Jai Alai IPA - White Oak | Cigar City Brewing
Brewed by:
Cigar City Brewing
Florida, United States
cigarcitybrewing.com
Style: American IPA
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 7.50%
Availability: Year-round
Notes / Commercial Description:
This is an American White Oak-aged version of Jai Alai India Pale Ale. The white oak adds smoothing notes of vanilla and slight hints of dill to the aroma and flavor profile. The finish is elegantly dry due to the light tannin notes from oak aging and though still loaded with hop flavor, hop bitterness is more restrained.
70 IBU
Added by tpd975 on 06-13-2010
HISTOGRAM
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Ratings: 2,266 | Reviews: 506
3.9/5 rDev -7.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours a slightly cloudy, deep amber coloration with a medium, fizzy head. Smells of bready malt, citrus hops, vanilla and pine, with a certain herbaceous note as well. Taste follows the nose, with a strong presence of bready malts and hoppy notes of orange rind, grapefruit, pineapple and pine. There's also a very definite vanilla presence, along with a slightly odd earthy, herbaceous note that is vaguely reminiscent of dill indeed. Finishes with a medium bitterness and some more pine coming through. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation. Compared to regular Jai Alai, the vanilla and herbaceousness is the main difference. It's also a bit more mellow, slightly maltier and a little less resinous. I feel like the pineapple also comes through a bit more. All in all, I really prefer regular Jai Alai, but I'm generally not a big fan of barrel aged IPAs.
872 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours a slightly cloudy, deep amber coloration with a medium, fizzy head. Smells of bready malt, citrus hops, vanilla and pine, with a certain herbaceous note as well. Taste follows the nose, with a strong presence of bready malts and hoppy notes of orange rind, grapefruit, pineapple and pine. There's also a very definite vanilla presence, along with a slightly odd earthy, herbaceous note that is vaguely reminiscent of dill indeed. Finishes with a medium bitterness and some more pine coming through. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation. Compared to regular Jai Alai, the vanilla and herbaceousness is the main difference. It's also a bit more mellow, slightly maltier and a little less resinous. I feel like the pineapple also comes through a bit more. All in all, I really prefer regular Jai Alai, but I'm generally not a big fan of barrel aged IPAs.
872 characters
4.38/5 rDev +4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
3.74/5 rDev -11.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Can Date: 2/28/18
Palate Contaminants: none
Look is a clear, medium amber with a fair amount of off-white head. Decent lacing.
Not a whole lot of anything on the nose. I get grain, pleasant barley, but not much else. Maybe I can pick out a slight amount of sweet peach.
I guess it needs some warmth. I definitely catch fresh wood barrel. Oak, even. Of course, shocker. Plenty of malt, but the sweetness is mild, and it meets the bitterness on equal footing. Coconut husk. The intensity picks up with time, although complexity doesn't. Simple, but good.
Feel has a bit of prickly carbonation. Medium-light weight. Aftertaste is more bitter than anything. Alcohol well hidden.
678 characters
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Can Date: 2/28/18
Palate Contaminants: none
Look is a clear, medium amber with a fair amount of off-white head. Decent lacing.
Not a whole lot of anything on the nose. I get grain, pleasant barley, but not much else. Maybe I can pick out a slight amount of sweet peach.
I guess it needs some warmth. I definitely catch fresh wood barrel. Oak, even. Of course, shocker. Plenty of malt, but the sweetness is mild, and it meets the bitterness on equal footing. Coconut husk. The intensity picks up with time, although complexity doesn't. Simple, but good.
Feel has a bit of prickly carbonation. Medium-light weight. Aftertaste is more bitter than anything. Alcohol well hidden.
678 characters
4.57/5 rDev +8.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
12 oz. canned 12/14/17
Pours hazy amber orange with a creamy white foam head. Smells like white oak, vanilla, coconut, fresh citrus, orange, grapefruit, lemon, marmalade, caramelized malt, dill weed, with floral earthy herbal grassy pine. Tastes like toasty oak, vanilla, coconut, citrus fruit, orange, grapefruit, lemon, dried fruit marmalade, some caramelized malt, dill, with floral earthy herbal grassy pine. Feels medium bodied, creamy and slick with moderate smooth carbonation. Overall a really nice white oak aged IPA.
527 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
12 oz. canned 12/14/17
Pours hazy amber orange with a creamy white foam head. Smells like white oak, vanilla, coconut, fresh citrus, orange, grapefruit, lemon, marmalade, caramelized malt, dill weed, with floral earthy herbal grassy pine. Tastes like toasty oak, vanilla, coconut, citrus fruit, orange, grapefruit, lemon, dried fruit marmalade, some caramelized malt, dill, with floral earthy herbal grassy pine. Feels medium bodied, creamy and slick with moderate smooth carbonation. Overall a really nice white oak aged IPA.
527 characters
3.74/5 rDev -11.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Eggshell white head, crests around two fingers, very uneven surface with a mix of bubble sizes, very nice retention and a large amount of heavy lacing streaks with inordinate stickiness. Hazy amber hued liquid, only a few bubbles visible, fat and lazy. The nose punctuated by green leafy matter, tobacco wrapper, tar, pulped oranges and tropical pineapple, mango to peach fruit scents, does not present a softening element such as caramel or honey, stays lean and stiff, and overall dissolves too quickly. Medium-bodied, while it has a good deal of foaminess to it the texture is dry and tacky if not gluey. Here too the oak seems to dry it out rather than add creaminess. Much more orange to pink grapefruit citrus and greater length in the papaya, nectarine, mango, pineapple fruit. There is tar, tea leaf and earth, less herbaceous with notes of oregano and basil. There’s something about it which seems lacking in harmony, no glue to hold the pieces together. You don’t want the last flavor to be like sucking on a chopstick. More interesting than enjoyable. (Canned 12/27/17)
1,084 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Eggshell white head, crests around two fingers, very uneven surface with a mix of bubble sizes, very nice retention and a large amount of heavy lacing streaks with inordinate stickiness. Hazy amber hued liquid, only a few bubbles visible, fat and lazy. The nose punctuated by green leafy matter, tobacco wrapper, tar, pulped oranges and tropical pineapple, mango to peach fruit scents, does not present a softening element such as caramel or honey, stays lean and stiff, and overall dissolves too quickly. Medium-bodied, while it has a good deal of foaminess to it the texture is dry and tacky if not gluey. Here too the oak seems to dry it out rather than add creaminess. Much more orange to pink grapefruit citrus and greater length in the papaya, nectarine, mango, pineapple fruit. There is tar, tea leaf and earth, less herbaceous with notes of oregano and basil. There’s something about it which seems lacking in harmony, no glue to hold the pieces together. You don’t want the last flavor to be like sucking on a chopstick. More interesting than enjoyable. (Canned 12/27/17)
1,084 characters
4.33/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Canned on 1/11/18. Consumed on 2/24/18.
Pours an orangish copper color.
Tropical citrus notes along with some coconut, and a hint of vanilla. Very nice!
Taste is divine. Such an awesome combo.
198 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Canned on 1/11/18. Consumed on 2/24/18.
Pours an orangish copper color.
Tropical citrus notes along with some coconut, and a hint of vanilla. Very nice!
Taste is divine. Such an awesome combo.
198 characters
4.49/5 rDev +6.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
4.23/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Seems like an her a tea version on Jai alai. It has a little bit if the strong tea-like bite in the finish too.
111 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Seems like an her a tea version on Jai alai. It has a little bit if the strong tea-like bite in the finish too.
111 characters
4.3/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
3.91/5 rDev -7.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
4.02/5 rDev -4.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Canned 12/14. Dark amber colored with hues of iced tea and light brown. The head is frothy like toothpaste and 1/2 finger tall.
Aroma is very woodsy. Lots of aromatic wood, tree bark, pine, orange blossom, vanilla, with hints of dill pickles, and campfire.
Delicious. Tastes like a damn humidor. It's similar to regular Jai, but it has this awesome campfire thing going on. Like, it encapsulates joyful conversations around the firepit while having a beer, in a can. Pine and citrus start first, followed by ashy vanilla wood, dill, lemon rind, and pine resin. Lots of resin and oils remain on the finish.
Feel is crisp, creamy, smooth, very carbonated, very resiny at the same time.
Overall, not quite as good as regular Jai - the juiciness of fruits is replaced with more pine, slight dill, lemon, and wood, but it's still delicious. A more pine-y, woodsy, camp fire version of Jai Alai. Gotta try it at least once in your life.
938 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Canned 12/14. Dark amber colored with hues of iced tea and light brown. The head is frothy like toothpaste and 1/2 finger tall.
Aroma is very woodsy. Lots of aromatic wood, tree bark, pine, orange blossom, vanilla, with hints of dill pickles, and campfire.
Delicious. Tastes like a damn humidor. It's similar to regular Jai, but it has this awesome campfire thing going on. Like, it encapsulates joyful conversations around the firepit while having a beer, in a can. Pine and citrus start first, followed by ashy vanilla wood, dill, lemon rind, and pine resin. Lots of resin and oils remain on the finish.
Feel is crisp, creamy, smooth, very carbonated, very resiny at the same time.
Overall, not quite as good as regular Jai - the juiciness of fruits is replaced with more pine, slight dill, lemon, and wood, but it's still delicious. A more pine-y, woodsy, camp fire version of Jai Alai. Gotta try it at least once in your life.
938 characters
4.42/5 rDev +5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.38/5 rDev +4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.18/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.23/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
3.83/5 rDev -9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Canned 1 month ago.
Pours translucent copper with 2+ fingers of off-white head.
The nose is orange blossom, orange candy, tea leaf, and tobacco. Hints of potpourri and peach. Wood and caramel in the background.
Big resinous notes on the palate. Potpourri and orange rind. Medium bitterness, amplified by the oak. An herbal note that the commercial description aptly calls dill. Predominantly old school hop profile, offset by a fairly present barrel character. Drying and vaguely tannic. Light to medium booziness on the backend.
Overall, solid but maybe not one I'd return to. Not sure I'm a fan of what the barrel character does here, offering wood and booze that steer the hop profile toward floral/herbal territory, sacrificing some of the fruitiness of regular Jai Alai. I get what they're going for here, but it's good-not-great to my palate. 7.5/10
859 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Canned 1 month ago.
Pours translucent copper with 2+ fingers of off-white head.
The nose is orange blossom, orange candy, tea leaf, and tobacco. Hints of potpourri and peach. Wood and caramel in the background.
Big resinous notes on the palate. Potpourri and orange rind. Medium bitterness, amplified by the oak. An herbal note that the commercial description aptly calls dill. Predominantly old school hop profile, offset by a fairly present barrel character. Drying and vaguely tannic. Light to medium booziness on the backend.
Overall, solid but maybe not one I'd return to. Not sure I'm a fan of what the barrel character does here, offering wood and booze that steer the hop profile toward floral/herbal territory, sacrificing some of the fruitiness of regular Jai Alai. I get what they're going for here, but it's good-not-great to my palate. 7.5/10
859 characters
4.25/5 rDev +1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
3.75/5 rDev -10.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.14/5 rDev -1.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Picked this up at a Total Wine in Fort Myers. Can dated 12/14/17. I appreciate most of the stuff Cigar City puts out, and I always try to support the locals. This is sometimes disappointing, sometimes pleasantly surprising.
Cigar City didn't let me down. Initial impression is citrus (mango, orange) and pine, with definite oak overtones. I've tried Jai Alai, and it's good - but this is better. The oak seems to integrate and smooth the rough edges of "stock" Jai Alai. Medium mouthfeel, nice and sticky. Carbonation is perfect. Finish is dry and a little bitter. Very good - better'n Jai Alai.
605 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Picked this up at a Total Wine in Fort Myers. Can dated 12/14/17. I appreciate most of the stuff Cigar City puts out, and I always try to support the locals. This is sometimes disappointing, sometimes pleasantly surprising.
Cigar City didn't let me down. Initial impression is citrus (mango, orange) and pine, with definite oak overtones. I've tried Jai Alai, and it's good - but this is better. The oak seems to integrate and smooth the rough edges of "stock" Jai Alai. Medium mouthfeel, nice and sticky. Carbonation is perfect. Finish is dry and a little bitter. Very good - better'n Jai Alai.
605 characters
4.01/5 rDev -4.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Look-Pours a nice light copper color
Smell-This is where this fell short for me, almost nothing there
Taste- Nice w a little vanilla in the background from the oak
Mouthfeel- Medium bodied
Overall- I thought this was pretty nice, was pleasantly surprised. The regular Jai Alai I have had in the past left me unimpressed, will be revisiting it shortly. This was much better
376 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Look-Pours a nice light copper color
Smell-This is where this fell short for me, almost nothing there
Taste- Nice w a little vanilla in the background from the oak
Mouthfeel- Medium bodied
Overall- I thought this was pretty nice, was pleasantly surprised. The regular Jai Alai I have had in the past left me unimpressed, will be revisiting it shortly. This was much better
376 characters
4.08/5 rDev -3.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
I ordered this in a restaurant in Tarpon Springs. It was served in a conical glass. Hazy amber with a creamy head. I didn't notice much of a bouquet. The flavor is very good; it has a little something extra, a special taste I couldn't identify. My local grocery store sells Cigar City beers. If I can find the White Oak Jai Alai, I'll definitely pick up a six.
367 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
I ordered this in a restaurant in Tarpon Springs. It was served in a conical glass. Hazy amber with a creamy head. I didn't notice much of a bouquet. The flavor is very good; it has a little something extra, a special taste I couldn't identify. My local grocery store sells Cigar City beers. If I can find the White Oak Jai Alai, I'll definitely pick up a six.
367 characters
Jai Alai IPA - White Oak from Cigar City Brewing
Beer rating:
4.21 out of
5 with
2,266 ratings
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