The Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief verdict on a single cigar of “buy,” “hold,” or “sell.”

Bianco is the second line from Omar de Frias’ Fratello Cigars. Launched last year, it boats a San Andrés Negro Wrapper, Dominican Binder, and filler tobaccos from Pennsylvania, Nicaragua, and Peru. The Event Exclusive (5 x 44) is my favorite Bianco vitola. It delivers a concentrated, deceptively potent flavor of cocoa, espresso, black pepper, and dry wood. Expertly constructed, it’s a great buy for about $8. I liked it when I reviewed it in September, and a half year later it’s still an excellent smoke.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

photo credit: La Aurora

With bourbon demand high, there are plenty of excellent bourbons to be found if you’re willing to pay a high price. But there are also plenty of fine bourbons available for around $20, if you know where to look.

Today I want to introduce you to one of my favorite hidden gems: Old Forester Signature 100. Before I tell you why I think this is such an underrated bourbon, lets review the history of Old Forester.

Prior to 1870, when George Garvin Brown introduced Old Forester in bottles, bourbon was sold in barrels, and if you wanted whiskey you went to a bar or store that sold it and filled up your own container. Today, the Old Forester brand is owned by Brown-Forman, whose biggest brand is Jack Daniels. It is made at the company’s distillery in Shively, Kentucky. The same distillery supplies barrels for Brown-Forman’s premium brand, Woodford Reserve.

If you are ever near Lexington, I can’t recommend enough visiting the Woodford Reserve distillery in nearby Versailles. Surrounded by scenic Kentucky horse country, the distillery formerly known as the Oscar Pepper Distillery is the platonic ideal of a bourbon distillery. But much of the bourbon that goes into Woodford Reserve is distilled at the more industrial Shively facility alongside barrels that will become Old Forester.

Since both bourbons are made with the same mashbill (72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley) there is a temptation to suggest that Woodford Reserve and Old Forester are the same bourbon, just marketed differently and sold for a different price. While that may be an overstatement, they certainly share a family resemblance, which makes Old Forester ($18 for one-liter bottle) and Old Forester Signature 100 ($22 for a 750 ml. bottle) candidates for good value.

The standard 86-proof version is easy to find on a lower shelf at most liquor stores. It makes for a great mixing bourbon (it’s particularly tasty in a mint julep) and a decent sipping one. It may take a little effort to find (some markets seem to have plenty while others don’t have it at all), but the 100-proof Old Forester Signature is a step above and worth the extra effort and slightly higher price.

The nose of the deep copper-colored bourbon is sweet with cherry and caramel. The palate features rich fruit, brown sugar, baking spices, and butterscotch. The finish shows the first major woodiness, along with more ripe fruit, spice, and caramel. It’s a hearty 100-proof, but still quite smooth.

This easy drinking bourbon pairs nicely with almost any well-made cigar. I’d particularly suggest a well-balanced, medium-bodied smoke like Arturo Fuente King T Rosado Sun Grown, Davidoff Colorado Claro Short Perfecto, Las Cumbres Tabaco Señorial, or Tesa Vintage Especial.

Ultimately, although there are other bourbons more complex and sophisticated than Old Forester Signature 100, that doesn’t diminish the fact that Old Forester Signature is delightful neat and cheap enough you won’t hesitate to use it in a well-constructed cocktail. That makes it a staple in my bar and an under-rated bourbon.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

To say I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with this cigar would be too extreme. It’s more aptly described as severely irritated-very pleased.

You see, I’ve smoked half of the ten cigars in the box I bought late last year. Four of them have had construction issues. Two had poor draws, one so tight I could barely smoke it. One had a fairly significant tunnel through about half the cigar, while the wrapper on another began to unravel less than a third of the way into the stick. One of the five smoked just fine.

All were tasty cigars, the kind of complex, balanced smokes I’ve experienced before from Casa Fernandez and its showcase Aganorsa tobacco. But it is hard to truly enjoy a cigar when you’re dealing with such interference.

As for what happened, I can only guess. I don’t believe my storage was the cause because nothing has changed in my humidor, and I haven’t encountered similar problems with other cigars. I don’t recall problems smoking other Casa Fernandez lines, so I find it hard to believe it’s an endemic situation.

No, I think I was just unlucky. Cigars, despite the best efforts at quality control, sometimes simply don’t measure up. In my case, I think I just ended up with a bad box, nothing more. Perhaps I’ll be fortunate and find the remaining five all perform perfectly.

As for the flavors, the Aniversario Miami 2015 Corojo Toro (6 x 56) is excellent. Pepper is dominant at the start, though it quickly goes to the background as a rich, thick sweetness moves to the front. Along the way I encountered roasted nuts, floral notes, and wood.

The wrapper is an Aganorsa Corojo ’99 with Nicaraguan filler. The cigar retails for about $12 a stick, a bit less by the box.

Obviously, it’s difficult to rate a cigar after so many problems. I considered waiting until I had smoked them all, but would it really matter if it ended up 5-5 or 6-4 or 4-6?

The bottom line is that I liked the flavors of the cigar very much, but the overall experience was lacking. I can only hope that my box was, as I said, an anomaly. Nonetheless, I can give this Casa Fernandez only three stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief verdict on a single cigar of “buy,” “hold,” or “sell.”

Still the most recent La Vérité release (a new one is expected this year), the second single vintage project from Tatuaje was widely thought to be a step up from the original 2008 release. The classic-looking double corona burned flawlessly, drew properly, and produced ample smoke. The flavors, however, seem to be less complex and interesting than I remembered with light earth, cocoa, hay, and a slightly metallic taste. I look forward to trying the next edition of what Pete Johnson once called his “most serious project to date,” but I doubt I’ll go out of my way to acquire any more of this vintage, which was originally offered five years ago.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief take on a single cigar.

A few weeks ago I signed up for The Cigar Authority’s monthly care package from Two Guys Smoke Shop, which includes four cigars per month for $19.99. This Robusto was in my first shipment, and Two Guys’ Dave Garofalo chose it as his favorite cigar of 2015. It has an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Mexican binder, and Dominican filler (with a bit of Pennsylvania Broadleaf included). The medium-strength blend made for a smooth, tasty smoke, despite a minor construction problem in the first third. It retails for about $7.50, and I’d recommend giving it a try.

Verdict = Buy.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

photo credit: Drew Estate