Craft beer aficionados from around the world congregated in Tampa on Saturday, March 9 to make sure they got a bottle of a rare beer brewed by Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing.
The celebrated brew is called Hunahpu, and has been known to sell for as much as $250 per bottle on eBay. Its release was the centerpiece of Tampa Bay Beer Week and people came from as far away as Sweden to grab a bottle or three, which was the limit one person could buy.
Approximately 10,000 beer-hunters turned out, and there were people in line at 5:00 am on Saturday morning, but the prize for earliest customer goes to Cesar Vazquez, a Miami beer distributor who got in line 4:00 pm. Friday, settling down for the overnight wait in his camp chair. This is the third year in a row Vazquez has taken the number one spot, which has earned him the gift of a T-shirt from Wayne Wambles, Cigar City’s head brewer. The shirt has the motto ‘The Line Starts Here’ on its back.
Dakine Beckman, who came from Scottsdale, Arizona, and who has been there every time the brewery released another Hunahpu, said the reason for all the fuss is because this beer has universal appeal. It tastes of vanilla, chocolate, and cinnamon, then finishes with a spicy kick, which makes it unexpected and flavorful.
Cigar City Brewery might consider working with brochure printers to create a colorful pamphlet it could hand out at other big events.
