a Two Stogie Growler
The Stout
Liberty Street Starkweather Stout
6.3% abv
Growler
Liberty Street Brewing Co.
Plymouth, Michigan, USA
Located on 149 W. Liberty Street
My Strength Rating: 5.5
If you live in the Detroit Metro area make your way to Old Village Plymouth, Michigan. This little brew pub has nine different beers on tap. I made my way home with a growler full of their stout.
Appearance: Black body with brown highlights. Barely any head due to the low carbonation.
Aroma: Chocolate and coffee.
Flavors: Right off I notice the roasted grains. This roasted profile is very nice in my book. I get a bit of a dark chocolate note and the medium roast coffee taste is front and center to me. There is slight hoppy bitterness that builds some character.
Mouthfeel: Very smooth and easy to drink stout. The carbonation is very low. The body is only medium weight to me and the aftertaste is not strong.
To me: I like the overall taste profile of this stout. I wish the body weight was a little heavier and the texture a little creamier. But, I am going back for more!
To the Point: If you like a roasted style stout this is very nice. Throw in some nice roasted coffee notes and a touch of chocolate this is it.
The Cigar
Sancho Panza Double Maduro Escudero
Wrapper: Oscuro
Fillers: Honduran, Nicaraguan, Dominican Piloto Cubano
Size: 7.2 x 54 box press
My Strength Rating: 4.5
I have not smoked this cigar in years. So, when I saw it the other day at the cigar store I thought let’s give it a try so, I bought one.
This is not a complex smoke at all and that is not a bad thing. It has a mild-medium roasted coffee note and a touch of cocoa. There is the sweet maduro taste along the way. Overall, it is barely a medium bodied smoke. I did enjoy the cigar. On the final third of the cigar it did build some spice and roasted almost burnt notes.
The Pairing
I had to drink the growler today because I am heading off to the Wine and Food Show in Ontario, Canada tomorrow. I did not want the growler sitting around for another five days or more. So, when I opened my humidor I saw this cigar, that I just picked up, I said, ‘maduro cigar and stout – that is a match.’
These two really mirror one another. The coffee and chocolate profiles are very similar. Both are fairly simple products but, tasty and enjoyable. The one thing that I really noticed is that the sweet maduro taste helped to balance that slight bitter note from the hops.
This pairing my not win an award in my book but, I know I could enjoy this any day of the week.
I have enough left in the growler for one more cigar after dinner.
The Next Cigar
Gurkha Centurian Perfecto
Wrapper: Connecticut dark natural
Binder: Cameroon
Fillers: Dominican Rep. Cibao Valley ligero
Size: 6 x 60
A perfecto shaped cigar is fatter in the middle and tapers on both ends.
My Strength Rating: 5.5
The cigar has a light peppery spice that greets the palate on the first couple of inches. Then a woody, earthy style develops. To this point it has been pretty smooth and mellow.
As the smoking experience approaches the middle part of the cigar there is a black walnut bite that develops. The texture here is a little more wool like. The flavors are a little more roasted and robust. The body weight moves from mellow side to the fuller side.
The Pairing
This cigar brings out the bitter hops in the stout. I’ll bet that it is the black walnut taste in the cigar that helps to give this pairing that strong robust bite. The coffee profile in the stout is coming across a bit stronger as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment