BeerWise Podcast
The BeerWise Podcast, hosted by Mark DeNote, editor of Florida Beer News, delves into the dynamic world of craft beer, offering listeners a comprehensive look at industry trends, news, and in-depth interviews with key figures shaping the beer landscape.
Each episode explores the past, present, and future of brewing, providing insights into the evolution of beer styles, brewing techniques, and the stories behind renowned breweries. Whether you're a seasoned beer enthusiast or new to the craft beer scene, BeerWise serves as an engaging platform to expand your knowledge and appreciation for the art of brewing and craft beer culture.
BeerWise Podcast
Ep. 39: Sean Sasser's Journey at Cigar City Brewing
Sean Sasser invites us into the evolving world of Cigar City Brewing, where tradition meets innovation in Tampa's iconic brewery. As technical brewing manager, Sean's journey from college homebrewer with a Mr. Beer kit to brewing leader traces the fascinating evolution of craft beer itself.
Over pints in CCB's historic Tampa tasting room, Sean pulls back the curtain on what he calls the "Wild West days" working alongside Wayne Wambles, when the "rule of cool" trumped everything else. Those early years cultivated CCB's reputation for boundary-pushing beers that defined Florida's craft scene. But the conversation doesn't shy away from tough questions about ownership changes and the criticism that followed Monster Beverage's acquisition.
"We're not going to stop what we're doing because of outside opinion," Sean explains with quiet confidence. "If there's ever a time for us to be really putting our best foot forward, it's absolutely now." This philosophy has guided CCB through transitions that would have derailed lesser breweries.
What stands out most is Sean's thoughtful evolution as a brewer. Once focused on creating beers that "punch you in the face" with flavor, he now pursues nuance and subtlety: "I want to make beers that, after three pints, they're wondering if they can have another one and call an Uber." This shift reflects broader industry trends while maintaining CCB's distinctive voice in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
From insights about the legendary Hunapuʻ to his current love for Czech dark lagers, Sean's perspective balances reverence for brewing tradition with forward-thinking creativity. After 12 years at CCB, his passion remains undiminished: "It's exclusively driven by pride and love I have for what we have done and what we will do."
Ready to experience what Sean calls "the best beer we've ever made"? Visit Cigar City's Tampa tasting room where everything's brewed on their original 2009 system—a perfect blend of heritage and innovation that defines modern Florida beer.
Hello and welcome back to the BeerWise podcast. This is the podcast that looks at what's going on in the world beer-wise. Hello and welcome to the BeerWise podcast. I'm your host, Mark Denote, and I'm the editor of Florida Beer News. First, before we get started, I want to take a minute and thank our new podcast sponsor, Copper Tail Brewing. Copper Tail Brewing is located just outside Ybor City and has been brewing Florida-inspired beers since 2014. Available in distribution all over the Sunshine State, enjoy Freedive IPA, Unholy, Triple Night, Swim Porter and Cloud Dweller Hazy IPA wherever you can find them.
Speaker 1:While there have been rumors going around social media of what it's like at Cigar City Brewing for a long time ever since Monster Beverage took over, one thing that has not changed is the beer coming out of the tasting room on Spruce Street in Tampa. This week, Cigar City Brewing technical brewing manager, Sean Sasser, joins the podcast to talk about his time at Cigar City, his ideas about brewing and what to expect coming out of the Tampa tasting room. Sean was the director of brewing operations when Cigar City Brewing was independent and under canarchy, and he chose to stay on after CCB was purchased and went under the umbrella of Monster Brewing Company. He oversees every beer that is poured in the CCB tasting room and is excited about the future of the brewery. Here's our conversation. Sean, thank you very much for hosting me here at CCB. It's fun to be back and see all the stuff you guys have going on. So thanks for.
Speaker 2:It's good to be here. It's good to have you here, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome, I want to start. I always want to start with everybody I talk to on the podcast and kind of talk about your path to brewing, because it's never a straight road. It's always kind of curving and winding. So how did you find yourself in beer and brewing?
Speaker 2:So I was a home brewer starting in sophomore year of college, so well before I could actually legally drink. Uh, my girlfriend at the time bought me a mr beer kit, okay, and uh, it was horrible, but I stuck with it, um, because it was. What year was that?
Speaker 2:oh god, that was 2006 okay, okay and then, um, so I homebrewed for a long time and, uh, I went and wasn't thinking about beer at that point. I went and got my master's degree in counseling psychology and was doing that for a bit and, as we kind of discussed earlier, got burnt out for the school system and, serendipitously at that time my mom called me and said hey, there's a new brewery opening down the street from our house in Maryland. You should come down and check it out. And so on one weekend I did for the grand opening and I kind of met the owner, talked to the brewer and got a kind of a history of what they're doing or an idea of what they're doing. And I shot my shot and said if you want to volunteer, I'll drive down to Philadelphia whenever you want, from Philadelphia whenever you want. And they said, yeah, I mean we've got one brewer here currently, and so I started doing that, okay, for a little bit. Um, and then about a couple months into that, I decided I asked was like, how do you feel about me working here? And they said we're actually going to talk to you about that too.
Speaker 2:So I stopped doing psychology, I got out of Philadelphia and I moved back in my parents' house and uh started brewing at a that was Burley Oak Brewing in Berlin, maryland. Okay, and um, yep, so it was brewing there for a couple of months went to uh siebel at that time so they were gracious enough to let me go for a couple months to uh to finish the the diploma program there. And I came back, uh, and shortly afterwards the head brewer resigned, okay, and so they were like, well, you're the head brewer now I. And I was like, cool, I've been brewing on a professional-ish system for four months and I've been gone for four of those, or for eight months I've been gone for four of them. And and so I said, absolutely, yeah, I mean back in the day you don't turn down that shot, yeah, I mean back in those days you don't turn down that shot, yeah. And so I, yeah, jumped on that and started brewing there and kind of, you know, those are the good old days of forums on like Pro Brewer and stuff, where it was pretty darn active and like everything, craft beer was still like not new, but growing at such a rapid pace that everyone had questions Okay, uh, cause this was about 2012.
Speaker 2:And then, um, after that a couple months of that I thought well, I love brewing, but I don't like being in a small town, okay, and so I I went down, uh, I don't like being in a small town, okay. And so I went down looking for places. I spoke to the Dobles and came down here to talk to them, at which point I had a friend, justin Stein, who was the lab manager here way back when at CCB and came down here, unbeknownst to me, it the day before hoonapoo day, um, and so hanging out with them, he introduced me to wayne and madison, uh, roan, uh, our director of ops at the time, and uh, madison said, one of the most madison, he's like why don't you just come work for me? And so I was like, okay. So the next day I interviewed again, not realizing it was Hunipu Day. So I walked up to a festival and said hi, I'm supposed to interview with Madison.
Speaker 2:We went back that was back when we had this tiny construction trailer as an office all the way in the back where the district cooler is currently. And so we went back there and I brought like a six pack of beers that I poured off the tap at burley oak because we couldn't bottle or can anything. And uh, yeah, gave him to him, he he liked him enough. And uh, it was funny seeing the in the trailer. It was a lot like a jurassic park kind of moment, where it's like a lot of eyes like going up to the window and staring in be like, what are these guys doing in here? Um, and uh, yeah, a week later I got the call and uh, a week after that I moved to florida and you and you started as an assistant brewer.
Speaker 2:I started as a cellar manager. Okay, so I started as a cellar manager for a while, moved up to production manager once Josh Brangle moved to Mexico, right, and yeah, I just kind of kept moving up the ranks until I am where I am now.
Speaker 1:What was your experience brewing with Wayne and during that time at CCB?
Speaker 2:Oh it was, it was the wild west, and it was so much fun because, I mean, working with Wayne and working with Joey, it was always the rule of cool If it was going to be cool, we could do it Okay, and um, that trumped everything else, whether we'd make money or not. If it was cool and a good opportunity, we're going to do it Okay. And so it was fantastic working with both of them. Um, I mean, wayne taught me so much about flavor, um nuance and how to really get the most out of a little, and um, so, yeah, I mean working with him was obviously fantastic and he's always been an amazing mentor to me.
Speaker 1:What were some of the things you were exploring back then that you can remember, because Wayne talks about just the exploration, the culinary inspirations from back then.
Speaker 2:I mean I was just trying to geez. I mean, mean, I'm always an ambitious person so I'm always trying to push the limits of my own way. Okay, um, but I mean it was fun because because that was back when we had the torsador series and so you could get to develop your own beer once in a while and, uh, put it on tap. And the first one one I did was a session IPA. Okay, I think a little before most session IPAs became a thing and it sold well enough where I got to do it again and so, yeah, I mean that's another great thing about this company was getting so much ability to not only work on creative products, projects, but also to implement some of your own.
Speaker 2:Okay, um, but yeah, I mean it was amazing working with this. Like that was when we were really getting into like spanner cedar, like white oak. I was blowing up, um, doing, I mean, all the interesting beers that we did. We did so many amazing collaborations back then where we all pushed the limit. It's hard to pinpoint one thing, because I felt like everything we did was innovative at that point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then so fast forward from there. Fireman bought CCB. What was it like during that time, during the first kind of major paradigm shift with Cigar City?
Speaker 2:I mean it was always going to be a transition period and getting used to things, but at the end of the day, we didn't really care about that kind of stuff. Okay, we cared about making good beer and I think that's what carried us till today. The main focus is always going to be on the beer. All the politics and all the whatever else goes around us. It's usually we can put the blinders on, but it's usually we can put the blinders on, and because if we're selling beer and we're making good beer and we're making the beer that we are proud of, at the end of the day, that's what matters for us. Ok, and so, yeah, I mean it's always going to be a transition whenever there's a buyout or a merger, but the philosophy has never changed for us, which is just quality and, yeah, trying to push a limit.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then. So how do you then deal with the criticisms that come in the local market where people say Cigar City isn't a local brand anymore, or other complaints about the brand?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean that's People are allowed to think whatever they want to think. We're not going to stop what we're doing because of outside opinion. Okay, Like we hear it, and I mean, if anything, we just invite the people to come in and try the beer, Guaranteed it hasn't changed, If not gotten better. Okay, so it's. It's kind of like it's not irrelevant to us, but it doesn't affect our day to day.
Speaker 1:And how much of that? How much has the criticism died down since over time?
Speaker 2:Honestly, I haven't been on social media for a long time, so I have absolutely no idea. Okay, I don't hear about it from other people as much, so I'm assuming it's died down. But even when it was at a fever pitch, we understood the mission, which was, if there's ever a time for us to be really putting our best foot forward, it's absolutely now. Okay, because if you already have a target on your back, all you can do is just keep pushing forward. Okay, but we never really saw it as a target on our back. We never saw it as something inherently damaging to us on the floor. We just wanted to do the best job possible, and so long as we focused on that, it was just business as usual.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so how then? How has Cigar City? How has the beer shifted? Or has there been a focus change with the beer?
Speaker 2:I think the only focus change is a return to local Focusing on beers through our tasting room. Okay, and you know, we have our core beers. They're not changing right. Um, we're always working to improve them, but right now, in a very, very, very crowded market, we're not looking. We're looking for the next big thing, not to. You know, we don't focus on the core brands in tampa anymore.
Speaker 2:Okay, in terms of, we develop them and we work on changes to them in tampa, but if you get, when you come to the tasting room, if it's not a core beer, it was made in tampa on the original 15 barrel brew house that was bought in 2008 and used in 2009 when we first opened. Okay, um, we have rural osmosis water now, which is something that we've been wanting for a long time. But I think, I think every time that we come to the drawing board, we're coming with better ideas to make the product better. We've joked in just the production team, of being like, in terms of tasting room beers, everything going on. Right now, it's like make CCB 2014 again.
Speaker 2:We are trying to get back to that feel the beer feel in the tasting room of everything's new. Everything is moving quickly. We're rotating constantly. We're constantly putting out new beers, we're constantly like I mean we can't get away with everything we used to anymore because the consumer will not just, they just won't buy it. Some of the stuff we did in the very early days that we I think the consumer liked it because it had never been done before. I think a lot of it's been done before now and so they want consistency and they want quality and they want something that they know a lot of the times.
Speaker 1:Can you give me an example?
Speaker 2:I mean, everyone wants an IP, ipa still, and so we put out a lot of ipas. We're probably not putting as many like ipas with amberana and fig and you know this, uh, vanilla we sourced from you know the himalayas, but uh, we're still doing ipas, we're still doing IPAs, we're still doing lagers. I think better than we ever have. I think I mean, best Florida Beer like this is the first time I think we've ever won for not only one but two of our tasting room lagers. Okay, and so we're putting like we see the market trends, we're moving with the market trends and we're just trying to elevate.
Speaker 1:Okay, so does that spell disaster for some legacy brands that might? Uh, absolutely not.
Speaker 2:No, I mean, we're still do like every hurricane season. You'll still see Tokabaga in the tasting room, okay, uh, every Gasparilla. You'll still see invasion cans in the tasting room, um, I mean, we are putting out cubano espresso soon. We have oatmeal raisin cookie in the tasting room currently, okay. So no, we, we are trying to, if anything, bring more legacy brands back, but the also with the you know, some judicious thinking in there being like it's the middle of winter is. Is cucumber saison really the time for right now? Probably not, okay, so, or is saisons in general going to move right now?
Speaker 2:probably not I think that's pretty safe most of the year exactly, but you know, call it a cucumber lager and it'll sell exactly, and so, no, we we're having fun with it again, and I think that I think you'll taste that in the beer okay, okay, then how, um, how have you changed as a brewer since coming to cigar city?
Speaker 2:oh, man, that's. I mean I don't think we have enough time, but uh, I mean, obviously I've been a much more competent brewer since being here. Yeah, but no, I, if anything, especially over the last number of years, I think my palate has gone way more towards appreciating nuance and trying to make more delicate beers and I think we have a better grasp of that now than we ever had before. I mean, in a market of beers that if it says it on the label, it better punch you in the face with it and so, like, if you have a peanut butter jelly stout and you don't get beer flavor, you just get peanut butter flavor.
Speaker 2:That's not as interesting to me anymore. It's interesting to me to do you smell the little bit of jasmine in this rice lager? Like, do you? Like? I don't want to make beers that people get tired of after five ounces anymore. Ok, I want to make beers that, like, after three pints, they're wondering if they can have another one and call an Uber. That that's what my personal goal has been, has been. I don't need people to always like obviously we're still making beers that you can quaff and sit around and discuss and really pick out the details of, and we make beers that if you want something to hit you over the face, it'll hit you over the face. Sure, but my personal brewing habits, I think, have always mimicked my palate at the time and I think the collective palate, especially in the brewing industry, is lighter, more delicate beers.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so then do you think that, has that been everyone on your brewing team? Or do you still have to kind of taste what the market wants and then put that out? Or is Nuance kind of the new name of the game?
Speaker 2:I think that we're all pretty much on the same page, but we also do discuss as a group what we're making. Okay, if someone wants to make a rye double Schwartz beer, we'll still discuss it. It may not come out immediately, we might have to table that for a little bit, but nothing's off the table. And you know, in a world where everyone's trying to mimic everyone else, try not to do that. Like, if you go to the grocery store right now, you can find 15 versions of the same beer, sure, and to me that's not interesting, no, and so, like, we have our core beers. The core beers are the core beers. So why would we try to follow anyone else in our tasting room? Because, like, yeah, yeah, other people will have similar styles to us and do similar things. Sure, but we're not trying to copy anyone. We're not trying to.
Speaker 2:And I feel like in a in a incredibly crowded beer space, mimicry is not always the greatest form of flattery anymore, and it used to be back in the day, like back when we had 3 500 breweries in this country and you tried something from the west coast that you would never get in florida and you'd be like you know what? I want to make that, because I love that and my folks can't get it. Yeah, you can get every flavor in the sun now, just by driving five minutes from your house, yeah and so. Yeah, I mean joey always used to say, like we're making beer, he makes beer. He wanted to make beer that he wanted to drink, sure, and our brewers are doing the same. I know that's, you know, probably cliche after so many decades of us saying the same thing, but I think it still holds true okay.
Speaker 1:So then, talking about legacy brands and talking about nuance, I have to ask a question about Hunapu the evolution of that beer since its inception and then going from making a few barrels of it to release on a Friday afternoon up through now where it's become. It was an event, it was a landmark event. Now COVID kind of put the brakes on a lot, but now it seems like it's coming back. How has can you talk about how that beer has changed and how you deal with the criticism of? It was always better in whatever year that people remember.
Speaker 2:I don't think anyone's ever going to Well, I think we always have. I think majority of times. When we have those incredible beers, I think we're also in an incredible headspace, an incredible environment. We're not trying the best beer of our lives on a day that sucks for us.
Speaker 1:True, and especially the first time you try it Exactly.
Speaker 2:Because, yeah, I mean, am I going to create a Hunapu? That's exactly the same as the 2014 batch, when it was the first time you were at Cigar City and it was the first time you were at a craft brewery and you tried it, and you've never tried anything like that before. I don't think I'm going to be able to replicate. I can replicate the beer, but you're never going to taste it that way again, and so I think the last batch is better is probably true to those people who are saying it and I mean you could probably put several years side by side. I mean, if they were all like in a vacuum and didn't age differently. But I think if you did that, it'd be hard pressed to find a ton of differences, and everything was, you know, apples to apples in terms of oxidation and stuff.
Speaker 1:Well, and especially with some of the new technology that you have, because I'm fairly certain they didn't have a SpinBot in 2009.
Speaker 2:No, they definitely did not.
Speaker 1:So does that lend to a better beer, and then do people pine for the other one that was made inefficiently.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think they could. I think I'm a firm believer that, as I kind of just said, circumstance dictates a lot of what you taste. And so, yeah, I mean, if there's a great story behind it and the beer doesn't have flaws, it's going to taste better behind it and the beer doesn't have flaws, it's gonna taste better. I think I mean it's just it's it's science that the human mind attaches itself to things that have a great story that we can relate to personally. And just by having that moment in your brain, you're already going to ignore a lot of flaws that something might have. That first time at Disney World could have sucked, but it was your first time at Disney World and you're forgetting the long lines, you're forgetting how hot it is on the sunburn, You're remembering the time with your family, your friends, you're remembering the rides. You're forgetting a lot of the extraneous pains of it, because and we always as a as a culture, have looked at the past with rose colored glasses, absolutely so I think we do our damnedest to get consistency.
Speaker 1:And are you the keeper of those keys, are you the keeper of the consistency? Because I mean, do you have? We all have a mental flavor pallor of a pallet of hunapu that I've had since I first tried it. And so who is it from cigar city that has that kind of master thought of?
Speaker 2:yes, this is hunapura, no, it needs more xyz it takes a village and we are very fortunate that the the we have the average 10 years. The youngest person, the youngest tenured here person, is from 2019. Okay, like, I started working here in March of 2013. Okay, I think Larry was here before me. Mark and Amanda came shortly after me about like 2016. And I think Michael Hall was here in 2018. Seth was here in 2019.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I mean we've got people who remember the good old days of Hunapu and remember what those flavors tasted like, what Hunapu tastes like in my mind and smells like in my mind. I'm not ever going to overrule someone who also loves that beer as much as I do. And also, when we were trying Hunapu, hunapu's actively spitting right now before bottling right now. And so I mean we brought in our tasting room manager. We brought in a long-time or Neil, one of our sales guys, who used to be a long time bartender for us. Like we brought him in the back and was like, before we stop, this is this Hunapu? We all think it is, but we're not the ones who have to sell it. We're not the ones who have to pour it to people. We're not the ones who have to discuss it with people Is this Hunapu, and so we try to make it as much of a collective decision as possible with that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Okay, Okay, and is it? You're bottling it? So it passed.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, that was great. Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, then what? So, speaking on Hunapu and the classic in the past, where, then, are you going? What is it that you're exploring now? That has you. I mean, if you can tell me that it's exciting about continuing with beer, where are you going with Hunapu? Where are you going with the beers that you have at your disposal in your book?
Speaker 2:I mean, right now, I think we've brewed a lot of beers through the tasting room, yep, and I think right now what we're doing, more so than exploring new things, is refining, okay, I think, and then making small tweaks to it. Sure, like we've made German pilsners before, they've all tasted a little different, because each time we remember I take pretty extensive notes on every time we have a tasting room beer, when we have sensory software, so I can look up, you know, from two years ago when we tried something like that, when we put it through the software I can see our sensory notes on it. Okay, when we put it through the software, I can see our sensory notes on it. Okay, and you know we work pretty hard on never being satisfied.
Speaker 2:Okay, like there's certain beers that like we're not touching, sure, but that's after a few years of trying it out and testing stuff. Like right now, like our best selling lager in the tasting room for a bit's been Ikebana, the rice lager. That's the same now, but that went through about 12 iterations. And so, yeah, I think right now we know the flavors we like. We pretend we know the flavors that the customer likes because I don't think anyone knows anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're not the same person to person.
Speaker 2:Exactly. No, no, it's. Yeah, it's not the same. And we also have a lot more craft beer consumers than we ever did before Sure, we also have a lot more craft beer consumers than we ever did before Sure. So trying to refine and also like I think some of that nuance comes in is a lot of those beers we used to make in the day are polarizing Sure Like, but we didn't care because we were there to push the our. Our job was to like rebel against. You know conglomerate beer, yeah, um, and you know that's it's not really a thing anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, it's almost like you're rebelling against what you rebelled against. You're rebelling against yourself, rebelling against what you rebelled against. You're rebelling against yourself, rebelling against the establishment.
Speaker 2:Right, 100% yeah. And so I think, yeah, I think what we're trying to do is just get better. Every time when we re-brew beers, I mean it consistently, like we've we've probably brew one or two beers a quarter that we try to make something else and so make something like a hazy IPA or a West coast IPA or a lager or something like that that we've, you know, we've brewed several times. But if it's not, it's a brand, it's not going in. That can. It's not going under that name. A brand, it's not going in. That can. It's not going under that name. And I think that comes with a lot of pride that we have for the work we do is we believe our consumers expect a level of quality and if it's not there, I'm not giving it to them.
Speaker 1:And if we have to dump a batch, we'll dump a batch so how do you know when a beer is done and is at? I mean, you could quantitatively measure esters and phenols and all of that. But how do you know then? This is done, we can call it improvisation, or we can call it that brand and good go.
Speaker 2:I mean it's again a collective sensory discussion and because, yeah, I mean, hops change, yeast change, everything change, even though it's the same brand, right, but those are all calculated changes to at least get very, very close to what we originally had. And if we're making those changes, it's not because we're cutting costs, it's because we're trying to improve, right? Um, yeah, we're in a very fortunate position right now where, you know, if something's a little pricier, I don't really care. If it makes the beer better, I'm gonna get it sure. Um, so, yeah, I think. So, yeah, I think it's not only sensory data, it's not only lab analytical data, it's does it feel right? And I can't really put exactly what that feeling is into words, but it's like the definition of pornography. You know it when you see it, sure, and so if I'm chasing nightmare confetti, I know it's like confetti when I taste it, okay, otherwise it's not so when those venn diagrams all kind of come together, you know that spot in the middle exactly okay.
Speaker 2:And it says it takes a. It takes a village to get there.
Speaker 1:Okay, Understandably. So. Talking about the future, then, and innovation and finding the right spot. What keeps you here?
Speaker 2:What keeps you coming to work every day? Well, one it's always. It's a dream come true to be working in this industry, as chaotic as it is in these days, it's still. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. And I mean, yeah, I mean on Brewer's Ball. I hit 12 years with CCB and the company in general and I absolutely adore this brand. And if I can play a role in ensuring the quality is there, if I can ensure that we're giving the customer the experience that they desire and like they're showing up for, I mean, it's exclusively driven by pride and love I have for what we have done and what we will do, because you know it's it's the beer industry. It's never going to pay the most. It's never going to. It's not a corporate job or it's it's gonna. You're in this for the love of the game. Right, you're in this for the love of the game. I'm incredibly thankful that after 14 years in this industry, the love of the game is still there. I wouldn't be anywhere else.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, that's a good way to taper off into my last segment, which I like to end. I want to respect your time, but I like to end with six quick questions.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Okay.
Speaker 1:It's kind of rapid fire. So the first question I have every beer person's favorite question what's your current favorite beer?
Speaker 2:Oh, we have one more pallet of Samsa's Czech dark lager on tap right now, before we wait till next winter to brew it again. Okay, wait till next winter to brew it again. Okay, we, I mean, I've been to Czech Republic a couple times and whenever time I'm there, czech dark lagers are my absolute favorite thing to drink. It's almost exclusive what I drink outside of, like a Budvar, okay. So being able to come here and then I mean that again went through several iterations to make it as authentic as we could make it, um yeah, that's my absolute favorite drink, especially on side bowl. It's, it's, it's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Okay, Uh. Next, if you could only brew one style, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Rice lager. Okay, yeah, no, it's I as a drinker, cause I'm assuming I'm brewing this to also consume a good portion of it. Uh, I'm in my uh sub 5% uh era right now.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's as a lot of consumers are. Yeah, yeah, what's the last beer you had that changed your mind? Oh, hmm. The example that I always use is Duchess de Bourgogne, where I found it. I had it. It tasted like balsamic vinegar, but I liked it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's one of the beers that changed my mind about sours.
Speaker 2:That's a really good question. Beers that changed my mind about sours. That's a really good question. Um, I can't remember the last one, but I can give you a good example of one. Okay, um, you know, always most brewers haveager uh, I always have. But I think when I first went to um suarez family in hudson river or in hudson new, uh, new york, um, and just tasting how nuanced yet complex a pilsner can be, I mean, you know, you, I've had some amazing pilsners in europe and everything else, but having something that well thought out or in stateside, it made me rethink. Just nuance in general, I think of like, what I think is delicate is still too heavy-handed and what like trying to evoke a memory in people by, you know, having them have to drink it. They're not going to sip on that beer, they're gonna. They're gonna drink it pretty quick, right, but during the entire session of having that pint really go from one place to another place. That that was. That changed my mind about beer in general okay, okay, um.
Speaker 1:Next, when it comes to beer, what do you wish? You really understood?
Speaker 2:Oh, we don't have enough time.
Speaker 1:The one. Thing.
Speaker 2:The one thing, the thing I wish I understood what's going to be big next. But I mean, besides that, that's what everyone wants, besides that, like, I want to want to like, these are all things I can learn, it's I want to figure out, you know, what is the perfect step match profile, what is the perfect to cockshoot, what is all these fun things like trying to? Yeah, I mean, because I'll, I will be the first person to tell someone when I don't know something. Okay, and I don't know nearly enough about that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:And yet it's all learnable, and it's all.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Honestly, maybe not learnable to the same extent where you've got it locked in. It's one of those artsy things where you're always refining and looking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everything is obtainable. You just have to work hard.
Speaker 1:Next, what's one thing you wish everyone knew about your brewery?
Speaker 2:That we're still here and that we're crushing it. I mean, I will swear up and down that some of the beers we're coming out with is the best we've ever come out with in the company In the entirety of CCB's history, and I will defend that. And uh, because yeah, it's, it's, we are. We know so much more about beer and process than we ever have we are. You know, we are thinking about a different way of the thing. Think of beer in a different way, I think, which is balancing what we want, what a consumer wants, and then actually having the technical knowledge to accomplish that.
Speaker 1:Okay, what is the greatest lesson you've learned in beer?
Speaker 2:It's just beer.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:It's like You're putting a live organism into sugar water and hoping it does the same thing over and over and over again. It's not going to do the same thing over and over and over again unless you have a $10 million facility that constantly hits every analytics the whole time. We're still brewing on the 2009 Premier Pub System. Right now, it's just beer. We're going to do the best we can, but gone are the days that I'm losing sleep over a dry hop, like it's going to taste good still and we're going to be fine and we can always pivot and you know, never forget about blending. You can always blend. Okay, sean, thanks a lot. Thanks again.
Speaker 1:Thanks for your time, of course, always great talking beer with you. You can always blend, okay, sean. Thanks a lot. Thanks again. Thanks for your time. Of course, always great talking beer with you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Take care, cheers.
Speaker 1:That was my conversation with Sean Sasser of Cigar City Brewing. My thanks to Sean Justin and the CCB team for taking the time to speak with me and hosting me in their Tampa tasting room. Are there any guests that you'd like to hear on the show? Reach out I'm on social media at FLBeerNews, or mark at floridabeernewscom, and let me know what's going on in your world beer-wise and who you'd like to hear talk on the podcast. Thank you again to our new sponsor, copper Tail Brewing.
Speaker 1:Copper Tail Brewing is located just outside Ybor City, across from Ikea, and has been brewing Florida-inspired beers since 2014. Grab a Freedive IPA, unholy Triple Night, swim Porter and Cloud Dweller Hazy IPA wherever you can find them in fine restaurants and beer stores around the Sunshine State. Please remember to like, subscribe and follow BeerWise on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode. Also, please remember to review the show on your favorite podcast platform and help us reach new audiences and grow. If you like it, please tell someone. If you don't like the show, please tell me and give me your feedback. Florida Beer News and the podcast are now on Patreon. I've begun new fundraising efforts for the website and podcast in hope of making some updates and changes. Check out patreoncom slash floridabeernews spelled out for information on how you and your business can help fuel our growth and get some cool rewards. That's all for now, until next time when I'll be back to talk about what's going on in the world. Beer-wise Cheers, thank you.
