Author: mitchrockwell76

Tusker…A Taste of Africa

IMG_0459In 1922, Kenyan Brewery co-founder George Hurst was killed by an elephant during an African Hunting expedition. His legend lives on with a beer the brewery named Tusker, in his honor.

Tusker is the highest selling beer in East Africa and for good reason. Made with 100%, locally sourced, African ingredients. The spring water used comes from the Aberdare Mountains, the barley is from the Maasai Mara and Savannah, and the yeast is developed locally. All of this helps, as their website says, “Makes you feel closely connected to the brand’s origins and roots.” Considered a light beer, this lager is crisp and outdoorsy. There’s a hint of residual sweetness, but a mix of woodsy flavor. Its a common beer in Africa, and much better than our common beers of the United States. I had the opportunity to drink it several times while staying at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Jambo House Lodge. It’s served endlessly to their guests staying on the club level. Perhaps it was the atmosphere of an African Village, or being in the company of wildebeests, giraffes and zebras, but I very much-enjoyed Tusker and its distinct taste.

Interesting that East African Breweries Limited is noted as the best company to work for in Kenya. With great beers like Tusker around the factory, Id say it would be easy to love working there too.

I can’t give a review of a beer called tusker, without mentioning my favorite elephant foundation. The Daphne Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. This is an amazing foundation and elephant orphanage that raises elephants that have been orphaned by the killing of adult females for the ivory trade. However, baby elephants can’t drink anything but their mother’s milk for the first two years of their life. Through three decades of trial and error, Dr. Daphne Sheldrick created the only successful milk substitute for baby elephants. Her orphanage rescues baby elephants and raises them until they are able to live in Africa’s preserve with other herds of elephants, many of who are previous orphans from the nursery. For much more information or to foster an orphaned elephant visit www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org.

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Brewer:  East African Breweries Limited

ABV: 4.20

Rating: 4.4 pints out of 5

 

By: Cindy R.

 

MoyaRuiz’s La Jugada Prieto

IMG_0363It’s no secret that the founders of MoyaRuiz, Danny Moya and Nelson Ruiz, love to play dominos. From that love a cigar line was born. La Jugada “The Play.” MoyaRuiz has put great attention to detail in manufacturing these cigars and has produced an amazing product. The MoyaRuiz cigar line is something that cannot be ignored.

The La Jugada line has two cigar types that are readily available, the Habano and Prieto. While both are outstanding cigars I prefer a darker, fuller flavored cigar so I prefer to smoke the Prieto (meaning “dark” in Spanish) and this review will be on their Robusto 5 X 52.

The construction of The Prieto is wonderful. A dark Mexican San Andre’s wrapper covers the cigar giving it a dark roasted almond to coffee bean color with rich oils. While pressing along the stick I noticed few veins in the wrapper and there appears to be no noticeable imperfections in the body. It feels firm but still pliable to the touch and is clearly well rolled with the perfect amount of tobacco.

The hand selected Nicaraguan long fillers and binders of this cigar have some wonderful aromas. A sniff around the body brings a smell of wet hay, dark chocolate, and a hint of leather. Spending some time around the foot began to show this cigar’s complexity. The smell of licorice, pine, and dried apricot were noticeable making this an appetizing cigar.IMG_0365

It cut easy with no cracking and lit even easier. Because of this cigars excellent construction the draw is smooth and effortless. A fair amount of smoke is created by this cigar and feels light and billowy on the tongue. The initial flavor is of pepper and spice that finishes with a hint of dark chocolate. As the cigar reaches it’s mid-point the spiciness begins to lessen while the chocolate flavor becomes a little more apparent. It also begins having slight coffee and cream notes. The last quarter of the stick is a full of coffee and chocolate with the spices hiding quietly in the background. The cigar burned evenly and was enjoyable the whole way through.

If you are trying to find a new everyday maduro this is the cigar for you. It’s well-constructed body and excellent choices in wrapper, filler, and binder combination makes it a fantastic smoke for anyone with a discerning palate. Next time you’re in your local smoke shop and are wondering what to try… look for a MoyaRuiz.

 

Wrapper – San Andres

Origin – Nicaragua

Shapes – Robusto, Toro, Belicoso, Double Corona, Ancho

Brand: MoyaRuiz

Website: moyaruizcigars.com

Rating: 4.6 out of 5 pints

Hotter Than Helles Lager

IMG_0148Cigar City Brewing’s “hotter Than Helles Lager” is part of their year round beer selection. I had been interested in trying it for a while now and decided to pick some up last week. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of it since lagers tend to be rather uneventful and quite honestly, boring. What I found was a beer that was neither of these things.

While the word “hell” is a German adjective meaning “light”, “blonde”, “pale”, etc., the word “helles” is a noun meaning “bright” or “a light one”. Given the color of the beer this is a very apt name for it. The color is very light, I would describe it as pale blonde. There is a lighter than normal carbonation to this beer which makes it even easier to drink leaving almost no head after pouring. The lower carbonation does inhibit foam though so expect no real lacing on the glass.

Cigar City Brewing describes the smell as grain, hay and honey, however, in addition, I also notice elements of fresh cut grass and a fair amount of sour lemon.

The flavor is fresh and light. The lower carbonation comes into play again creating a very light mouthfeel to the beer. Quoting Cigar City again they describe the taste as having a malty backbone with hay and honey. I did find that there is a good amount of bready malt flavors but they were offset by a decent amount of hops giving it quite a bit of bitter citrus flavor with a clean enjoyable finish.

With all the boring lagers out there it was nice to have one that at least had some complexity to it. I’m not saying this is going to replace any full-bodied beers you enjoy drinking but for a lager it’s a good. If you’re looking for something to drink on a hot day or something light and refreshing while mowing the lawn (cheers for that Ryan) this is your beer.

 

Brewer: Cigar City Brewing

ABV: 5%

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 pints.