Yesterday we decided to head down to Tampa, FL for Cigar City's release of Hunahpu, an Imperial Stout that only comes out once a year. This was their third year doing the release, but you'd think it was their 50th with the huge crowd that showed up. People came from other states to check it out. We drove about 1 hour... and it was definitely worth it.
We arrived just as they started letting people into the lot at 11 am. The line (more of a crowd) went around the block. I would guess there were about 200-300 people just standing in line to get in. We grabbed our folding chairs and went inside.
They blocked off their prking lot for the event and brought in a bunch of food trucks and beer tents, including opening their taproom, of course. Many people brought in lawn chairs, coolers, food and other beers. There was even a homebrewer's tent where homebrewers were welcome to trade and sample out their beers. This is apparently a huge beer trading event. I didn't realize this before, but there is a beer trading movement going around where folks will trade their regional beers with others in order to try some rare finds. It seems like a great way to share favorites with other beer lovers.
We set up shop next to a food truck and my partner in crime headed into a line. The lines for each beer truck were a minumum of 50 people deep. I stayed and watched over our spot. I was battling a cold, so sitting seemed like a good idea. The Hunahpu was everything expected. It was sweet, strong alcohol taste, good coffee notes, nice lingering aftertaste. It was definitely a beer we'd like to age because it would probably be out of this world. Those flavors just popped.
After standing in a couple 20-minute lines, we decided it was worth the risk to leave the chairs behind and go stand in line together. It turned out we had nothing to worry about. No one messed with our unsupervised stuff at all. We even met some great people in line. We split up to hit a couple lines at once. My partner, E, went into a shorter line while I held our spot in line for the very hard to find Dark Lord, available at 1pm. In his line, E found himself in front of a homebrewer. After some friendly chitchat, the homebrewer offered him one of his IPAs from his cooler while they waited in line. My line had a nice group of folks talking about animals, which is right up my alley.
Unfortunately, the Dark Lord keg blew within about 5 minutes, so we didnt get to try any. However, I got to try an Acidife, which was the sour style I enjoy. E had the Older Viscosity, which was pretty tasty. It looked like motor oil and had a syrupy taste, so it lived up to its name. Another good thing about leaving our chairs behind is someone's pet pug found a nice shady spot under one of them.
At the end of the day, we realized we had 4 leftover drink tickets (tickets were used for the beer trucks so they didnt have to deal in cash, which definitely sped the lines up). E went to the group of folks camped behind us and figured he'd ask for 3/4 the value and we'd be happy. The first guy offered 1/2 the value, but a woman in the group immediately spoke up and said that we should get our full money back. We were so surprised. We told her we'd accept 3/4 value but she insisted on full.
The atmosphere was so relaxed. I really learned that beer lovers are generally great people.
Along the way, we scored a bottle of El Murcielago, a double cream ale aged in tequila barrels with cumin and lime peel. It was awesome. You could taste all the different flavors and the warmer the beer got, the better the flavors got. It had a beautiful nose and is probably one of my favorites now. All in all, an awesome event that we will definitely hit hard next time around.
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