Florida cypress wood and lactose — these are key ingredients in Cigar City's Brewing's limited-edition Cow Boss Imperial Milk Stout, which it teamed up with the Florida Cattlemen's Foundation to create. By mid-June, the new craft brew will be available around the state in 22-ounce bottles as well as on tap. A portion of Cigar City's proceeds will benefit the foundation.
"I wanted to make a beer that not only included indigenous raw materials, like Florida cypress, but also an ingredient that tied the beer to the cattle as well," said Cigar City brewmaster Wayne Wambles in a statement. "Lactose is a non-fermentable milk sugar that adds body and sweetness to the beer."
Aged over cypress from St. Cloud's Kempfer Cattle Company and Kempfer Sawmill, the state-sourced Cow Boss, a term for the person in charge of a ranch's cattle operation, also has notes of sponge and angel food cakes.
Jim Strickland, owner of Myakka City's Strickland Ranch alongside his wife Reneé, initiated the brewery partnership when he served as chairman of the Florida Cattleman's Foundation, while artist and cattle rancher Sean Sexton, who manages a family-owned, 700-acre operation in Indian River County, designed the stout's label.
"This name and the artistic depiction on the label really conveys the lifestyle of the Florida cattle rancher," said Tommy Harper, the foundation's chairman. "We have a story to tell about the impact of the Florida cattle industry and what the Foundation is doing to preserve it's history and heritage."
This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2015.