Our collaboration series of beers has allowed us to work (and drink) with some of our favorite people in the beer industry who brew fantastic beers. We’ve been lucky enough to brew with Jean-Marie Rock from Orval, Larry Sidor and Deschutes Brewing Company, Dann and Martha of Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project and our sister brewery, Phil Leinhart and Brewery Ommegang. During a new market rollout in Florida, a brewery we have tremendous respect for was kind enough to open their tasting room to us to host a Boulevard tap takeover to celebrate our entrance into the state. Not only did they put our beers on tap in their brewery, but they went above and beyond by showing Game 7 of the World Series on their tasting room televisions which had never displayed anything but their beer list and a live video feed of their brewhouse and fermentation cellars. We were so taken by the hospitality and kindness displayed by the great people of Cigar City Brewing, and the amazing quality of their beers, that we just knew we wanted to brew our next collaboration beer with them. Over plates of BBQ, a few rounds of beers and a couple of conference calls, it was decided that Boulevard Brewing Company and Cigar City Brewing would team up to bring you Collaboration No. 5.

Combining CCB’s expertise with tropical fruit flavors and Boulevard’s love of pale ales, Collaboration No. 5 – Tropical Pale Ale begins with a base of soft pilsner malt layered with Maris Otter, Munich and caramel malts. Huge late hopping with a blend of Mosaic, Citra, Lemondrop and Azacca lends bright flavors of mango, pear, blueberry and citrus to a pale ale featuring slightly toasted biscuit and caramel/toffee notes. Infused with freshly sliced grapefruit at the conclusion of the boil, our tropical pale ale is briefly aged on passion fruit and grapefruit at the end of fermentation resulting in a refreshing acidity and tropical fruit flavor and aroma. At 7.3 ABV and 55 IBUs, Collaboration No. 5 – Tropical Pale Ale finishes slightly tart with bright citrus character from dry-hopping with Lemondrop, Azacca and Pacific Jade hops.

As of this minute, we’re targeting a release date in September. Collaboration No. 5 – Tropical Pale Ale will be exclusively brewed and packaged at Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, Missouri. For the first time in our collaboration series, we’ll package the beer in 4 packs of 12 ounce bottles moving away from our 750 ml bottle. As with past releases, we’ll also release 1/6 bbl kegs. Collaboration No. 5 – Tropical Pale Ale will distributed through the Boulevard distribution network and will be available throughout our footprint of 31 states and Washington DC.

Please stay tuned as we finalize more details.

- Jeremy Danner, Ambassador Brewer

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At Cigar City Brewing we make beer we like to drink and toast those who choose to drink with us. Behind all our beer is the philosophy that quality is achieved by giving first rate ingredients to first rate people in a space where they are free to pursue their passion. We acknowledge that what we do at Cigar City Brewing isn’t for everyone, but we welcome all.