Cigar City Brewing out of Tampa may in fact be my favorite brewer these days, their Jai Alai is quite possibly my favorite IPA at the moment. That said, I am taking a little exception at their attempt to launch a ‘Florida Man’ beer and cash in on the Internet craze that is Florida Man, but it doesn’t bother me for the reasons you may think.
That image you see above is the mugshot of an Evansville, Indiana man who the Evansville Courier & Press reported was arrested for public intoxication and trying to stab someone with a sword.
That image you see above is the new label of Cigar City’s ‘Florida Man’ beer.
Somehow in their infinite wisdom, Cigar City thought that launching a ‘Florida Man’ beer would be best by branding it with an Indiana resident? I understand how they could make this mistake, that mugshot is after all the avatar of the famed ‘Florida Man’ Twitter handle. But wouldn’t you think a brewery would do their due diligence before printing up a shitton of labels and trying to greedily cash in on an Internet sensation?
But back to the beer. The Orlando Sentinel reports:
Cigar City Brewing in Tampa has decided to pay homage to the “world’s worst superhero” with its new Florida Man Double IPA, currently available at its tasting room.
So far the response from customers has been positive, especially among those who like their beers “crazy hoppy,” according to Cigar City Brewing marketing associate Russell Breslow. He says the beer has “a bright citrusy hop character” with notes of piney resin, apricot, peach, orange and lemon on a solid malt background.
The bottle pictures the same mugshot that’s popularly recognized as the @_FloridaMan Twitter account profile picture. Cigar City did a little editing and substituted the marker streaks from the infamous mugshot with a pair of aviator-style sunglasses.
This is the second time Cigar City has brewed the “Florida Man” but the first time it’s been bottled and distributed, Breslow said. It’s currently available at the company’s tasting room for $9 a bottle and there are plans to make it available at retail locations throughout the state, although no definitive date is yet set.
Whoa whoa whoa whoaaaaoooo, just WAIT ONE MINUTE! They’ve made this mistake twice and nobody’s called them out on it until now? You can’t keep attempting to profiteer off the ‘Florida Man’ success and consistently fuck up by using an Indiana resident as your spokesperson.
I feel as if I should volunteer myself as the face of this new beer. I’ll spend a day fishing out in the Gulf of Mexico and the subsequent flaming red sunburn that’ll ensue will be perfect for a ‘Florida Man’ beer label.