Today cigars are trendy. Even the most difficult characters among non-smokers seem to allow the presence of a cigar into their lives at times. Certainly they may go to restaurants or clubs where there are cigar rooms or clubs. These cigar clubs have proliferated all over the United States even although everybody's favourite cigar, an Havana is banned.
In Britain generations have grown up with the tradition that Cognac or Vintage Port are THE correct accompaniments to an Havana cigar. Being something of an iconoclast Tony le Ray-Cook challenges why? Why not a cocktail; malt whisky; Irish Malt whiskey; perhaps an old Mavphrodite from Greece or even a Pinneau des Charente.
The idea of a tasting with malt whiskies and Irish whiskeys followed by cocktails with a Caribbean influence to find good or even perfect combinations of drink to cigar was an intriguing one.
Possible not at home maybe but elsewhere. Cigar clubs have been started all over the U.S. a country where to smoking is deemed not to be PC, but cigars are in. The citizens of the US are not even allowed to import Havana's finest, yet they are available.
For generations it has been traditional to smoke a fine Havana cigar with Cognac or Vintage Port. Why should one perceive this to be the case or indeed the only answer? Does the acidity of a cigar needs sweetness of alcohol to cut through the taste and compliment the finest of the leaf?
Why not a trendy cocktail? Why not a Malt whisky or would an Irish whiskey better? Perhaps a revived cocktail from the thirties might be the answer? Will a Silver Streak make your cigar squeak!
To try and find the answers to my questions I went to a cigar room in London's Belgravia. Ranald MacDonald, the Younger of Clan Ranald, who owns Boisdales Cigar and Jazz Restaurant and Club. I asked Ranald to join my tasting panel; we were joined by cigar expert Simon Chase of Hunters & Frankau and Patrick Gwyn-Jones, owner of Pomegranates Restaurant. Patrick smokes large quantities of Danish cigars.
The last panel member was Adrian ***** Chairman of Boisdales.
The cigars we smoked, not in smoking order were Bolivar, Hoyo de Monterey, Montecristo, Partigas, Upmann, Rafael Gonzales, Vegas Robaina. Only the best would do for this palate challenge.
The team settled around a table in the conservatory next to the cigar bar. As we lit up our Montecristo No4 s the heavens opened and the sliding roof had to be closed.
A tropical rainstorm hit the glass roof with such force that we could not hear one another talk. It rained through out our peregrinations through Cuba and the world of
Delicious apéritif and digestives. We might well have been on a verandah in Havana during a hurricane.
Montecristo No 4 was the preferred choice, it being the most popular cigar. The cigar is of medium strength and we were lucky in that they were 1998 and had become mellow with age.
The first of the definitive whiskies was Glenlivet 18 year old, Speyside single malt.
My first puff and sip marked the combination so high that I would have been happy to sit back, enjoy and ignore the rest of the cigars and drinks. That is until my curiosity returned. The matched pair made a long elegant mellow smoke and
made a marriage, which would be foolish to put asunder.
The next whisky was Ardbeg 17 year old, Islay malt. All Islay malts smell of iodine and have a minerally palate. This made a poor match with the Monte for me but Simon liked it, as did Patrick. We all marked the whisky alone with a top score.
The whiskey we all thought would win this part of the tasting was Bushmill's 10 year old Irish malt. Again the whiskey got top marks but the votes on the combination were close but only Patrick gave it a ten, the top mark.
Redbreast 12 year old Irish malt was a winner with everybody as a combination and as a whiskey. The lowest mark was Simon with a 7, the rest of the judges gave the combination 8s or 9s. The matching was a really enjoyable experience.
A very good cognac was produced to get things in perspective. Chateau de Plassac, XO was a delight to taste but showed me that it really was the time to change tradition.
We moved further north in France for a very fine Calvados, Berneroy 25 year old. The palate was beautiful with soft apple and vanilla flavours but the combination was not very popular.
We moved to different cigars and from spirits to cocktails. One of my favourite drinks is a Dry Martini Cocktail. For our next drink we had a Dry Martini made with Plymouth Gin and Vya Vermouth. Vya is high in flavours from the fresh botanical ingredients used by Andy Quady in its blending. We were matching the Martini with Hoyo de Monterey, Margaritas. As the Martini and the Margarita were harmonious with one another, I said, " I love Margaritas with my Martini".
In fact the Hoyo de Monterey, Margarita size 4 3/4" 26 RG were a match with most of the rest of the cocktails. The panel were in unison with all the cocktail cigar combinations.
The Mojito cocktail, a Cuban favourite and the house cocktail at Boisdales, it consists of Havana Club, lime, fresh Cuban mint, soda and Gomme, was liked by everybody. However it was my least favourite combination. Although I loved the Rafael Gonzalez, Lonsdale with it.
Mai Tai is a popular cocktail in every bar in the land and it certainly went well with the H. Upmann, Connoisseur No1. This was the surprise cigar. I have ignored Upmanns for years but this 48 R.G stogie is a great smoke and was made to be married to cocktails.
The rain was still hammering on the glass roof and here we were about to enjoy a Singapore Sling, which we were matching with a cigar I had never tasted before, a Vegas Robaina. At 52 R.G the fattest Havana we tried and a real man's cigar. I now felt like an old fashioned movie mogul with a huge fate cigar and a long cool drink. This was the best matching of the tasting for me and everybody else was within half a mark.
The Velvet Hammer, a cocktail of vodka, white Creme de Cacao and cream was an excellent finish to this part of the tasting. The wonderful full flavour of a Bolivar, Royal Corona, 50 R.G went well with this smooth drink. It was about now that I dozed off.
Later at home I was so excited by the new found knowledge that cocktail beat the pants off traditional drinks that I tried the malt whiskies in my own cocktail cabinet and found wonderful matchings. My favourites were Bowmore Darkest, the Trophy Award winner at this years International Spirit Challenge, then came
Bowmore Cask Strength and the lovely Auchentoshan Three Wood. My favourite cigar of all of them was the Vegas Robaina
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