Review: Bolita Brown

When I see Cigar City beers in stock at a store, I pick one up: They bottle in very limited amounts and when something's gone, it's gone.

I picked up a 750 mL bottle of Bolita Brown, one of Cigar City's seasonal beers, for $10 at my go-to beer store, Total Wine & More. I find myself going there a lot more than to Whole Foods, even though that store is right near where I work. For one, Total Wine's prices are usually better than Whole Foods and they have a larger selection, though Whole Foods frequently has beers Total Wine doesn't.

According to the label, the name of this beer was decided by a contest and refers to the old Ybor City lottery game called bolita, or little ball. The illegal game was often fixed, they say.

Back to the beer. From my notes:

Almost black, this beer lets just a bit of deep ruby light through. It has a nice light brown head. A big aroma of roasted malt: coffee, toffee, caramel and chocolate. The taste is super creamy, like a nutty, roasted malt-coffee shake, but not as sweet as that sounds. It's just really good. The high alcohol level is almost totally hidden. A wonderful body: glassy and slick.

The second Cigar City beer I've had. This one is excellent. I enjoyed it a bit more than their 110K+OT. I'm looking forward to drinking my bottle of Improvicasion, which Cigar City calls an oatmeal rye India-style brown ale.

Review: Little Sumpin' Sumpin'

A co-worker gave me a bottle of this beer from Lagunitas Monday night. She bought it on sale at Whole Foods in downtown Sarasota. And it was cold, so I just had to drink it after the shift.

Lagunitas, from Petaluma, Calif., generally makes beers with pronounced hop flavors. They're the perfect example of a West Coast brewer. Their beers are also known for the crazy notes printed on them and on the six-pack holders. As a copy editor, the notes can drive me crazy since they read like stream-of-consciousness drivel. Anyway, I'm not going to fault a brewery for that. The real issue is that they brew some mean beers.

Lagunitas describes Little Sumpin' Sumpin' as "way smooth and silky with a nice wheaty-esque-ish-ness." I see.

My notes:

It's a bright gold in color with a sticky head.

It has a great hoppy aroma. Huge citrus and sweet notes bombard my nose.

The taste is all about the hops. Herbal, grassy and citrus flavors all mix with a good bitterness, but not in a hit-you-over-the-head way. Thryn said this reminds her of a lighter Hopslam, and I agree. I can't detect the wheat malt in this.

The body is light, slick and oily.

I like this beer. It's a good hoppy beer that could lead people down the dark path toward my favorite style -- Double IPA.

Cigar City and Anderson Valley at Whole Foods

To follow up on my previous post, I went to the Whole Foods in Sarasota today and they also had Cigar City's 110K+OT in stock. $13 for a 750 mL bottle.

They also had four beers from Anderson Valley Brewing Co., a great California brewery. They've been making beer for years but are a new arrival in Sarasota. Whole Foods had Hop Ottin' IPA, Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema, Brother David's Abbey Double and Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. The IPA and stout are very good; I haven't tried the others.

I was also very happy to see that Whole Foods still had some of Terrapin's excellent Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout in stock. A four-pack of 12-ounce bottles are $12. Here are some of my notes on it:

It's a lovely black with a nice deep brown head. The smell is great. Big coffee and chocolate notes.

The taste: Wow. This totally lives up to the hype. It's creamy and sweet, but not cloying. The coffee flavors are big, but there are no tannin notes of bad coffee. I just realized that this is a stronger stout. Its strength is very well-hidden. There are no notes of alcohol or solvent flavors.

Overall this is a fantastic stout and one of the best I've ever had. Seek it out: You won't be disappointed.

The beer scene in Florida continues to improve.