually hit me way more as a barleywine than it did anything else. Mouthfeel was VERY thick and oily but in a good way. The flavor was full of citrus fruits and sweet buttery caramel hops. You can literally see the oil filming up on the side of the glass. Okay I am rambling now, just do yourself a favor and find a bottle of this because its awesome. Don’t rush to drink it either, because really this is a barleywine IMO.

Picture of the day: Teachers 50 years ago compared to today.

Beer 200/365 – Cigar City Jai Alai IPA

Style: American IPA

ABV: 7.5%

Purchased at: Another one the parents brought back for me.

What makes this beer different: It just might be my favorite IPA now. Which is “different” for me because I never thought I would say favorite and IPA in the same breath.

Will I be drinking this again: If I can get my hands on some yes.

Grade: A

5/27/2010: I am pretty sure this is my first A rating for a single IPA so far. As some of you may know I started off this 365 completely avoiding any hop heavy beer, but I have really come full circle to appreciate a good hoppy brew. Apparently they have all kinds of fruit flavored remixes of the Jai Alai IPA available at the brewery. I’ll bet they are amazing. Can anyone confirm this?

This is probably one of the best smelling beers I have had so far, right behind Dark Horse Plead the Fifth Stout. Tons of citrus smell, and some other tropical type fruits I can’t put my finger on. Jai Alai can pretty much be summed up into three words, fresh, crisp, and sticky (but not too sticky). Lots of citrus and biscuity flavor, and a little pineapple kick as well. No trace of the 7.5% alcohol content in this. This beers flavor is more like a DIPA, but the mouthfeel is just light enough to come off as an IPA. Really impressed with this beer. It maybe took me 10 minutes at most to slug this down.

Picture of the day: BP’s Splendiferous Sound-Suppressing Device.

Beer 199/365 – Gordash Brewing Holy Mackerel Mack In Black

Style: American Strong Ale

ABV: 8.0%

Purchased at: Parents brought it back from Florida, not sure where they bought it.

What makes this beer different: Almost tastes like a pop with some fruit juice squeezed in.

Will I be drinking this again: no

Grade: C+

5/26/2010: How cool is this glass? Lately my mom has been obsessed with going to estate sales, and she actually has been finding me some pretty bad ass glassware. She and my dad brought me back a handful of beers from FL that I can’t get here in PA. Most of them I suggested to them, but this one was recommended to them by the “beer guy” at the total wine in Ft Myers. Usually the people on staff at these types of places have some pretty good suggestions, but this one was a swing and a miss.

Remember those scratch and sniff stickers you would get when you were a kid? Remember that weird chocolate scented one? Well thats what this beer smells like, scratch and sniff chocolate. It also has a very cola like effervescence to it. I also think this beer is semi-infected as it has a bit of a sour taste, but I do get a little bit of chocolate and fruit flavors. Also how is this considered an American Strong Ale? Doesn’t fit the style at all, actually not really sure what stuff this should be considered. All that being said I guess it does hide the 8.0% very well. Not something I will go out of my way to try again.

Picture of the day: Now this is teamwork.