PW Pizza Cigar City Brewing 2021

Unfortunately, it does not appear that we'll be having any "in-person" PW Pizza beer dinners this year at the rate we're going at so it was nice to do another "take home" version, featuring Cigar City Brewing, since we skipped the last couple of months.

We actually recently tasted Cigar City's beers back in January 2020, so you can read about it here: https://www.stlcheesegirl.com/2020/03/pw-pizza-cigar-city-brewing.html

Still, there was only ONE repeat beer and the rest were new!

Cigar City Brewing 2021 can lineup

Instead of a salad, the appetizer was Shrimp Cocktail! The shellfish was well paired with a lighter IPA cleverly called "Jai Low" since it only has 4% ABV.

Shrimp Cocktail

The first pizza, a Hot Italian, (insert your own joke here) had a lot going on and there seemed to be an overabundance of onion and pepperncinis for me. All this spice went well with the Jai Alai, their traditional IPA.

BBQ Chicken Pizza on the left, Hot Italian Pizza on the right

I preferred the BBQ Chicken pizza, which was paired with their Maduro Brown, nice and smooth.

There were TWO baby Key Lime Cheesecakes included in this dinner so Pai and I didn't have to fight. This was paired with the fruity, yet sour Margarita Gose.

Key Lime Cheesecake

Now if we can just find time to get down to Tampa and visit Cigar City in person...

Menu

Resources:

PW Pizza = https://pwpizza.com/

Cigar City Brewing = https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

PW Pizza Cigar City Brewing

Patience is a huge fan of Cigar City Brewing from Tampa, Florida, so it was random luck that they were picked to kick off the 2020 PW Pizza Beer dinner series!

As per usual, the first course was my favorite since it was the lightest beer of the night. The Florida Cracker is not some kind of slur, but a reference to the colonial-era settlers and the crack of their whips. Regardless, this Belgian style white ale had a lot of flavor. The canjun shrimp had a little bit of kick, but luckily there was plenty of cheesy grits to cool off with.

Cajun Shrimp & Cheesy Grits

The Four Pocket Pizza was a reference to the four pockets that you'll find on a guayabera shirt, the quentessential shirt you'll find a Cuban man wearing when you think of Cuba. I also learned that with four pockets and two hands, you'll be able to carry a six pack!

The tropical theme carried onto the pizza, which had pineapple and four pockets worth of cheese. (A little on the greasy side with nothing to soak it up, unfortunately.) The Guayabera Citra Pale Ale was another winning beer for me since the beer was actually not too hoppy.

Four Pocket Pizza

I love the name, Jai Alai, for the next beer (an IPA) since I remember my parents used to go and watch the game and gamble on the players many years ago. (I won't say how many!) While my tablemates raved about how mild the flavor was, I got nothing but hops. This was the best pairing since the large amounts of BBQ pork matched the flavor well.

Pilota Pizza

I was not too thrilled that a Double IPA, the Florida Man, was saved for the dessert course. At least the hoppiness cut through the sweetness, but I'd rather have the sweetness any day. Florida Man definitely had the most fun label.

Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding

Yet, the best beer for Patience, an imperial stout, served as the bonus beer down in the 21st street bar. So at least she got to drink a pint of it, and I would definitely recommend it if you love those big beers.

Menu

Here's hoping someday we can go and visit this brewery in person!

Resources:

PW Pizza = https://pwpizza.com/

Cigar City Brewing = https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/