TAMPA, Fla. — We’ve all heard of catching lightning in a bottle, but what about the Lightning in a beer? That's what they’re doing at Cigar City Brewing with their new High Boltage IPA.
“It's been a couple years in the making, obviously we are all big Bolts fans over here, especially two Stanley Cup wins going for that three-peat,” said operations planner Amanda Milford.
Cigar City said it all starts in the lab, trying to come up with a flavor that scores a goal with your taste buds.
“Cantaloupe, soft strawberry, a little of that canned fruit,” said seller manager Micheil McElvey. “Kind of evocative of the Lighting just being so smooth on the ice, it's also smooth on the pallet”
Once they had that winning formula the next step was coming up with the perfect name.
“The name came from someone actually on the Lightning camp’s team,” said marketing manage Julia Stewart. “If you look at the packaging, we have the downtown Tampa cityscape on there and that’s something anybody local is going to be instantly recognizing. Even if you aren’t sure what’s in the can or what the liquid is you’re going to reach for it because you are a Bolts fan and you love hockey.”
High Boltage IPA was officially released in January and can be purchased at the brewery, local stores and Amalie Arena.
“Going to a game and being able to order a High Boltage and going, ‘hey I was actually a part of bringing this into fruition,’ it’s really a cool experience,” said Milford.
Even though High Boltage is typically served in a glass, Cigar City would love to see it poured into something a little bit shinier.
“Nothing better than putting High Boltage in the cup and serving it up,” said McElvey.
