Cigar City Improv Oatmeal Rye India-style Brown Ale

What you have here is an Oatmeal Rye India-style Brown Ale. Now you might be thinking oatmeal, rye, brown ale, India-style; isn't that a lot to be going on in just one beer? Well yes, it is. But that is the point. Layers. Flavor elements building on and playing off of preceding elements, like a building wave; a growing crescendum of taste bud temptation; a wall of sound expressed through flavor and channeled toward your mouth. This beer isn't for everyone. In many ways it is more than just a little weird. It certainly doesn't fit easily into any category. It isn't a brown ale, not just a brown ale anyway. It certainly isn't an IPA. Calling it a rye beer would be selling it way short. In the spirit of all great things that are conceived in the moment, but perfected through passionate repetition it started life as an improvisation and grew from there. And it might not be for you. But if the thought of big spicy rye notes, a wallop of a hop punch, multitudinous layers of caramel, sweet malt and a respectable balancing gravity sound intriguing then you might want to wing it and give Improv a try.

Tasting Notes

Pours a ruddy brown in color with notes of resinous hops backed by toasted grain. Flavor has upfront pine bitterness with nutty notes and rye spiciness.

Geek Speak

Ratebeer: 97 overall
BeerAdvocate: B+ overall


Medals

2011 Best Florida Beer Championship - Bronze Medal

Brewer: Cigar City Brewery

Other Brands:
More Cigar City Brewery Products
Location:
United States - Tampa, Florida
Description:
Cigar City Brewing was established in 2008 by Tampa native, Joey Redner, Jr. In early 2008, Redner met Wayne Wambles, accomplished professional brewer, and hired him as head brewmaster. Wayne relocated in March of 2008 to begin the process of learning the local culture, applying that culture to CCB's beers, and opening this new microbrewery in Tampa, Florida.
Website:
www.cigarcitybeer.com
 Twitter:
twitter.com/CigarCityBeer
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www.facebook.com/cigarcitybeer

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Shelf Tags for Cigar City Improv Oatmeal Rye India-style Brown Ale

    • 1/6 bbl keg (5.16 gal)
    • 750 ml bottle (25 oz)

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Style: Russian Imperial Stout

  • The Russian Imperial Stout is not for the faint of heart or tongue! Like other Stouts, Russian Imperial Stouts also originated in England, but were rumored to be very popular in the Russian Imperial court in the days of the Tsars. British brewers exported a lot of their strong stouts to Tsarist Russia, hence the name Russian Imperial Stout.

    Russian Imperial Stouts contain large amounts of dark malts that provide rich, complex flavors. Many American versions contain large quantities of American hops, focusing attention on hop bitterness, while other versions focus more attention on sweet or roasted malt flavors.

    Because of the high gravity of this style, Russian Imperial Stouts are one of the beer styles that can age very well, even improving in character over time in some cases. As with any beer, storage conditions are important to aging a beer properly. Low light and moderate, constant temperatures are critical.

    Food Pairings:

    Chocolate is a favorite, classic food pairing for Russian Imperial Stouts. And where the chocolate is concerned, the darker, the better. The beer gets its "chocolate" flavors from roasted malt and it can often be a perfect match for cocoa chocolate flavors.

    Remember to match intensity of food versus intensity of beer. An intense Russian Imperial Stout will usually overpower a lighter, milkier chocolate dish, but darker, richer chocolate dishes that are intense on their own will find the Russian Imperial Stout to be a match made in heaven.
  • Browse Russian Imperial Stout