Cigar City Humidor Series Gruit

Brewed by Cigar City Brewing
Style: Traditional Ale
Tampa, Florida USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, English pint, Stein, Yard

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UPDATED: APR 14, 2010 Growler. Pours hazy golden color with a decent white head. Aromas are full of pepper, spice, and big cedar aroma, almost to the point that you are smelling a cigar box. Flavors are the same as the nose with the cedar really standing out, and get the spices on the finish. Also a tad bit sweet. Finish is all about the cedar since it lingers for a while. Not a bad beer and definitely interesting.

Growler from CCB. Pours a slightly hazy amber color with one finger fizzy white head that settles quickly. Aroma is pine, cedar, ash, funk, straw, yeast, some hints of caramel and honey. Flavor is sweet and floral with notes of pine, cedar, spice, caramel, honey, light floral esters, spice. Medium body and citrusy pine finish. Interesting ale.

sampled on tap at the cigar city tasting room. Hazy/murky light orange in color with a head that recedes - which not hopping it may have contributed to. Alot of spicy and earthy cedar in the aroma mixed with bready yeast - a touch of sourdough, citrus, and some light honey malt sweetness. Taste - is alot of earthy and spicy cedar up front. While I thought it was a bit over the top in some of the humidor beers, I thought it worked well here. It balanced the sweet, pale malt backbone and bready, yeasty quality of this beer well. I liked it. Finishes with lingering spicy cedar....

Sample at brewery. Pours hazy yellow with a small white head. nose is cedar, spice, some malt, and a slight citrus quality. Flavor is similar: some malt, definite cedar, spice, pepper, and a tiny bit of citrus. I almost feel like there was one hop in the beer. Interesting- ccb cedar ale without hops. I think I could drink this occasionally. It is not better or worse than the Midnight Sun Gruit, it is different, and not 12% ABV.

Draft @ CCB. Pours a dark yellow with a fizzy white head. Nose is earthy, big spicy cedar, sweet fruit, grapes, musty basement. Flavor is sweaty, semi tart, moldy wood, spicy cedar, hints of fruit. Starts getting very odd as it warms. Definitely different.

Thanks to Solan for the pour from a growler, though I couldn’t finish it. The aroma reminds me of a hot summers day, after mowing my lush lawn of the thickest and brightest green St. Augustine grass. I get my fertilizer spreader out, and fill it with Scott’s Turfbuilder for a quick feeding. The lawn appreciates the feeding and will respond by looking fabulous well into the fall months. I sit down to marvel at the turf I have built and take a deep breath through the nose. Mmmmmm... fresh cut grass, fertilizer and a little bug spray to keep those pesky chinch bugs away. The flavor is lighter, a little sweet, and dry. The cedar is forward, but if you were paying attention, you’d think you were drinking that Scott’s Turfbuilder. I could see how others would like this. It is odd and original. It just isn’t for me.

growler shared by Solan (i think?). Rotten wood cedar nose, somewhat musty, with a peppery spice. Pours an amber golden with a thin white head. Strong cedar flavor, peppery, citrus, bitter lemon peel, slightly vegetal, hints of vanilla, with a spicy malty finish. I’m not sure what I think of it, I’ve definitely never had anything like it before! I don’t think I could drink it all the time but it’s growing on me. Definitely one of a kind and a treat to sample.