Cigar City Kalevipoeg

I've been waiting for a good reason to review this, and Matt's first post with The Cork Stops Here was the perfect excuse.

Matt and I have done several trades; he sends me lower East coast beers (mainly Cigar City and Terrapin) and I send him lower Midwest beers (Texas stuff and Boulevard). Though this beer was not from our most recent trade, but rather a trade that was done back in February or March, I still think of this as a very recent trade (and I suppose it is, in some sense of time). On to the beer!

Cigar City is out of Tampa, Florida and has gathered quite a bit of popularity, even though they don't seem to distribute far from their home state. And this beer was specially brewed to celebrate their 10,000th batch. Yes, that is right, ten thousand batches. Not bad for a brewery that has only been around for four years (yes, founded in 2008).

Kalevipoeg (KAH-lay-vee-po-egg) is named for some Estonian epic poem about a giant who helped create the land and fight other giants. I'm not going to question it; I just care about the beer. Baltic Porters are a lager style that often fall between a British porter and a Russian stout on the flavor scale (and are sometimes fermented with cold fermenting ale yeast), and more often than not have higher alcohol percents. Cigar City's offering fits the bill perfectly, coming in at 9% ABV.

When poured into a tulip or snifter (or small mouthed, large bowled stem glass) Kalevipoeg appears pitch black with a sizable tan head. Being pitch black, there is pretty much nothing else that can be said about the body of the beer until after the first taste. The aroma... man, I could smell this beer all day long (figuratively). Smoke (another key flavor in the style), caramel-like sweetness, and lots of dark fruits, such as raisins and figs, aromas just flow from the glass. The taste follows the nose almost to the T: there is smoke, that caramel or lighter candy sweetness, and the dark fruits, but this time it is raisins and dates.

Kalevipoeg is fairly thick in the mouth, but not chewy, so it coats the mouth without being difficult to swallow. The beer is smooth and not disrupted by lots of carbonation, but it does still fizz to remind you that you are drinking beer and not supping liquid heaven clouds. All-in-all, I say this is a fantastic representation of what was a forgotten style in the West until the fall of the Iron Curtain in the late 1980's. I really wish I could get it again, but alas, it was a one time offering.

Cigar City Brewing
Kalevipoeg Baltic Porter
TCSH - 9.5/10
Aka - Worth creating the land and fighting giants for.

Dallas