The beers of Iwakuni: Cigar City Brewing's White Oak Jai Alai India Pale Ale

Hilgar just sent me this beer. It is the Jai Alai white oak aged India Pale Ale by Cigar City Brewing out of Tampa Florida. Joey Redner started the brewery in 2007 and with brewmaster Wayne Wambles created their first beer, Maduro brown ale, in 2008. The next year they created the Jai Alai IPA, named for the curious South American sport. They run both a 15 bbl and 30 bbl system and have an annual production of 60,000 bbl of beer of which Jai Ali is about 55%. The brewery hosts a festival in March of each year called Hunahpu's day, named for the Mayan god of beer, which has a turnout of 5000+ people. There is a stout brewed exclusively for the event and cannot be attained elsewhere (at least, not directly). The White Oak Jai Alai IPA being reviewed here is a special brew derived from their flagship beer that has been aged in white oak spirals in order to impart "vanilla, coconut, and a touch of dill" to the citrusy IPA, or so their website says.

I received this beer in a standard 12oz can. It is decorated in a white oak bark pattern all around and features a hop flower being thrown by a blurry Jai Alai player. On the front, under the Cigar City Brewing seal it says "Jai Alai aged on White Oak India Pale Ale" in a 1970's disco font, referring to the short time Jai Alai saw serious popularity in the United States. The epitaph on the reverse says "This is an American Oak aged version of Jai Alai. The oak adds smoothing notes of vanilla and slight hints of dill to the aroma and flavor profile. The finish is elegantly dry due to the light tannin notes from oak aging and though still loaded with hop flavor, hop bitterness is more restrained". 7.5% ABV. I'll be having this in my American session glass. Let's crack this cold one open and get a whiff of it!

Nose from the can has a mango orange juice scent, it's resiny as well. Nose from the glass is similar, but with vanilla in it as well. Color is a dark orange, I'd give it a 14 on the SRM, and has a fluffy white head. There is a good bit of life within the glass, both small and big bubble agitation. On first sip, It is blood orange and pine resin that subsides to grapefruit and has a dry finish. There is an extra something in there that I cannot put my finger on. It is a slight underlying wood characteristic that I know for a fact is oak, but I struggle to call it that. The hops are certainly mellow, there is maybe some vanilla at the start and in the finish, but not in the aftertaste. The aftertaste is grapefruit and pine resin. It's developed a strawberry flavor in the middle, like an artificial strawberry you would find in a HI-CHEW.

Listen to Sonic's Rendezvous band. I'm doing Terminal Readiness Seminar this week, just getting ready to be out of the Corps and back into civilian life. Hopefully I will be able to cobble together a resume so I can get a floater job on the outside while I prepare to start a business. From what I hear the job market is pretty good back home if you are really willing to work. I'm looking to get an RV to live in for a little bit while I transition and then take that on my Pan-American Beer Tour!

I've been scoping this one out for about two weeks, It's a 1985 Winnebago chieftain and it's perfect! I figure it's 454 chevy big block is something I can keep running as I traverse the United States, sampling America's beers! The interior is pretty good as well, certainly serviceable for my needs. And at $3000 it's better than paying several months rent.

Final thoughts. It's a pretty good beer. Very sessionable and well brewed. If you see one, pick it up. I don't think you will we dissapointed. I give this beer my blurry seal of approval.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigar_City_Brewing
https://cigarcitybrewing.com/