Welcome to The Sunshine State
Last Friday our friends at Cycle Brewing hosted their first "post-Blip" Barrel-Aged Day in St. Petersburg, Florida... and we had a front row seat! We sent a small Away Party (no redshirts) to help Doug and his crew pull off an awesome day of incredible beer and sunshine.
Cycle Brewing
If you're not familiar with Cycle Brewing, you're missing out on some world-class beer. Cycle was started back in 2012 by Doug Dozark, and has received numerous awards including being named one of the 10 best breweries in the world by RateBeer in 2018, one of the Top 20 Tavour Beers of 2020, and is the oldest craft brewery in downtown St. Petersburg. Since opening, Doug has been putting out some of the most sought-after barrel-aged stouts and barleywines you'll ever have.
Doug has been a close friend since well before we opened the doors at Dog & Pony Show. As a matter of fact, the brewhouse, fermenters, and bright tank you see in our taproom all once belonged to Doug. You might say he's our very own Obi-Wan (have you seen this yet?)
Cycle Barrel Aged Day 2022
Ever year, Doug and team release a series of barrel-aged beers named after each day of the week. This year's Weekday series includes a barleywine aged for 40-months in maple bourbon barrels (Sunday), a 3-year aged stout with toasted and un-toasted coconut plus Panther coffee (Thursday), and a blend of stouts aged in Eagle Rare, Wild Turkey Rare Breed, Birthday Bourbon 2020 and Woodford Reserve Master's Collection Chocolate Rye barrels (Saturday).
Each year, Cycle hosts a BA Day celebrating this annual release and bringing together beer lovers from across the globe (literally) to sample these amazing beers. It had been two years since the last BA Day due to you-know-what, but last week was the triumphant return.
Nocturnal Animals
After catching a flight down from Detroit to Tampa earlier in the week, we met up with Doug, rolled up our sleeves and got to work to make sure things were ready for the big day.
Moving kegs, cleaning lines, setting up the tap boards, checking people in... it was a blast.
The sun was shining, there was a nice cool breeze, and people started lining up at 9 AM, carrying coolers full of rare bottles to share. Once the doors opened, 500 happy beer fans flooded in to take over the Saint Pete Shuffleboard Club, and lined up at two different tap boards to sample all the great beers. Dog & Pony Show Brewing even had our own barrel-aged Barleywine on tap, and got some amazing feedback from folks across the globe.
Got FOMO? Fear Not...
Cycle's 2022 BA Day was one for the books. We had a blast, and can't wait to go back next year! In the meantime, though, we have some exciting things coming right here at home.
Sales of our very first barrel-aged Barleywine and Imperial Stout go on sale this week!
We've taken what we've learned from Jedi Master Doug and brought it to Michigan, and we are thrilled with how these beers turned out.
Barrel-Aged Barley Wine
Aged for six months in Journeyman Distillery Buggy Whip Wheat and Last Feather Rye barrels.
Barrel-Aged Stout
Aged for six months in Ironclad Distillery bourbon barrels and Journeyman Silver Cross whiskey barrels with Sabbath coffee and cinnamon.
Both of these beers are extremely limited, we will have around 300 bottles of each for sale.
Insider members will get the first crack at reserving bottles and will receive an email notification tomorrow.
To get yours:
Make sure you're signed up as an Insider here
Watch your email tomorrow for reservation details
Be one of the first of 200 Insiders to reserve 1 bottle of each
Come to the taproom on Thursday, March 24th starting at 4 PM to pick up your allocation
If you miss out on the Insider reservation process, around 100 bottles of each beer will go on sale to the general public on Thursday, March 24th at 4 PM.
Follow Cycle Brewing on Instagram and Facebook and go get some next time you're in Florida!