AVO 787 & Monk’s Café

Top Shelf Experience
Cigar = $16.00 (in Michigan) Monk’s Café = $4.00 a bottle

The Cigar
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut leaf
Filler: Piloto Cubano, San Vicente, and Olor – not your average fillers
Size: 6 x 54 toro
My Strength Rating: 4?

Boy, oh, boy when I took that cello wrap off this cigar the cedar smell was beautiful. I think I smelled the cigar for five minutes before I cut it and lit it. This has to be the best smelling cigar I have ever had (before lighting the cigar). The cedar taste is right there of coarse but, the front and center taste to me is the mossy-earthy taste. This cigar is not for your average cigar smoker. They won’t know what they are experiencing. Puff it slowly and experience the flavors. It is like I can taste the minerals from the soil the plants were grown in. There is an oregano or even lighter, maybe a marjoram, herbal note. This cigar has a wonderful unique taste to it and I am loving every puff. Throw in a touch of soft white pepper with a mild rye toasty note and you have an excellent cigar that will go with your salad. The texture is silky-satiny smooth and the aftertaste is very brief.

The Ale
Monk’s Café Sour Red Ale

5.5% abv
11.2 oz bottle (comes in a 4 pack)
Van Steenberge Brewery (I seem to like their beers)
Belgium
My Strength Rating: 4

This is an Oud Bruin style, meaning they take a mixture of young beer and old beer and blend them together and in this case they also age it in oak.

Let’s start with the finish – I think it has a clean and refreshing aftertaste. Not clean as in pilsner clean (void in taste). Think of mouthwash clean! You get a mouthful of mouthwash and swish it around and then after you spit out the mouthwash your mouth feels refreshed but still retains some of the mouthwash taste. Well, you get a mouthful of this mild sour ale and yes swish it around to get the full taste of this delicious sour ale. After you have swallowed the ale you are left with a refreshing mouthfeel. Also, think of a Champagne aftertaste – clean and tingly.

Get a big mouthful of foam – uhmm good. Taste that cherry-oaky taste within that foam – very good. While drinking this ale (3 bottle review over three different days) I really enjoy the balance of the mild sweet-sour style. I also have grown to like its complexities. Flavors of: green apple for a little tartness, green grapes for a little freshness, dark cherry for sweetness, with a slight oak background, and a cola like effervescence that just seems to explode when it’s in your mouth. This is delicious! Damn! Another new favorite in the makings.

Here is something I did not expect. Sour beer on a hot day? No way, right! Yes, this is very good on a hot day indeed. It is 91 degrees out with the humidity around 90+% and this Sour Ale is refreshing.

The Pairing

I am so glad I found my last AVO to pair up with this cigar – well, I have to admit I was not sure at first. I thought that maybe the complexities of these to super fine products may be too much and just collide and be too overwhelming. But, something inside me said, ‘do it.’

The Monk’s Café has a nice oaky background and I was thinking maybe an oaky flavored cigar would be the fit. Then, I thought, it might be too much. I am glad I went with this stick.

This is TOP SHELF madness – Oh, how delicious this is after a big diner!

The wonderful sweet and tart cherry, tart green apple, fresh green grapes, and oaky flavors seem to just flow together with the cigars mossy-earthy, sweet cedar, herbal profile in a fine dining experience that I cannot believe.

La Estrella Cubana Oscuro

Wrapper: Costa Rica Maduro
Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan
Size: 5 x 50
My Strength Rating: 5.5

Off the light: deep earthy profile, slight bitter bite on the tongue

1 – 2 inch mark: the earthy profile mellows, a smooth dark roast coffee note starts develop, the ash is a fine tightly formed gray color, the holds on for the first inch and a half,

Mid-point: the earthy soil profile continues to dominate, the dark roast coffee is pleasing, the burn of the cigar is good, the ash is always firm and no flaking, the aftertaste is a slight burnt coffee taste,

Final two inches: still a smooth dark coffee and solid earthy profile, the roasted tobacco flavor maintains a good medium bodied smoke, the cigar did not develop any bitter notes on the final smoke.

Here are the tasting notes from CI: “Buttery smooth, creamy, silky smooth, dark chocolate, toast, espresso bean, chewy, hint of sweetness, mild-medium.”

To me I don’t get the ‘buttery smooth, creamy’ texture. I would call the texture chewy because of the burnt coffee note and the feel of soil left on the tongue. I cannot figure how they can call it silky and chewy at the same time. I am also missing that hint of sweetness.

Overall a good earthy, smooth dark coffee profile that comes across as a medium strength cigar.

Pairings: this cigar would be good to drink coffee with or enjoy a good stout or porter beer. A Meritage or Shiraz wine would be nice.

Torano Exodus 1959 and Oktoberfest Beer

Read the previous posting for tasting notes on the 1959 cigar.

This cigar paired up well with these Oktoberfest beers.

Spaten Oktoberfest

12 oz. bottle
5.9 abv
Spaten-brau
Munich, Germany
My Strength Rating: 4

Beck’s Oktoberfest

12 oz. bottle
5% abv
Brauerei Beck & Co.
Bremen, Germany
My Strength Rating: 4

These two look alike when poured into the glass and I am talking about the color. Both are of a bright bronze color and you could not tell the difference when riding by on a galloping horse. When held to the light there is a slight difference. So one is copper and the other is bronze – who cares. The head on the Spaten was poured on the thin side and the color was off-white. The head on the Beck beer was thick and foamy with a tan looking color and it stayed around for the party.

I thought this was going to be easy on this faceoff. I have had these before and I buy both of them every year at this time. But, I have always liked the Spaten over the Beck’s. Doing a quick sip of each to compare them it is hard to tell the difference. Both have that sweet malty grainy style with a touch of caramel and some herbal hoppy spice. Now, let me take my time to break each one down.

Spaten: A nice rich and sweet malty presence. It is light and lively on the mouthfeel. There is a slight herbal spice Oktoberfest style taste. This beer is not to complex or super special but, it is a good classic Oktoberfest beer.

Beck’s: A good caramel malty profile with a light and lively mouthfeel as well. The spice is similar to the Spaten but, I think it is slightly different. Another good classic Oktoberfest style beer.

Okay, I like both of these. That is probably why I buy both every year. I don’t think I can no longer say that I like one better than the other.

Both are very drinkable and do not leave a metallic or astringent taste.

Torano Excodus 1959 Toro

Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Dom. Rep, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
Size: 6 x 50

My Strength Rating: 6

This cigar is peppery up front on the first half. A good black pepper presence with a chewy earthy style and a rich dark roast coffee profile. This cigar fills the palate with lots of rich and flavorful smoke. There were times I thought the strength rating reached 6.5 or a 7. The middle part of the cigar mellowed out a bit. The black pepper was a little quiet and the earthiness picked up. The cigar got a little strong on the final couple inches.

Carlos Torano 1916 Cameroon Toro and Ketel One Vodka

The Cigar

Wrapper: Cameroon
Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan
My Strength Rating: 6

This Toro size cigar from the Torano Sampler Pack is a pretty consistent smoke all the way through. Off the light it as a little mellow and then the green pepper spice kicked in and there were nice earthy and nutty notes along the way. The nutty note came across as walnut like.
The Drink

Cranberry and Vodka

I had the end of a bottle of Ketel One Vodka that needed to be finished off. And this is the night to do it. I am trying to empty out my summer place of all the food and beverages that I can so I do not have to haul this stuff home. The good thing here is that I had enough Vodka and cranberry juice to make one 20 oz glass of this tasty summer drink.

Now, I am not even going to attempt to do a Vodka review. During the summer a friend visited one weekend and he left this bottle behind. I do enjoy a cranberry and vodka drink for a change of pace.

The Pairing

The pairing is not bad overall. The drink is quit refreshing. But, I think the drink interferes a bit with the tasting notes of the cigar. There is a spicy note that dances across the tongue from the cigar after drinking this beverage. The nutty flavor seems lost and the earthy style seems muted. If I wait a few moments after drinking and then puff on the cigar I get a little better flavor from the smoke.

So, puff on the stogie then take a drink and then pause a moment before repeating this process!!! Actually, this does work. Like I said, the cigar flavor is better and I think the drink taste better in this order as well.

Rocky Patel Vintage 1990

Over the years I have heard people say that they like the 1992 Vintage better than the 1990. I have to agree. While the 1990 Vintage is very smooth in texture it seems to lack the tasty hardwood and earthy qualities of the 92. To me the flavor profile (vintage 90) comes across as coffee based. This is a good medium roast coffee with an earthy style. This would go very good with a malty type beer, a sweet white wine or red and of course coffee!

Bornem Double Abbey Ale and Hoyo de Monterrey Sultan Double Maduro Cigar

After a summer of wheat beers, pilsners and others of course, it is time to prepare the palate for some fuller strength beers and the Bornem Double Abbey Ale is just that beer to sweeten the palate and prepare for the fall and winter months ahead.

The Bornem Double greets the nose with its dark fruit, caramel and malty aromas. The taste also has that caramel note along with other malty sweetness. The carbonation from this double ale dances across the tongue. Right off the bat I am thinking of a 5.5 strength rating because of the variety of flavors and the mild tartness on the mouthfeel.

I was thinking what goes good with caramel and sweet malty notes but, coffee and some earthy notes. I go to the humidor and grab my old time favorite the Hoyo de Monterrey Sultan Double Maduro Cigar. This 7.2 x 54 big boy should do the trick. The Hoyo line-up is known as the “espresso of cigars.”

I rate this Sultan a 6.5 on my strength scale and the point system works while only moving one point to the stronger side of the ale. During the pairing the Hoyo with its earthy coffee and slight mocha notes tames the sweetness of the ale while I still enjoy the sweet caramel and slight bitterness. The effervescence still plays on while I finish the 750 ml bottle of Bornem Double Abbey Ale.

The sun sets as I finish my last few sips of this ale and my last few puffs of the Sultan. So, I have to say, softly, as I leave you good ol’ summer of 2010, ‘this bottle of Bornem Double Abbey Ale has me ready for the rest of 2010.’

Rocky Patel Vintage 1992 and Manchester Star Ale

The Cigar
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Filler: N/A
Size: 5.5 x 50 Box Pressed
My Strength Rating: 5

This robusto sports a good hardwood and tasty earthy profile. Overall not a very complex stick but, it seems to be an elegant smoke overall. The taste never gets strong or bitter. The burn always seems to be perfect. This cigar should match up to most quality beverages for there are no strong notes to compete with. There is not any lingering aftertaste and while there is ample smoke that the cigar produces it does not have a strong mouthfeel. This is always a quality choice for your smoking experience.

The Beer

Manchester Star Ale
1 pint .9fl oz.
7.3% abv
J.W. Lees and Co. Greengate Brewery
Middleton, Manchester, England

Appearance: A dark almost black body with a tan head.
Aroma: Malty all the way – roasty
Taste: A very pleasing English Porter style. Roasted malts, a smoky tobacco like quality, roasted pecan notes, solid medium coffee notes.
Mouthfeel: A good thick creamy style that leaves a roasty, smoky, and lingering coffee aftertaste.
My Strength Rating: 6 – Because of its chewy-thick mouthfeel.

I have enjoyed a couple of these this year. This is a good choice for a beautiful fall day. It is a hearty porter that is full of flavor. Sit back and enjoy this one.

The Pairing

The hardwood and earthy notes of the cigar is a perfect pairing for this hearty porter. The thick almost syrup like mouthfeel of the ale needs a quality cigar and the Rocky Vintage 92 does the trick. Those roasted notes and the coffee like qualities mix it up with the nice flavors from the cigar for a super experience. I just wish I had one more of each of these so I could sit back and truly enjoy this again.

Carlos Torano Signature Collection and Villa Rubini 2008 Cabernet Franc

The Cigar
(see posting for details)
There is a very nice green pepper and pink pepper quality. There is also a forest floor earthiness mingled in with a mild to medium coffee note. I am not disappointed with this stick. I would smoke this cigar again.

The Wine

Villa Rubini 2008 Cabernet Franc
Colli Orientali del Friuli

This 13% abv Cabernet Franc is a true pepper experience. The fine grind pepper profile is the main dish here. There is a solid earthy quality with dark cherry and black current notes to back up the pepper. This wine is pretty simple in its taste. Being a Cabernet Franc lover I like to try as many different Francs as I can. While this is not complex I still like this wine because of the peppery experience.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Cabernet Franc grape – well you should be. It is known as the parent grape to Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc.

The Pairing

This is going to be an interesting pairing. These two really mirror one another in their tasting profiles. Both, have a solid fine grind like pepper quality. In the pepper category it seems like a green pepper not the bold citrus bite of a coarse black pepper. The cigar also has a sweet pink pepper note that adds some variety to the pepper profile. Both, have a nice earthy quality but, not the type that coats the mouth with a jammy feel. It is more of a forest floor or mushroom like earthiness. I feel like I can taste the soil that they were both grown in. Finally, they both have a matching strength rating to me – 5.5.

This is a very good pairing overall. I like pepper taste here. I thought maybe it would be pushed overboard because they both have this trait and the taste would be too much or would cancel each other out.

The black current note is still tasty and I think the cherry seems a little sweeter in this wine while I am smoking this cigar.

I think if one of these had a stronger black pepper style that it would then override the taste of the other and have an effect on the other. But, that is not the case here – So, light one up and enjoy the Torano Signature Collection Cigar with a bottle of this Cabernet Franc Wine.

Carlos Torano Signature Collection Toro: Review

The Cigar

Wrapper: Sun Grown Brazilian Maduro
Binder: Broadleaf
Filler: Dominican Cubano Ligero, Nicaraguan Habano Ligero
Size: 6 x 50
My Strength Rating: 5.5

This is a good looking Maduro wrapped cigar. I have not had this cigar before and I am looking forward to the experience.

There is a very nice green pepper and pink pepper quality. There is also a forest floor earthiness mingled in with a mild to medium coffee note. I am not disappointed with this stick. I would smoke this cigar again.