Cigar City Brewing

Cigar City Brewing is an award-winning^[1][2][3][4] production brewery in Tampa, Florida. It is located at 3924 West Spruce Street in Tampa off of Dale Mabry Highway. The brewery opened its doors in the spring of 2009, and began production with two employees, Joseph (Joey) Redner as owner and CEO and Wayne Wambles as head brewer. From a modest two-employee company came the beginnings of a craft brewery that has developed into one of Florida's largest as of 2015.

Cigar City Brewing seeks to make world-class beer while celebrating Tampa Bay's rich and storied history. Like all great beers, everything that Cigar City makes has a storied history and a direct tie to a brewer, a piece of Tampa lore, or both. From Jose Marti porter to Jai Alai IPA to Warmer Winter Winter Warmer to Marshall Zhukov Imperial Stout, every beer is made by hand in Tampa under the supervision of a Cigar City brewer.

Beers

Cigar City Brewing's reputation was built on their core lineup of beers in association with occasional releases combined with tasting room rarities. Cigar City Brewing's main lineup of beers is anchored by Jai Alai India Pale Ale (IPA), an intense and citrusy IPA named for the Basque game of kings. Jai Alai IPA contains 7.5% alcohol by volume and accounts for over 50% of Cigar City's beer sales, as of 2015. From the inception of Cigar City, Jai Alai has been a best-selling beer.

After Jai Alai, Cigar City launched Maduro Brown Ale to cater to those who preferred a brown ale and as an homage to Tampa's cigar industry of years past. Named for a type of cigar, Maduro is one of the original anchors of Cigar City Brewing's lineup.

For many years, Jai Alai IPA and Maduro brown ale were the two cores and the most consistent beers that Cigar City Brewing produced. From there, the core lineup was diversified with the addition of Florida Cracker White Ale, Hotter than Helles Lager, and Invasion Pale Ale. Florida Cracker White Ale is a Belgian-inspired white ale brewed with coriander and orange peel to emulate a Belgian white ale. Hotter than Helles is a German-inspired light lager that is perfectly paired for Florida's hottest weather as the beer is only 5% alcohol by volume and very refreshing. Finally, Invasion Pale Ale is a citrusy American pale ale weighing in at 5% alcohol and named for the annual Gasparilla Festival, it is another way that Cigar City celebrates Tampa's history by etching that history on metal.

The Cigar City Family of Brands

Cigar City Brewing in Tampa Int'l Airport

In the spring of 2012, Cigar City opened an outlet in the Tampa International Airport (TIA). As of opening day, Cigar City Brewing had the only working brewery in an airport in the world. The brewery began operations in TIA by serving their core beers with an extra beer only available at the brewery and the airport: Tony Jannus Pale Ale, an American pale ale aged on Spanish Cedar.^[5] Cigar City Brewing in TIA serves customers in Airside C, the terminal that services mostly Southwest and AirTran Airlines flights, respectively. The small pub offers a selection of Tampa-inspired dishes combined with Cigar City beers and a few airport exclusives.

References