The Stogie Guys

“Damn right your dad drank it.” That’s the on-the-mark tagline of Canadian Club whiskey, a spirit everyone’s heard of but seemingly few under 40 have tried.

Before this review I had tried the original Canadian Club, a six year whiskey, but not its more mature sibling, the Canadian Club Classic 12 Year Old. This whiskey is aged 12 years in re-charred oak barrels and created with corn and rye, combined with rye malt and barley malt.

The resulting spirit has a vibrant orange-bronze color. On the nose the Canadian Club Classic is soft with a creamy sherry aroma reminiscent of eggnog.

When I got down to tasting, I found a smooth body with cream, vanilla, bread, and oak. It reminded me of some of my favorite American ryes—not surprising considering that Canadian whiskey is traditionally made with a high percentage of rye. In addition, there is a subtle woody spice and the finish is dry and smooth.

With it’s vanilla, cream, and woody flavors, there is plenty to pair up with a fine cigar. I’d recommend the Arganese Edición Especial 2008,  Isla de Cuba Classic, EO Cubao, Oliva Series G, or Romeo y Julieta Vintage, all which have prominent cream or cedar notes. If you’re enjoying this whiskey in Canada, or some other country where Cuban cigars are widely available, I’d suggest a lesser known Cuban smoke: the Por Larrañaga Panatela.

All in all, I was quite impressed with the Canadian Club Classic. Canadian whiskey is often overshadowed by the fine bourbon and scotch being produced, but this representation shows that Candian whiskey can also be a great sipping spirit.

Given that a bottle is a reasonable $25, it won’t be devastating if someone uses it to make a cocktail. In fact, I bet the Canadian Club Classic 12 Year Old would make an excellent Manhattan. Personally, though, I’d take it neat.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

When I think of Kentucky I think of the Derby, bourbon, and the once formidable Wildcat basketball program. The image of wild buffalo charging through untamed wilderness simply doesn’t resonate. But this aptly named spirit was born of a frontier settlement that grew from trails (or “traces”) carved by buffalo herds.

Built on the banks of the Kentucky River near Frankfort, the distillery, according to its website, “embraces the heritage created by brave pioneers, hopeful settlers, and Kentucky’s native sons who left their marks as legends, heroes, and leaders.” The fertile land, uniquely situated amid abundant limestone and spring water, has been home to a working distillery since 1787, and today the sprawling operation includes 119 acres and 114 buildings.

Whether or not you buy into the magic of the location, you can’t dispute Buffalo Trace’s results. The distillery—which also produces Blanton’s, W.L. Weller, Old Charter, and Eagle Rare—has won more international awards since 1990 than any other North American operation, not to mention Whiskey Magazine’s “Distiller of the Year” award in 2005.

Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is their flagship line, launched in August 1999 shortly after the distillery was renamed from George T. Stagg. It is made from Kentucky and Indiana corn, rye, and superior malted barley. Double distilled and aged in select barrels (Buffalo Trace sports the highest rejection rate of barrels in the industry), a 750 ml. bottle sells for a reasonable $18-25.

Turning copper red to a golden brown when poured from the bottle to a glass, this bourbon boasts notes of mint, oak, molasses, and pepper on the nose. A slight burning tinge is apparent but mostly in the background of the aroma’s character.

While all of these scents are noticeable in the taste, the predominant flavors are vanilla and honey. And where many bourbons overstay their welcome, Buffalo Trace fades away quietly like the end of a catchy tune on an old album.

Still, this is a hearty bourbon that need not be treated as a fragile delicacy. Drink it on the rocks or in your favorite bourbon-based cocktail (it makes a great mint julep) and feel free to pair it with fuller-bodied cigars. Of those that I’ve smoked lately, the Cupido Tuxedo, Serie JJ Maduro, and Double Ligero Chisel pair nicely.

Even though Buffalo Trace may not be the best, most complex bourbon on the market, it’s a damn good value for the money—and, for both sipping and mixing, it has carved a trail to my liquor cabinet.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Pairing cigars with beer is more challenging than pairing them with more traditional cigar spirits. While nearly any good bourbon, scotch, or rum will go well with nearly any good cigar, beer’s flavor profile is more difficult to match up with stogies.

With that in mind, I popped open a few bottles of Geary’s Pale Ale to see if it had the type of flavor that would pair well with beer. Geary’s is brewed in Portland, Maine, and is widely available in New England. Elsewhere Geary’s is tougher to find, so when I found it at a Total Wine here in Northern Virginia I grabbed a six-pack.

The Pale Ale is the beer that Geary’s is best known for and, according to Geary’s website, it is “a classic British pale ale with a nod to the legendary beers of Burton-on-Trent. Copper-colored, dry, clean, and crisp with lots of late hope taste in an appetizing complex with ale fruitiness from imported Hampshire yeast.”

A half inch of light, frothy head settled on top of the reddish brown ale after I poured a 12 oz. bottle into a pint glass. Geary’s doesn’t have as much intense hoppiness on the nose as many pale ales, but it seemed to have a pleasant floral aroma.

When I got down to tasting, I found a crisp, heavily carbonated beer with an almost champagne-like quality. I also detected citrus to go along with a classic, if understated, pale ale hoppiness, as well as a hint of fruity sweetness as if a bit of hard cider had been mixed in.

This is an excellent summer beer that will refresh on its own, or accompany a meal of lobster (such as the one that adorns the label). Pairing it with a cigar proved a little more challenging.

The lightness means that it would be overpowered by a full-bodied cigar and almost any maduro. A mild Connecticut-wrapped cigar, however, seemed to pair quite well. I’d recommend the Perdomo 10th Anniversary Champagne, the Arganese Connecticut Ambassador, or the Romeo y Julieta Vintage line.

So, the next time you have the chance, I suggest you twist open a Geary’s (this rare micro brew that uses twist-off caps) and light up your favorite mild smoke that features a Connecticut wrapper. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better way to spend a warm summer afternoon.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Last week I wrote about Michter’s US 1 Rye. Today, I look at another whiskey from the Michter’s label: the 10-Year-Old Single Barrel Bourbon. Like it’s rye counterpart, this one wasn’t actually made at Michter’s Distillery in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania (which last made A.H. Hirsh 16-Year-Old Bourbon).

Just because this bourbon isn’t made at the historic Pennsylvania distillery doesn’t mean it isn’t a great spirit. But the fact that bourbon was made in Pennsylvania does let me address one common misconception: Contrary to what you might have heard (and what a friendly bartender recently tried to convince me of), bourbon doesn’t need to made in Kentucky.

While the standards for bourbon are quite exacting, there is no requirement as to where it is made, and these days fine bourbon is made in New York, Virginia, Kentucky, and elsewhere—though Bourbon County, Kentucky, remains the center of production.

For a whiskey to be considered bourbon, it must only meet the following standards (laid out in 1964 U.S. law). It must: (1) be made of a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn; (2) be distilled to no more than 160 proof; (3) be natural with nothing other than water added to the grain mixture; (4) be aged in new, charred oak barrels; and (5) not be introduced to the barrel at higher than 125 proof. Additionally, bourbons aged for less than four years must be labeled with thier age, meaning that most bourbons are at least four years old.

Michter’s takes the standards and surpasses them by aging the bourbon 10 years. Additionally, as a single barrel bourbon, each bottle contains whiskey from exactly one oak barrel, and every bottle is individually labeled so that it can be traced back to a specific barrel. (The bottle I tasted was labeled 7K-1.)

With a smokey copper appearance and an intense nose of oak, the taste is dominated by charred oak and malted barley with orange peel and a hint of anise. The finish is cedary and long.

Overall, this is a complex and pleasant bourbon. I find the price of around $60, however, to be a little high. Were it half that I could offer an enthusiastic recommendation. Either way, Michter’s 1o-Year-Old makes a fine pairing for any good medium- to full-bodied cigar. I found the flavorful Cuban Bolivar Royal Corona to be a perfect match.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Back in December, I tasted the rare and expensive A.H. Hirsch 16-Year-Old Bourbon. While writing about that stellar spirit, I noted that A.H. Hirsh is the last of the bourbons made at Michter’s Distillery in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania. Today, a series of whiskeys are made under the Michter’s name, but none of them come from the original Pennsylvania distillery.

This Stogie Spirit article is of one of those post-Schaefferstown Michter’s whiskeys. It’s called Michter’s US 1 Single Barrel Straight Rye, which is made by an undisclosed Kentucky distillery.

As the name suggests, this is a single barrel straight rye, meaning it’s made with at least 51 percent rye mash (usually mixed with corn or barley) and aged in new charred oak barrels. Each clear bottle is individually numbered (my sample came from 8D-41).

All rye must be 160 proof or less and, like most, Michter’s comes in well below that at 91.4 proof. The color is an impressive shiny copper hue.

After pouring myself a few fingers, I notice an aroma of resin, vanilla, and citrus. The taste consists of  oak, pepper, and cedar that warms the corners of your mouth. The finish is long and smooth with a hint of mint.

This is a favorite rye of mine and, at a cost of $35 per bottle, it isn’t going to break the bank. In fact, that makes it about a quarter of the price of the Hirsh and nearly half of what Michter’s ultra-premium 10-Year Single Barrel Rye costs. The reasonable price also makes it a great candidate for a classic Manhattan.

As for cigar pairings, I’d pick a cigar with a little spice of it’s own to stand up to Michter’s classic peppery flavors. The CAO LX2, Don Pepin Blue Label, or even the Opus X seem well-suited for the task.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

While both spirits work well year-round, I tend to think of rum as the supreme summertime drink and whiskey as more suitable for the cold winter months. Maybe that’s why, since November, I’ve been exploring the various blends of my favorite, most reliable Irish whiskey: Jameson.

The 12 Year Old blend is a fine choice if you want to venture away from the traditional recipe but don’t want to break the bank. One of four blends in Jameson’s Reserve line, it has a suggested retail of $35 per 750 ml. bottle—a price that, in my opinion, indicates this whiskey is undervalued.

The 12 Year Old Special Reserve, according to Jameson, is “matured for a minimum of 12 years in oloroso sherry and bourbon casks.” The blend was originally dubbed “1780” to honor the year the Jameson Distillery was established.

After peeling away the burgundy foil from the classic green bottle, I was greeted with a corked top. This nice touch, which you’ll also find on the pricier Gold Reserve, is a simple yet underappreciated pleasure.

The amber pour is strikingly similar to the original blend, if not with a slightly more golden hue. Laying the two whiskeys side-by-side, I also noticed similar legs.

You won’t really discover any significant differences, in fact, until you take in the 12 Year Old’s aroma. There’s less of an alcohol tinge on the nose. And while you’ll find similar notes of honey and oak, there’s also a richer, syrupy scent with traces of fruit and leather.

The balanced, complex flavor profile of warm almond, peach, and oak is simply heavenly as it slowly fades into spice. Full-bodied yet mellow. An ice cube or two will bring out more taste and round off some of the edges. The smooth finish goes on for days. Where the original blend is gentle and sweet, 12 Year Old is savory and comforting.

Unlike Jameson’s traditional recipe, feel free to couple this spirit with more powerful smokes. Particularly good pairings include La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero, Isla de Cuba Aged Maduro, Cubao, and the Montecriso Petit Edmundo.

As you might have guessed, my verdict is this premium sprit serves as an exciting reminder that you don’t have to spend a fortune for a respectable whiskey. But Jameson 12 Year Old is much more than respectable; it’s downright sublime.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Coffee is a favorite beverage of mine to pair with a fine cigar, as is a good flavorful beer. With that in mind I was excited to try the Pipeline Porter, a limited release from the Hawaii-based Kona Brewing Company. As soon as I saw it I quickly scooped up a six-pack for $8.

I’ve previously tried Kona’s flagship beer, the Longboard Lager, a crisp refreshing lager that sometimes makes an appearance at my local grocery store but doesn’t quite have the intensity of flavor to hold up to most cigars. A deep coffee-flavored porter, however, seemed just the ticket for a cigar pairing.

And Kona isn’t kidding when they highlight the Kona coffee that goes into this American-style porter. Apparently the coffee beans are mixed in with the malt during the brewing process, and the result is a beer that has the aroma of sweet Cuban coffee.

On the palate, the Pipeline Porter has classic malty flavors with a roasted taste and a touch of chocolate. Two notable characteristics are a low level of carbonation and a short, crisp finish that quickly melts away. The beer isn’t as thick or heavy as many other porters.

And yes, the Pipeline Porter goes well with a fine cigar. Surprisingly for a beer, I found it pairs quite well with full-bodied smokes. The Alec Bradley Tempus was a winner, as was the EO 601 Green. In fact, most medium- to full-flavored cigars are bound to pair well with Pipeline, provided you like the beer.

And that’s the only caveat. Ultimately, this isn’t a beer for everyone. Porters are an acquired taste (or at least one that not everyone shares), and a porter made with coffee isn’t likely to be a universal hit. However, if you’re like me and enjoy coffee and interesting, flavor-filled beer, the Kona Brewing Company’s Pipeline Porter is definitely worth a try.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys