I hosted a Cigar City Tasting last Friday with a great turnout of 18 people. Everyone had a great time and I gave a box of beer away from a random drawing. The box contained Samuel Adams Vixen, Zombie Dust, Life & Limb 2 and The Dogfather. Now remind you 75% of the people are not big craft drinkers. But I'm slowly changing that. I had one guy who hates IPAs tell me he can drink Tocobaga all day long. On the other hand some people thought Hunahpu was absolutely disgusting. Here how the brews ranked: 1. Improv 2. Jose Marti 3. Tocobaga 4. Hunahpu 5. Criterium 6. Kalevipoeg 7. Bolita 8. Guava Grove 9. Auld Alliance 10. Tropical Heatwave 11. Dos Costas (Grapefruit) 12. Big Sound 13. El Murciolago There were a few surprises for me in this list. Such as Improv being number 1 and Guava Grove being number 8. Almost every brew had a mixed review which was expected. My top 5 was: 1. hunahpu 2. El Murciolago 3. Kalevipoeg 4.Tocobaga 5. Big Sound I personally did not rank one below a 3. All brews were fantastic and El Murciolago was superb!
sounds delicious! With people who are not craft drinkers, or are new, I am not surprised that a huge stout like Hunahpu was ranked lower, nor that Saisons were rated rather low as well. Brown ales at the top seems about right for that demographic. Good on you introducing them to such great beers, maybe down the road they will realise how lucky they were
Really suprised at this list actually. I can see why Murcielago was a bit low. Hard for me to get into that one and im almost 1200 reviews deep. Nice job of a lineup though. Cheers!
A bit surprised how a few of those ranked but would have been a great tasting. I could not get into Critirium but to each his own.
Cliche maybe, but with Murcielago its either love it or hate it for most people. Its combination of unique AND intense flavors (for a beer IMO) is really polarizing. I'm exceedingly glad to have tried it, but tequila is not my bag. Very well made beer though.
I have a Guava Grove right now I'm waiting to open. Too bad to see that Jai Alai wasn't there. Bet people would have liked that one.
That Guava Grove you sent me was amazing. As was the Zombie Dust. Still excited to try Tocobaga and Hunahpu!
El Murcielago is an intense, complex brew. I love tequila too so I was excited to try that one myself. I'm glad You enjoyed the Guava Grove. It's an awesome brew that's a local favorite. Cheers.
Gotta agree with some of the other posts about not including some of the regular lineup brews. I imagine jai alai and maduro would have done quite well if Jose marti was near the top. Cubano espresso is one of my personal favorites but of course hunahpus probably just blew their minds and tastebuds into next week... Oh man its sooo good.
I'm a big CCB fan. My 5 favorites from CCB are Hunahpu, Marshall Zuhkov, Guava Groove, Humidor IPA, and Good Gourd. That does look like a great way to introduce craft beer to friends.
Most people in the group do not like IPAs so I kept Jai Alai out and put in Tocobaga. I was suppose to have Maduro but the guy who was suppose to bring it left it at home I only could find one Cubano Espresso and didn't want tease people. Hunahpu and El Murcielago was too much for a good majority but loved by all others. Those two brews were a 5 or a 1 for people. No happy medium there! I'm planning a 3 Floyds tasting soon which should be interesting especially since I'm in south Florida.
