Cigar City - Dos Costas Oeste (2011)

Dos Costas Oeste is the result of a collaborative brewing effort between Cigar City Brewing of Florida’s Gulf (West) Coast and The Bruery of Placentia, CA.  Like the breweries involved with its creation, this ale cheerfully meanders off the beaten path.

This Saison is a high gravity ale with coriander, ginger and sweet orange peel aged on grapefruit wood spirals.    This is Variation #2 – aged on grapefruit wood spirals.   Variation #1 was aged on cedar spirals.

Bottled by Cigar City.


The ABV is 9.0 and the IBU rating is ??
Style - Saison / Farmhouse Ale
Glass to use - Pint Glass, Becker, Tumbler or Oversized Wine Glass
Delivery - 750ml Bottle

Can be cellared for long periods, under the proper conditions.

The Pour - Pours a cloudy orange color with a big white head that vanishes. Some lacing.
Aroma - Citrus fruit, spices - I get coriander and the ginger is very strong, hops
Taste - Same as the nose, strong ginger and orange.
Mouth Feel - High carbonation and medium body.
Drinkable - I opened the bottle and the brew rushed out of the top (gusher!), I had to scramble to the sink. Lucky that only a half a glass ended up on the floor instead of my belly.  From what I've read online this is a normal occurrence for this brew.  I would call this a Winter warmer for the summer time.  Very refreshing, should have opened on a hot day.

This beer pair well with cheese, salads and white meats.

This beer gets a Duper rating of B
BeerAdvocate Rating = 86
Ratebeer Rating = 92

Cigar City - Bolita

Bolita was a type of lottery popular with the working class citizens of the Ybor City district of Tampa. Bolita means, ’little ball’ but profits from the illegal (and often rigged) game were anything but little. In the 1920’s Tampa native Charlie Wall was the undisputed kingpin of the Bolita racket.

Cigar City's Bolita is a Double Northern English-style brown ale that has a complex malt forward character with notes of chocolate, toffee and hints of roasted nuts in the finish. Bolita pairs well with Baklava, Big Band Music, Cool Evenings and robust cigars.

The ABV is 9.0 and the IBU rating is ??
Style - English Brown Ale
Glass to use - Pint Glass, Tumbler, Snifter, Mug or Stein
Delivery 750ml Bottle

Can be cellared for long periods, under the proper conditions.

The Pour - Pours a dark brown color with a brown head. Good lacing.
Aroma - Dark malts, toffee, some chocolate and a bit nutty.
Taste -  Sweet, malty, chocolate, toffee with a bitter after taste.  
Mouth Feel - Medium carbonation and body.  Smooth.
Drinkable - Not bad, an average brown ale.  Alcohol is well hidden.  There are better browns on the market, but give this one a try and judge for yourself. 

This beer pairs well with cheese and pork.

This beer gets a Duper rating of B-
BeerAdvocate Rating =B+
Ratebeer Rating = 98