Jai Alai IPA - Cedar Aged (Humidor Series) - Cigar City Brewing

BrownNut

Florida

3.58/5  rDev -12%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Tulip from a 750

How do you rate a beer that is very interesting, but not necessarily in a gustatively pleasing or coherent way? In a nutshell I feel like this was a bold try that didn't quite work. I'm glad they tried it and I'm glad I tried it but having noted and appreciated its unique impact, I would not buy it again. It's a thinker.

A - Cloudy dark orange with a bright white head that dies down but keeps replenishing itself for a while. Tons of lacing. I kind of don't care how a beer looks and don't really care about style guidelines, but in trying to be a team player I was about to rate this down because it was cloudy and I didn't feel like it should be. But I just read the BJCP guidelines for the style, which said in part, "Should be clear, although unfiltered dry-hopped versions may be a bit hazy." As this is unfiltered and bottle fermented, let's don't rate down its appearance for that. Nice color, nice head, nice bubble action.

S - Sharp cedar mixed with fresh citrus mixed with malty caramel sweet. The cedar comes across initially spicy, which is welcome until the cedarness of it kicks in. I can't help but be reminded of the cedar shavings in my elementary school gerbil cage, which was usually mixed with gerbil pee smell, which is an (admittedly subjective) association I don't want to get from a beer. Yet at the same time there is something sort of refined about it, reminding me of a cigar humidor as the series name implies. These three aroma notes aren't bad but don't quite come together harmoniously for me. I bet a different wood would do better here. I'd like to try oak, maybe in the form of a cognac barrel. Citrus + caramel + oak-aged cognac would be like a cognac long drink. You're welcome.

T - The cedar dominates the taste and the aftertaste. Everything else is happening beneath that. It's hard to consider those things without the cedar note because it refuses to yield center stage even for a moment. Late in the 750 I'm getting substantial booze breath, like when you wake up the next day after a college keg party for an 8-o'clock class and are still exhaling straight alcohol and people are like damn, what did you get up to last night? The guy two reviews ago mentions grapefruit. Interesting, I can kind of see what he means now. The combination of processed grain alcohol breath with cedar does kind of combine to form a grapefruit effect. Feels a little like gin and tonic breath, which is on the border between maturely refined and Oh No I'm An Alcoholic.

M - Smooth and soft. At first it was ending a little sticky, but towards the end, I guess having stripped all the native mucus away, it was ending with a hint of that dry tongue abrasion, sort of like you'd licked a block of cedar. The last reviewer mentioned that his foamed over when he opened it. While mine was well carbonated and had lots of action in the glass to keep replenishing the head for a while (then dying out), mine did not foam over upon opening like his, so maybe that was an anomaly.

O - My whole goal of beer exploring is to find interesting beers, and in that respect this one really delivers. I've never had anything like this and I say it's worth your while to try it. Yet while interesting and different and memorable, this beer tells me I don't want beer aged on cedar. It still manages to be pretty decent aside from the cedar, so I'll want to track down their un-aged Jai Alai. I bet it's nice. I feel like if I hadn't had that gerbil cage for all those years, cedar would make a different and better impression on me, because its spice notes add a really interesting layer of complexity and exciting flavor. It kind of makes you want food or a sauce flavored with those initial spicy notes, like maybe a curry. Hop on that, India, and call me when you've got something. Cedar-smoked lamb korma curry. There it is.

My smell, taste, and overall scores represent the average between how much I appreciate the originality of the attempt and how not-quite-right I perceive the result. If there were an originality category I'd give them a 5.

Serving type: bottle

04-23-2012 02:03:54 | More by BrownNut

mikeincharleston

South Carolina

3.75/5  rDev -7.9%

05-23-2013 01:36:17 | More by mikeincharleston

sblank

Florida

4.5/5  rDev +10.6%

05-22-2013 15:52:49 | More by sblank

velcrogrip

Florida

4.5/5  rDev +10.6%

05-22-2013 03:58:12 | More by velcrogrip

lakersfan16

Alaska

4.5/5  rDev +10.6%

05-22-2013 03:33:06 | More by lakersfan16

Andreias21

Florida

4.5/5  rDev +10.6%

05-21-2013 17:08:04 | More by Andreias21

johntfox

Florida

4.25/5  rDev +4.4%

05-21-2013 01:52:13 | More by johntfox

moonknight31

California

4.5/5  rDev +10.6%

05-19-2013 17:08:46 | More by moonknight31

clay23

New York

4.5/5  rDev +10.6%

05-19-2013 01:37:00 | More by clay23

Photekut

Azerbaijan

4/5  rDev -1.7%

05-19-2013 00:15:14 | More by Photekut

mverity

Florida

4.25/5  rDev +4.4%

05-16-2013 20:52:59 | More by mverity

Piotrek

Florida

4.5/5  rDev +10.6%

05-15-2013 02:22:30 | More by Piotrek

Hugonaut13

Illinois

4.25/5  rDev +4.4%

05-13-2013 01:36:32 | More by Hugonaut13

Zimm

New Jersey

4.5/5  rDev +10.6%

05-13-2013 00:29:44 | More by Zimm

Pando

Connecticut

4.5/5  rDev +10.6%

05-12-2013 04:50:20 | More by Pando

twenty5

Pennsylvania

4.25/5  rDev +4.4%

05-10-2013 16:29:40 | More by twenty5

MADPolo

Florida

4/5  rDev -1.7%

05-07-2013 17:00:57 | More by MADPolo

dfhhead25

Pennsylvania

2.5/5  rDev -38.6%

05-07-2013 03:31:44 | More by dfhhead25

tswater

Colorado

3.5/5  rDev -14%

05-05-2013 14:43:14 | More by tswater

oldp0rt

Quebec (Canada)

4/5  rDev -1.7%

05-04-2013 16:26:15 | More by oldp0rt

Hamburgers

California

4.5/5  rDev +10.6%

05-03-2013 06:17:00 | More by Hamburgers

ajtorres311

Florida

4/5  rDev -1.7%

05-01-2013 14:55:23 | More by ajtorres311

jhillwastaken

Illinois

3.25/5  rDev -20.1%

04-30-2013 09:17:13 | More by jhillwastaken

RaulMondesi

California

3.85/5  rDev -5.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Pretty solid brew for Raul. It definitely doesn't make you want to say "uh!" but it's aite like. Smell kinda like an ex-girl; it's inviting, but not intoxicating. Taste is all beautiful n kind of smooth; the cedar is slight, but it's a nice enough curve (not Kershaw nice) but nice enough to change thangs up.

Good offering, but Raulsky wouldn't hunt this thing down like the o'possum that has been waking him up every night at 2 AM.

Peace!

Serving type: bottle

04-29-2013 02:58:00 | More by RaulMondesi

jvillefan

California

4.34/5  rDev +6.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.25

A: A very hazy orangish goldish body with a pure white half finger head.

S: The cedar is very obvious. It is behind the intense grapefruit, lemon, and pine aromas that the hops are giving off. There is also a subtle caramel aroma.

T: Very good. There is a dry bitterness to start it off and then it goes into a pine and grapefruit flavor. The caramel and toffee flavors form the malts come forward next and the body finishes with a smooth cedar flavor. Complex and works well.

M: Nice heavy yet silky body with perfect carbonation.

O: Great IPA. Get this one if you can.

Serving type: bottle

04-29-2013 01:44:22 | More by jvillefan