Florida's Cigar City Brewing will pour beers in Denver during #GABF

Cigar City Brewing, a small Florida beer maker with a huge following nationwide, will pour some of its highly-sought-after beers at a handful of Colorado taphouses for the first time this year during the Great American Beer Festival. The Tampa Bay brewery doesn't normally distribute outside Florida, but like Michigan-based...

By Jonathan Shikes

August 24, 2012

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Cigar City Brewing, a small Florida beer maker with a huge following nationwide, will pour some of its highly-sought-after beers at a handful of Colorado taphouses for the first time this year during the Great American Beer Festival. The Tampa Bay brewery doesn't normally distribute outside Florida, but like Michigan-based Short's Brewing did in 2011, Cigar City will aquire the proper license in Colorado so it can sell and serve beer just during the annual beer bacchanalia (the brewery will also have a booth inside the festival, October 11-13, of course).

"We do not have the beer to distribute in Colorado year round," explains Cigar City spokesman Justin Clark. Unlike Shorts, Cigar City won't ship any packaged beer to liquor stores, although Clark says the brewery may do that in the future.

Cigar City plans to pour Jai Alai IPA, a highly-rated hop bomb that compares favorably to some of the best IPAs coming out of California and Colorado, and Maduro Brown, an English-style ale that won a gold at the 2011 United States Open Beer Championship.

The brewery, which will be distributed by Elite Brands of Colorado, will pour several other beers as well, but Clark says he isn't sure yet which ones they will be.

The brewery will also introduce a collaboration beer it made with California's Green Flash Brewing during a special even at the Falling Rock Taphouse. Here are a few of the times and locations for some Cigar City events.

October 10 Star Bar Time: TBA

October 11 FreshCraft 3-5 p.m.

October 12 Falling Rock 2-5 p.m.

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