Brewery: Cigar City

Name: Cafe Irlandés (Jameson whiskey barrel aged with cocoa nibs)

Style: American Porter

Origin: Florida

Bottle: Pint, on tap

ABV: 8.3%

Appearance: an impenetrable, deep sable. Applying a flashlight to the glass couldn’t even really get through save for what looked like red lead-crystal tea lights seen from across a dimly lit restaurant. Topped with a pale khaki head.

Pours: A 1/5” head formed when the ‘tender drew it but, -and here’s the wincing caveat- I got it in a traveller; As this is Summer of 2020 I’m not about to eat in a restaurant again just yet, so after a ride home, I transferred it to my usual mug as I hate what plastic does to the taste of beers. Not wanting to have it just run down the side of the cup and onto the counter, I poured faster than I should have and got quite a bit of foam. It didn’t stick around very long though.

Smell: plum, dates, whisky/bourbon, apple cherry, and spices with a faint zephyr of alcohol.

Taste: There’s a creaminess playing off of that mild sharpness that follows quickly after. The sour, wine-like notes of the nibs playing beautifully with the creamy mellowness and the whiskey blending the two in a finesse of gustatory negotiations. I was strongly reminded of a Colorado Bulldog or a mudslide made with Godiva. I’m currently listening to Tom Waits’ “Jack & Neal/California Here I Come” with his gritty voice over a casual, relaxed, unhurried tale with a mellow jazz sax with brushed snare
playing in the background is just about as perfect of a song as I can find for this one.
Lyrics are NSFW
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oJMV5OmDJNM

Later on towards the end try it with the aged, authoritarian tremolo and burr of William Butler Yeats “Lake Isle of Innisfree”

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QLlcvQg9i6c

Just for fun and because I’m in an oversharing mood, some poor pairings would be:
Oscar Brown Jr’s “But I was Cool”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dheVr7Wdrro

And Gertrude Stein’s “If I told him: A completed portrait of Picasso”

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEIAGULmPQ&t=27s


Mouthfeel: mildly viscous, mellow towards the center, more bitter towards the outside and wonderfully balanced between the two.

Rating: 9.33
Okay it could be because this is the first quality beer I’ve had in half a year after a sparse desert of 1.99 pick-a-mix beers to sustain me, but damn if I didn’t just about give a shuddering whimper on that first whiff, and nearly break down in tears of gratitude on that first sip. Also any beer that can survive being in a poorly sealed plastic cup, ride in a car on a 94°F day then get mishandled, and still taste great deserves a high rating. But I’m holding back in realization, or perhaps anxiety, that I might be more grateful than this one warrants.
While I don’t condone drinking alone -major hypocrisy here. I’ve had all of my beers alone, then again I drink one for analysis and quality versus any for degree of quantity so ~shrug~ - this is a beer best enjoyed alone as a treat for a personal, private special occasion.