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Sunday, February 7, 2010

A Cigar and Beer Review: Kristoff Maduro Toro Cigar and Piraat Ale

Piraat Ale - The Hunted

I had about 3 or 4 different cigars picked out to pair up with some red wine and start doing the wine pairings. Then, I looked at the Kristoff Maduro cigar and said, “I have to do that with my, Piraat Safari of Tastings.” And, I’m sure glad I did, for this cigar has been stalking this ale and I did not even know it.

I did not have this maduro selected with my safari of different cigars to go with the Piraat Ale. You may be thinking, way so many tastings with the Piraat Ale? Well, Global Beer Network has me doing reviews with their Belgium Beers and pairing them with cigars. Is that cool or what!!! The review is not due till the month of August but, I am going to do a BIG review for them. I am going to combine it with going to my favorite festival, the Cheeseburger in Caseville Festival. The festival covers about ten days worth of events and it is located in the thumb of Michigan, where I have my up-north place. I am always there for a good portion of this fun filled craziness. But, something this big - like this festival needs a big beer and big cigar and big food and big friends and… ok you get it – IT’s going to be big.

So, I am going to be blogging about this ale a lot in the attempts to find the perfect pairings. Then, in the month of August, you will see the results of all this preparation. Anyways, let’s get back to the ale and cigar review.

The cigar
Kristoff Maduro Toro

Wrapper: Brazilian Maduro
Binder: ?
Fillers: Dominican, Nicaraguan
Size: 6.5 x 56
Made with ligero tobaccos
Description: medium-full, complex, dried cherries, coffee bean, cocoa bean, spice and sweet finish.

I still get flash-backs to my younger years when I see cherry and cigar together. I think about those flavored Colt cigars from Canada. It is like a nightmare now – the palate cannot handle those overly sweet flavored things anymore. They say (researchers), that the older you get you lose your taste factors. No way! When you are young – you don’t have the palate or the brain power to know the difference! Think of eating that crappy cereal when you were a kid. Try to eat it now.

I am trying to stay focused here but, I am enjoying this pairing. I think I finally scored a fuller bodied cigar pairing with this ale. The other cigars that I have enjoyed, with this ale, have been to the lighter side of this ale. (See earlier postings with Cameroon wrapped cigars)

This cigar holds a great ash – see the pictures.

Nice Ash and Rack!!
This cigar does have a nice complexity. I like the dark fruitiness with the coffee-cocoa flavor. The Brazilian maduro wrapper brings that nice sultry sweetness to play with the fullness of the ligero tobaccos used. And, this cigar has always burned perfectly for me in the past and today.

Combined with the Piraat Ale, I truly like this combination. I am writing this one down. The fullness of this ale and the cigar work “great” together. This is like having two super stars on the same team and getting them to work together. No, you don’t get them to work together – why, because they want to work together in this situation. With this combination you have success.

The tropical fruit from the ale plays good with the dried dark fruits from the cigar. The sweetness from each plays well in this match-up along with the spices coming off the bench. The flavor profile is working and the point system is working in this situation as well. I love this match-up.

I am looking for maximizing my pleasure and this really hit the mark tonight. I am doing this one again soon.

I can’t wait for August!

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