Rye Whiskey and Bourbon Widmer/Cigar City Collaboration

Andrew: Yesterday I picked up two bottles of the new Widmer/Cigar City collaboration, Gentlemen’s Club.  I bought the Bourbon and Rye Whiskey aged variations. These are very special beers (i.e., cost a lot), so I decided to save them for a special occasion. I was especially excited to get Cigar City beers, because everything they do is great, but they stopped distributing in NYC about a year ago, unfortunately. I hope they start again. I was lucky to have a bunch of their regular stuff in Miami a few months ago, and a Guava Grove by complete luck at a bar in Brooklyn a few weeks ago. I love their stuff and always try to grab it when I can.

Super cool tap handles at Pony Bar (UES) in NYC

New Oak Widmer/Cigar City Collaboration . . . smooooooth

But lucky me! I decided to stop into my favorite craft beer bar in NYC, Pony Bar, and they were having a Widmer/Cigar City tap takeover! I got to try the Gentlemen’s Club beers on tap (check out the cool tap handles in the photo) tonight so that I could save my bottles for that “special occasion”, but still get to enjoy them now. BONUS!

I went with the Rye (I love Rye Whiskey aged beers) and the New Oak (pictured above). I started with the Rye. They did such a great job with this beer. It really tasted like a throwback old thyme cocktail. The subtle orange, lemon and cherry flavor really complimented the rye. Then I tried the New Oak and WOW, what a difference the barrel makes. This was so much smoother than the Rye. You got the same citrusy and cherry flavors, but it was so much less boozy than the Rye. It is really incredible how barrel aging can transform the same beer to taste so much different.

Anyway, that’s all for tonight. It’s my birthday on Saturday and the wife and I are planning to do it up big at 11 Madison Park for one last fancy meal before the babe comes. The 11 Madison Park beer menu there is amazing and I plan on ordering some epic shit (as Eric would say). Of course I will report back with my conquests. Then, on Saturday, the BBz will be united (“yay!” for gay marriage, btw) for a beer share at my apartment along with some close friends and family. It will surely be an epic beerweekend yet again, ’cause that’s how the BBz do.

Related articles

• Beer gimmicks: the good, the bad, the bizarre (sprbrewcrew.wordpress.com)
• Sunday School: Barrel Aging (sarabozich.com)
• Review of Widmer Brothers Barrel Aged Brrrbon ’11 (beerapprentice.org)