Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/101651
Sarasota News Leader January 4, 2013 Page 69 spite the brewery���s limiting the sales to two ���Beer drinkers love us because we don���t just bottles per customer. stay with the regular rotation, we change it up. Every time you go into the tasting room Lorber said he still has a couple of bottles of ��� there will be a different beer in there,��� he it at home and that he has received offers to explained. ���That���s what sets us apart from othpurchase them for $300 each, though he has er breweries. I���ve been all over the country, not yet been able convince himself to let them to 250 different breweries, and nobody really go. does this.��� Those who do not necessarily have ���HunahAnother aspect of Cigar City that makes it pu���s fever��� can still visit Cigar City���s tasting unique and appealing is the way it incorporoom most other days of the year and enjoy themselves. This is not only an essential part rates the Cuban influence of Tampa���s culture of the true Cigar City experience, but also an into its beers, particularly in using ingredients integral part of the brewery���s business model. and processes that have not been tried before After all, the tasting room is the place where or may seem unusual to many beer drinkers. beers go from a small test batch to the tap Dario Diaz, a Tampa native, a friend of Redand then, depending on customer response, ner and a fan of the brewery, explained to the to oblivion or back to the tap for another run, News Leader as he sat at the tasting room bar with the hope of possibly making it into 12- or on Dec. 22 that he appreciates this originality. ���They���re being innovative with beer, they���re 22-ounce bottles. having fun with it and it shows,��� he said. This type of customer feedback, Lorber explained in an interview between tours, is one ���I���m proud of Cigar City,��� Diaz continued. ���Get of the primary ways Cigar City makes its deci- on any forum about beer and you���ll see somesions about how often and in what quantities how, somebody from another place talking about Cigar City, saying things like, ���We don���t to produce certain beers. have it in New England yet, but we���re really ���It���s a test market,��� he explained. ���We test it in looking forward to it!������ the tasting room; we listen to the feedback. If it sells out quickly, we know it���s done well,��� he Jerry Troya, another Tampa native who was continued. ���If the public tells you to do some- sitting and chatting with Diaz, expressed a similar sentiment. ���It shows that they���re crething ��� well, you���d be stupid not to do it!��� ating a product that they enjoy and they enjoy While this testing process may not seem un- doing it, too. They use different flavors that usual for any business, Lorber explained that do create the Latin-type feel of being here in what makes it different at Cigar City is the West Tampa,��� he said, adding that Cigar City company���s refusal to rest on the laurels of its is expanding the recognition of Tampa and its favorites. Cigar City, he added, has an insatiaculture all across the United States. ble desire to experiment, and it continues to produce and offer a wide variety of new beers ���I tell people I live in Tampa,��� he pointed out, in its tasting room, which is what keeps peo- ���and they say, ���Oh, that���s where Cigar City is, ple coming back so often. right?������