Cigar City Brewing Tocobaga Red Ale (365 Day 223)

By scot in 365 Days of American Craft Beer, Beer on Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Cigar City Tocobaga Red Ale

Another day another American craft beer brewed up by Cigar City Brewing. The flavor of the day: Tocobaga Red Ale.

Tocobaga, easily noticed by it’s name, is an American Amber Ale. If you have followed Sips for any amount of time you should be able to recall that this is one of my least favorite styles: possibly an armpit style ;). Tocobaga completely blew me away and threw my perception of this style out the door for at least one beer.

Tocobaga smells more like an American IPA than some American IPAs. Citrus hops abound for the nose and mouth to appreciate. Apricot, mango, and orange are all big here, well balanced, and blended. Caramel malt along with some very slight roasted malt come through (roasted especially as it warms). Definitely a great interpretation of the style. Enjoy!

Aroma: 9 (25%), Taste: 10 (25%), Look: 9 (15%), Drinkability: 10 (35%), Overall: 9.6

Useless Fact: During the French revolution, a magistrate named Jean Baptiste Carrier, commissioner of the National Convention at Nantes, dispatched a number of boatloads of political prisoners into the Loire River. When the boat was in mid-stream he ordered a trap door in the bottom of the boat opened, sending an entire group of prisoners to their death. From his merciless methods of extermination the word noyade, meaning “mass drownings,” was coined.