Curivari Seleccion Privada Royales and St Bernardus Christmas Ale: Pairing

The Beer

St Bernardus Christmas Ale

Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV.

Watou, Belgium

10% abv

75 cl bottle

$12.00 a bottle

Appearance: dark brown body with mahogany highlights shining through around the edges.  Light tan head and it is easy to pour a two finger head. 

Aroma: pouring the ale into the chalice I can smell some spicy notes.  Dark bready yeast tones, raisin, brown spice mix,

Flavors: tasty brown spice box like quality, black bready tones, earthy yeast, dark fruits like raisins, sweet caramel malt undertone, spicy and tingling hops dance on the tongue,

Mouthfeel: fine carbonation gives the tongue a fizzy feel, the spice pinches the cheeks and gums, prickly and dry texture on the palate

My Strength Rating: 6.5 – the dark bready notes, brown spice box, and raisins along with the spice makes for a good medium-full bodied ale. 

    

The Cigar

Curivari Seleccion Privada Royales

Curivari.com

The Seleccion Privada comes in three different sizes:

Robustos 5 x 50

Royales 5 x 54 I am reviewing this size

Diplomaticos: 6 ¼ x 54

The Curivari is a Nicaraguan Puro and is blended with Criollo and Corojo tobaccos.  

Here is the description on the web site:

“Perfectly balanced, with medium body, this cigar has
a creamy smooth flavor profile, woody with a touch
of vanilla, and a sweet finish”

This sounds like it should pair well with this Christmas Ale but, I have to admit that ‘I’ don’t care for the accuracy (in-accuracy) of their descriptions of their cigars. 

Off the Light: nice mild-medium forest floor like quality with some light soil, dry leafs, and wood.  About three minutes into the smoking experience I start to notice a creamy smooth texture.  On the first three minutes of the cigar I thought it was more smooth leather like.  Now, a little sweet tobacco starts to swirl around the palate.  I think I am going to call it vanilla-almond. 

The cigar holds a light gray ash. The pic shows a one inch ash.

I think it is a good time to introduce the Christmas Ale.

The Pairing: an interesting combination.  The ale has the dark fruit, dark bready yeast, and a spicy style and the cigar comes in with a mild-medium body with a slightly sweet vanilla-almond and light forest floor style.  It is like the cigar refreshes the palate after sipping the ale.  No, not ‘like’ it does refresh the palate.  The ale has a prickly spicy texture and the cigar has a smooth creamy style.  I guess this is the ying and the yang of this Christmas pairing.  At first I did not know what to think about this pairing.  It was a little too much ying vs. yang at first.  Then, it started to grow on me. 

Second Half: the light soil seems to becoming a little fuller and the wood is reminding me of a soft alder wood.  The texture is smooth but, not as creamy as before.  The almond nut note is still in the mix but, the vanilla is not as noticeable. 

With only about an inch and a half left on the cigar the flavors are becoming a little more toasted.  Toasted leafs, smoked wood, and roasted almond. 

My Strength Rating (cigar): 4 – medium-mild flavors and body. 

To the Point (cigar): a tasty medium-mild cigar.  I am looking forward to smoking my second cigar that I purchased of this cigar. 

The Pairing: the ying and yang experience is over at this point.  The toasted notes of the cigar are mixing with the raisin and dark bready yeast notes of the ale.  This is a very interesting pairing if you are paying attention. 

Merry Chirstmas from Cigar Postings