CANvitational Beer Preview: Cigar City Jai Alai

Last year I attended the inaugural Sun King CANvitational because I was intrigued by the mix of Indiana breweries and national breweries that took pride in packaging their beer in cans.  I was one of those unenlightened drinkers that used to think that good beer came in bottles while bad beer came in cans.  I now believe that cans are the best vessel for beer since it eliminates exposure to light and oxygen (which are two of the biggest culprits of “skunked” beer).  With the price of craft beer these days, it’s nice to know that if the liquid is canned, it’s probably going to taste great when you pour it.  It’s also a hell of a lot easier to haul around cans of beer to outdoor events (I personally refer to this as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway rule).  

Sun King’s event was a lot of fun with only one downside:  I tried too many great beers that I’m not able to get my hands on in Indiana.  Some are available in surrounding states and some are not. One of those that is not happened to be the one I liked the most.  That beer was Cigar City’s Jai Alai IPA. It was a hop bomb that focused more on the tropical flavors in the hop spectrum instead of the flavors that I love so much in traditional West Coast IPAs.  

Cigar City of Tampa doesn’t distribute to many states, so when I found out I was heading to a wedding in Siesta Key this last June one of my first thoughts (I’m not sure what this says about me) was that I could drink lots of Jai Alai while in Florida.  As soon as we got into town and got the keys to our rental house, I shifted my focus to finding some of this delicious nectar.  Lucky for me it was at every grocery and gas station I went to the entire week and on tap at nearly every restaurant and bar.  I had my fill that week and loved every last sip.  I even brought some home; and because it’s in cans I really haven’t noticed any drop off in flavor as I’ve rationed out my consumption.  

Unfortunately, I’ll only have three left (after tonight’s Colts MNF game).  When it’s gone, it’s gone–and I’ll be without until my next trip to Florida.  Better yet, why don’t you CANvitational attendees drink a lot of Jai Alai this Saturday and let those guys know how great their beer is and that we want it in Indiana.  Is it really that out of the question for Indiana and Florida to have something so good in common?