Cigars & Beer

Big Bad Baptist and a Cohiba 1966 for the Super Bowl. The coffee notes in the beer and cigar are almost perfect.

 

For the most part I'm also in the cigar and spirits camp. That's not to say that a cigar can't go really well with a good beer when you're in the right mood. Cigars a very much so a full flavored experience that can easily overwhelm the beer you're drinking.

 

Laphroiag and any Ashton!!

 

Seriously amazing pipe tobacco, Lewis himself makes some incredible pipes too (He sells Peterson pipes there too, for around web prices) but man his pipes are beautiful (he's a master uh pipemaker? and does pipe repairs as well), however they're pricey. I think his pipes he makes are around $300-400 but man they are all one of a kind and pieces of art.

 

With a Undercrown cigar, awesome.

 

Rocky Patel anything is gonna be a great cigar. But I really enjoy the 1991 and 92 miniatures 5-packs. I'm kind of new to cigar smoking, but I've come to realize that smaller cigars taste a lot better than bigger ones

 

last night I was drinking Ten Fidy's and smoking a Hoyo de Monterey. The beer was so much better than the cigar by leaps and bounds

 

I am starting to feel a bit like Marquis, railing against the BJCP, when I see the topic of pairing cigars and beer. But I will continue to say it; Cigars and beer? Sure! But pair a good cigar with a good beer and one, the other or both will be nullified. The idea of, and yes I had to learn the hard way, wasting either a great beer or great cigar is abhorrent to me. Pair them when you don't give a shit what either tastes like and you'll be happy. As for me, I reach for The Balvenie.

 

i wouldn't quite go so far as to say "don't give a shit what either tastes like", but i definitely agree with this sentiment in terms of not going into a cigar & beer pairing with expectations beyond it being an experience & 1 you may or may not enjoy. one will probably be very disappointed if they show up with "epic stick" to pair with "epic ale" expecting to have some combined holy grail experience.

it's rare that i get the opportunity to torch a cigar. when i do it's even rarer with beer, but typically if i do pair the 2... the beer, like the cigar, is just 1 of the multiple conversation pieces involved in the experience. what's not featured in a picture i included above is the fact that i was waiting on a friend (3rd pic.) - who was bringing his own preferred gar to enjoy with the Abyss we split. we were busy yapping & shooting the shit whereas i wasn't really paying strict attention to the precise taste of any of the particular items we went through - just that all were pleasant/unoffensive.

 

I've been exploring the pairing of beer and cigars for longer than I care to reveal. Barleywines and other high ABV brews (esp. aged Thomas Hardy ale, if you can find it, RISs, Utopias, etc) with a nice malt backbone are a good place to begin a pairing. As for a cigar, the best place to start, I've found, is to find one with little to no ligero, which is the strongest grade of filler tobacco used in a cigar. Aside from having a terrible combustion rate, ligero tends to blast the palate. Good for after a big meal, but not for pairing with beer. Illusione's Epernay blend contains zero ligero, and pairs well with Belgian beers and a slew of others. Tatuaje's Cabaiguan, I believe, is also sans ligero.

Connecticut-wrapped cigars are also a good place to start, as they tend to offer a sweeter smoke and most cigarmakers abstain from ramping up the spice levels when blending with it. St. Paddy's day bring a deluge of candelas, which usually have a nice creaminess to their smoke that lines up well with beers. Beer, unlike spirits, is more of a finesse pairing. Whereas a spirit can heavily influence the overall character of smoke, beer usually finds only one or two flavors to play around with. It's hard to find a "home run" pairing, in the sense that both smoke and drink are complimenting each other. It's not impossible, though.

Another thing I've found is cigars tend to balance out beers very well. Using @highbrow awesome collection of Cubans as an example, the saltiness of some Bolivar and Partagás Cubans play really well with sweet, malty beers, much like salt in chocolate. Pepper in a cigar can bring out the subtle pepper notes in a beer, say, a saison.

IPAs, aside from Imperials, are tricky with cigars, as they tend to cut through smoke. If you are a fan of bitter, though, a cigar can play well with the FINISH of an IPA, but that's an acquired taste, best for after a big meal, too.

At the risk of sounding like a know-it-all douche, I do write about this subject extensively. Here's an index of my articles: http://www.cigaraficionado.com/category/index/id/16/topic/91/traverse/N#top

 

Hoyo Double Coronas (the real Hoyos) are one of my all time favorites but they are too light for something like Ten Fidy. They'd be great with a Van de Kaizer Red though.

 

Are you Jack Bettridge??

 

Haha, no. His co-worker/protégé.

 

Beer and cigars do not mix well. Maybe a more mild cigar would be, but I would never ruin both an Opus X and a good beer by trying to have them both at the same time. At least, never again - I've tried before, and it just doesn't work. Stick to bourbon or scotch, something that has a far more concentrated flavor that can compete with the cigar, but not mix unfavorably with it like hops do, or have the complexity or depth of flavor lost like typically happens with a RIS or something barrel aged. If you must try anyways, Utopias would probably work - the sweetness probably would hold up to the cigar nicely.

 

Gotta have a single malt with a cigar. Beer does nothing for me

 

Nice! Jack is great. We've chit chatted a few times about distillery barrel programs, IIRC. Nothing better than cigars and booze!

You just reminded me my CA subscription expired. Or is it cA now? Lol

 

My combo of choice. Pipe smokers unite! (:

 

Barley wines and cigars definitely do not compliment each other. I can't taste the Bigfoot i'm drinking..

 

For me, I like IIPA's with a strong spicy cigar like an Opus X.

And a smooth robust cigar like a La Gloria Cubana with a Imperial Stout.

 

When I was down south, I had some chocolate/sweet flavored cigar which I normally never have, with a chocolate stout. It was awesome. Smoking makes me want to drink, drinking makes me want to smoke. Plus there's nothing better than drinking on a porch swing from a plastic milk jug growler fill wearing cowboy boots.

#WINNING