Gurkha Beauty Cigar and Peninsula Cellars 2010 Dry Riesling

The Wine

Peninsula Cellars 2010 Dry Riesling

Peninsula Cellars

Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Old Mission Peninsula

12.5% abv

$15.00 a bottle

Appearance: yellow crystal

Aroma: soon as I opened the bottle I knew I was going to like it.  First off I did not smell straight out lemon.  I am soooo tired of lemon.  A lot of the beers I had this summer and spring had a lemon note, some stronger than others, and then when I would have a white wine guess what note was prominent you got it lemon.  So, I had to read this bottle first before opening and I did not see the word lemon.  It did had lime but, no lemon.  Back to the aroma: tropical fruit all right; mango, white peach, Fuji apple, pineapple acidity,

Flavors: apple, green apple, summer stone fruit, touch of tangerine and a dose of lime. 

Mouthfeel: crisp notes, there seems to be an ever so slight watery edge that hits the tip of the tongue but, right after that ‘tip’ it is nothing but dry baby. 

The Cigar

Cigar Pairing: I would say, be careful on some medium to medium-full and me personally I would not pair it with a full bodied smoke.  I would go for the mild to mild-medium smoke that has an elegant feel to the smoking experience. 

I have two in mind; CAO l’anniversaire Cameroon and a Gurkha Beauty.  I am going to do the Gurkha Beauty for I can see on the blog here that I have not had this stick since October of last year.  Let’s do it up!

Wrapper: Connecticut seed – Ecuadorian

Binder: Dominican

Fillers: Nicaraguan

5 year old tobaccos

Size: 6.5 x 56

Smoking Profile: mild, smooth, semi-creamy, light oaky wood notes, walnut meat, and a earthy tone develops in the final third of the stick.  This cigar is all about its mouthfeel than the flavor profile.  This cigar reminds me of oatmeal – smooth, mild, creamy and bland on the flavor.  This cigar is like oatmeal to me in that every once in a while it sure hits the spot.  After all it has been 10 months since I smoked a Gurkha Beauty.

The Pairing: interesting … very interesting … the light oak and walnut notes really don’t intermingle with the flavors of this Riesling.  Now, I do like it when the flavors intermingle and either collide or really work well together.  It gives me something to write about … but, here … nothing.  No interplay, no mingling, intermingling or co-mingling.  The best thing about this is I get all the flavors of the wine and then when I puff on the cigar I get all the flavors of the cigar.  This is still a very good pairing.  I am enjoying the experience.   Wait WAIT!  There is an effect.  The mouthfeel!  This Riesling is on the dry side of town, that light lime citrus note lingers on the palate and it is nice to drink a water along the way.  Well, while smoking this cigar with this wine I have not had a sip of water and I am three-quarters of the way done with this cigar.  This cigar actually seems to refresh the palate while drinking this white wine.  I don’t know if I ever had this experience before where the cigar refreshes the palate from the beverage.  

La Sirena King Poseidon and Brux: Review

Before getting to this pairing I am going to give you my call for the Detroit Loins game today.  (I live in the Detroit area) I am not a homer.  I dog this team most of the time but, look at their record they have been easy to complain about.  Here is my call: Loins 35 - Rams 21 and since this is the first game of the season this is their season record: 9 -7.

The Ale

Brux

Domesticated Wild Ale

Brewed and bottled by: Sierra Nevada Brewing

In collaboration with Russian River Brewing

1pt 9.4oz bottle

8.3% abv

One problem with these big bottles is getting the sediment off the bottom.  Rolling the bottle before opening my work on some Germen low carbonated beer but, roll a bottle of Belgian or Belgian style ale and you will have a never ending flow of foam.

Pouring your first glass and trying to swirl the bottle during this pour usually does not get much of the sediment up. 

So, what I usually do is pour the first glass and then put a stopper in the bottle and then give the bottle a good swirl to get the sediment stirred up.  The second glass will give you the correct appearance, aroma’s, and flavors.  Leave a comment on what you recommend. 

Appearance: slightly misty amber body (I could call it burnt orange as well) with a nice big foamy head that disappeared before I started to think about the color.  Little to no lacing.

Aroma: The overall bouquet seemed nice when I first opened the bottle but when it was time to check the aroma out well it was fairly light, some spice, light lemon meat,

Flavors: earthy yeast, sour dough bread, summer white fruit – pear, nectarine, and a dirty caramel note.  The flavors all seem to become muddled together after about a half a glass.

Mouthfeel: sparkling water texture to the carbonation and watery edge that swirls through the palate but just like sparkling water the effervesce is short lived; it is like I can feel the alcohol evaporate on my tongue and this of course gives me a dry feel on the finish.

To the Point: it just seems to funky to me, the flavors just seem to muted; you have heard of a Dirty Martine well I’ll have to call this the Dirty Belgian Ale – why you ask – because the yeast and the caramel notes just seem dirty – but that is just me.  On BeerAdvocate they are giving this ale as 88 with 63 reviews.

Personally, I could skip this one all day long but, guess what - I have another bottle of this.  I guess I’ll just have to pair that one with a cigar.  I hate to waste a cigar on the ale though.  But, I am going to do this with my new favorite stick – La Sirena King Poseidon.   

The Cigar

La Sirena King Poseidon

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro

Binder: two Cuban seed Nicaraguan tobacco

Fillers: Nicaraguan Criollo 98 and Corojo 96

Size: 6x 60 

I’m going to make this a Series with this cigar. I have done two reviews already with this stick; one with a tawny port and the other an English Ale.   What should I name this series?  1) Around the World with King Poseidon or 2) The Adventures of King Poseidon.  I am going to go with … Around the World with King Poseidon.  I will select different beers, wines, and spirits from ‘Around the World’.  This is a no brainer. 

Flavor Profile: on the first inch the dark roasted coffee like notes dominate and then slowing some woody tones and spice start to develop.  By mid-point the earthy coffee style is full bodied with some good peppercorn spice and oak woody notes. 

The cigar burns well.  No corrections needed and it holds a tight salt and pepper gray ash.  Of course now that I mention that no corrections are needed this stick needed a couple of correction to the burn.  

I did have to do a little running around to find my Hound Dog Annie and that is when the cigar had some burning issues. 

The Pairing: first off, I have to admit that I did not want to waste a cigar on this ale but, then I thought a Ship has to pull into a Port that is not the most exciting Port around – just because it has too.  Well, let’s pull up dock side together with these two and just see what happens. 

With the second bottle ready to go the first thing I notice is the carbonation is lively.  Even though I used a stopper in the first bottle the effervesce just dwindles with each glass poured.  But, this effervesce is refreshing to the palate while smoking this full bodied smoke. 

The flavors of the ale still seem muted and hard to distinguish but, while smoking this cigar the ale seems a little tastier to me.  I think it is the earthiness of the yeast is mixing well with the earthy coffee profile of the cigar. 

What I learned from this matching, of the Brux and the La Sirena King Poseidon, is that this ale needs a good cigar to go with it to make it enjoyable.  I also learned that who cares what the flavor profile is of the ale is long as you enjoy it with what you are consuming at the moment.  And, I am enjoying this ale with this cigar which I did not really care for this ale by itself.  

Around the World with King Poseidon Series

Click here to read about this cigar paired with:

20 year old Port

Old Crafty Hen

Baco Noir Wine

Drew Estate Undercrown Gordito and Magic Hat Encore: Review

The Ale

Magic Hat Encore

Magic Hat Brewing Company

Magichat.net

South Burlington, Vermont, USA

IPA on Tour – American Wheat IPA

6.4% abv

                   

Appearance: muddy clay body with a nice two finger tan head.  Make sure to get the sediment off the bottom of the bottle.

Aroma: milder than I thought it would be.  Soft grassy hops with some wheat.  Not that interesting.   

Flavors: grassy, pine, a little twist of citrus peel; a touch of malt in the mix with nice earthy grains. 

Mouthfeel: mild-moderate bitterness, fine fizzy carbonation, a light pine note lingers. 

To the Point: overall, to me, this is an okay IPA. 

The Cigar

Drew Estate Undercrown Gordito

Drewestate.com

Wrapper: San Andreas Otapan Negro Ultimo Corte

Binder: T52 Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut & Cured Habano

Fillers: Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan

Size: 6 x 60

$11.99 at Smoky’s of Northville (MI tax)

Off the Light: an earthy medium roast coffee for the first half inch.  Then a little peppercorn spice kicks in to add some interest.  The mouthfeel here during the first couple of inches seems to have a dry leathery texture. 

The Rest of the Smoke: this cigar is pretty consistent the rest of the way.  The earthy medium roast coffee, very light spice, and toasted grains make for a pleasing smoking experience.  The texture is smooth leather like and has a medium body weight on the palate. 

To the Point: I really enjoyed this Gordito size.  The Undercrown lineup seems to very pleasing to my palate.  I would buy a box of this size. 

The Pairing

I was looking forward to smoking this cigar with an IPA style beer.  With its earthy taste profile and light spice I thought it should pair well with some IPAs. 

I was right.  The slight peppercorn spice of the cigar is not strong enough to make the pairing too bitter.  There is a slightly stronger twang from the pine, when I sip this ale, during that matching.  The earthy grains of the ale mix well with the toasted grains of the cigar.  I actually like this ale a bit more while smoking the Undercrown.  This is a good example of pairing the right cigar with the right ale.