Cigar City Cuban Espresso Maduro

Brewery: Cigar City

Style: American Brown Ale

ABV: 5.5%

So I spent the holidays in Orange City Florida with family. Upon leaving VA Alex told me to look for Cigar City beer as it was brewed in FL and we could not get it in VA. Oddly most places didn't carry this local brew in stores but I was able to locate a great specialty bar with an amazing selection of which included multiple Cigar City beers. The place was Abbey in Deland Florida. If you are ever in the area I recommend checking this place out, the owner and staff are all very knowledgeable when it comes to wine and beer.

So I bellied up to the bar and ordered an Espresso Brown Ale from Cigar City's offerings. This beer is based off of their all year round offering, Maduro Oatmeal Brown Ale. The color was a deep brown which allowed little light to pass through. It resembled a thinned out coffee beverage. Very thin lacy head to begin with which dissipated to nothing rather quickly.

The aroma was amazing and that of fresh brewed espresso with a slight hint of spice. There also some notes of roasted malts which combined well with the coffee.

The taste was fantastic, primarily coffee yet not over powering of the fact that this was a beer. A very light bitterness shown through before an aftertaste that continued the coffee theme. The mouth feel displayed a decent amount of carbonation but not enough to overcome the smoothness of this beverage.

Overall a good coffee based brown ale and I would like to have some again, I give it a B-.

-Roy