Hey there fellow beer loving readers, did I really hit the jackpot today! There I was at Stout’s Growlers here in Canton, Georgia looking for a growler of beer. The plan had been to wile away a pleasant afternoon on the patio drinking beer, listening to music and jotting down tasting notes on my new surface tablet. The weather, however, was not in an accommodating mood and the deluge began as soon as I got home.
That’s OK, though. I moved my party inside, and was not in the least deterred. How could I be? I had a growler of Cigar City Vanilla Maduro Brown Ale to enjoy. This brings us back to the jackpot reference above. You see, as I was standing in the store, the Stouts tapped a keg of this beer before my very eyes. I got the first growler off the keg and the rest is history. Cigar City beers are hard enough to find in cans here in the Atlanta metro area; the bottled specialty brews are nigh unobtainable. But draft? Suffice to say this is my first Cigar City draft.
Maduro of course is a cigar term for a dark brown wrapper, and I can’t think of a more fitting name for a brown ale from a brewery named Cigar City. Here’s what the brewery says about the beer on their website:
A special version of Maduro Brown Ale treated with whole Madagascar vanilla beans to round out the sweetness profile. Creates a great base for other popular treatments like Oatmeal Raisin Cookie and Blueberry Muffin.
Cigar City Vanilla Maduro Brown Ale has an alcohol content of 5.5% by volume with 25 IBUs. I got a 32 growler at Stout’s for just $7.50. Now that’s a deal!
Cigar City Vanilla Maduro Brown Ale pours to a very dark brown color with a medium foamy but short lived head formation and simply sinful nose of toasted nutty malt and vanilla. Taking a sip, the beer is medium in body and appropriate to the style and hits you quickly with a slightly sweet chocolate chip cookie maltiness.
I was tasting a sample at Stout’s Growlers and Jim Stout suggested brownies, which is also very apropos as the robust chocolate notes here impart that. Dare I say the light toasted malt notes add the walnuts to our beer brownie whimsy? Of course there’s vanilla in equal measure, and it vies for attention with the chocolate. The beer finishes slightly sweet with just a hint of grassy hops to balance, but the spicy vanilla really does more to balance off the sweetness. Could that be the whipped cream on your brownie perhaps?
As fate would have it we were discussing the overabundance of super hoppy IPAs these days. Malt is truly the soul of beer, and while I do love my hops, I love malty brown ales like Cigar City Vanilla Maduro Brown Ale too. Not to be missed if you can get it folks.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
(G)=Growler