Jai Alai From NC vs. FL

Send me one of each and I'll let 'ya know.

 

It's the Dublin Effect.
Have you only had FL-brewed Jai Alai when actually in FL? That could be it. Sun, salt air, mosquitoes...all of this can affect your palate.

 

An Oscar Blues/Cigar City rep was giving away samples of their beers at a local shop a few weeks back. I said I'd like to try a taste of OB Lil Yellow Pils since I hadn't had one since around the time it first hit the market. I asked where it came from, NC or FL, and he said "Texas" - and that NC was brewing primarily just Jai Alai and Dale's Pale Ale. I was surprised at that.

I didn't get much further in conversation, however, since I told him (a) originally I found their Pils too "gummy" and not very clean tasting when I first had it and then (b) as we were talking he saw me turn some of the unopened sample cans over to check the date codes and give a raised eyebrow at they're being +4 months old. So, he interrupted me and called out to someone else asking if they wanted to sample one of the beers .

 

Some I know in FL were talking about Wayne Wombles being in Brevardbrewing last March. He had also been at Perrin in MI.

I would think differences would be to equipment or the hops that have in Brevard, since the brewers were trained by Wayne.

 

Maybe.... the location bias is more common than most people realize/admit...


@Terptwerp If you really want to be sure find some Jai Alai from FL and NC with approximately the same dates and do a blind tasting (preferably by triangle test) to see if you can pick out the difference.

 

I drank Guinness in Dublin once and it tasted great.

 

Jail Alai hasn't been "Jail Alai" in a long time.

 

Jai Alai was so inconsistent from can to can that I stopped buying it 2-3 years ago. One can would be really juicy good and the next can was really bland and old tasting, same can dates , same six pack. I have no desire to buy this beer now. It was a "mythical" beer and when it came to Philly it was rare and far between shipments. Once it was always available it started to have consistency issues. While a good beer I dont ever say I want to go buy it.

enjoy

 

I bought a case a couple of years ago; that beer was less than a month old from canning. That beer tasted like it was over 6 months old. I sent multiple e-mails to Cigar City and after a few weeks I got a response from the person in charge of brewing operations. He stated that the batch I purchased met their specifications; there was nothing wrong with that batch.

The 'good news' on that case was that all of the cans tasted the same (like they were 6+ months old).

That was the last time I bought a beer from Cigar City.

Cheers!

 

Jack, for what it's worth, I've had fresh (within a month of canning) Jai Alai a couple different times and it's a little too sweet for my tastes. It's the same sort of sweetness that an older IPA develops as the hops begin to fade, but hasn't gone "bad" yet. If that's similar to what you experienced, then yours might have been within specs.

Needless to say, there are other IPAs I like much more than Jai Alai, but I don't have a sweet tooth like I know many people do.

 

Had it for first time in Sarasota a week and-a-half ago. Brewed and canned by OB in NC. Wasn't nearly as impressive as I had expected.

 

Over the past few years most of the times I've had it in cans it's been inconsistent, too. And the bad ones reminded me of this stuff:

(which I love, btw)- kind of a dense, caramel/desiccated orange quality. Good in a bitters, not so good in an IPA.

But then, about a month ago, it was one of the few beers available at a concert venue so I got a glass on draught...and it was vibrant and fantastic! I even got another after that . Now I don't know what to think...

 

Yup, that case of Jai Alai was indeed a sweet, malty mess. I have had Jai Alai many times previous to that case and those beers were enjoyable.

Do you think they changed the specs for Jai Alai a couple of years ago? If so, shouldn't they inform their customer base of a change before they spend 40 bucks for a case of their changed beer?

Cheers!

 

Not in my rotation, even when fresh I wasn't all that impressed.

 

I can't say if anything changed. It always tasted too sweet to me.

 

"Jai Alai is now available to Colorado year round."


"Oh yeah it's gonna 4-5 months old each time, though"

 

When I first got into good beer a few years ago, I remember drinking a ton of this and thinking it was just the best there was. The next year it didn't live up, nor subsequent tries. They were all fresh, but something was just not like I remembered. Last year when there I scored a 4 pack of it on white oak and really loved that beer. But the one I found and drank a lot of was Guayabera Citra Pale Ale, which just got label approval in Texas to be brewed along with Jai Alai at the Austin Oskar Blues brewery. Will try Jai Alai when it is released here, but really wanting to get my hands on more of the Guayabera.

 

I loved the six pack of Jai Alai I bought in Manhattan. I don't put too much trust in peoples'--and my own--palate to differentiate minute differences. I had one six pack two years ago. If it tastes anything similar to how I faultily remember, I'll be happy.