Gurkha XO and Fish Tale Wild Salmon Pale Ale: Pairing

The Ale

Fish Tale Wild Salmon Pale Ale

Organic

Fish Brewing Company

Olympia, Washington, USA

5.5% abv

$12.99 a six pack

Appearance: misty burnt orange body with a one finger egg shell colored head that leave some lacing.

Aroma: very light nose; very light non-descript citrus and fruit; it is more biscuit than anything else; uneventful

Flavors: lightly toasted grains; faint minty-herbal hop; herb biscuit; dust

Mouthfeel: low-moderate carbonation, closer to low; a soft yet strange bitter note; flannel texture; dusty-dirty mineral like aftertaste; the aftertaste does seem to linger – longer than I want it to; the aftertaste makes me want to go brush my teeth; just inside of medium body, the flavors are mild and the dirty aftertaste is medium and the weight feels mild-medium

To the Point: a dirty Pale Ale; you’ve heard of a dirty martini right; to bad I bought a six pack – should have bought a single bottle; organic hell … give me some pesticides; 13 bucks a six pack forget it; save your money; go buy some roundup 

The Cigar

Gurkha XO

Size: 6 x 60

It has a copper colored band which I can’t identify on the Cigar International website.  It came in a three pack as a freebie on a recent purchase and when I went to my account to see what the name of the cigar was it was no longer listed on their site.  The only Gurkha that I found with a copper colored band, most have a bronze colored band, was the Gurkha Grand Age. (Found out today - Estate Vintage Shaggy) But, it is not really shaggy - just a half inch of wrapper missing on the foot.  

Flavor Profile: soft earthy style and mild coffee; very simple; not even close to complex; smooth and delicate; medium- mild body; one might say ‘boring’ and one might say ‘because of its simplicity it is pleasing’ ; there is a very faint plastic smell in the aroma of the smoke during the second half

Burning issues: it needed corrections with the lighter for canoeing; the burning issue became so bad that I was ready to pitch the cigar but, I still had three inches to go. 

To the Point: to me it is kind of uneventful, a mild cigar smoker may like this stick; save your money – don’t buy this cigar; I had two and a half inches to go on the smoke and I pitched it - crap just plain crap

The Pairing

These two deserve one another.  Actually, these two, together, are not all that bad which means, they are not all that good.  The soft earthy tones and mild coffee of the cigar mingle well with the dusty-dirty aftertaste of the ale. Unfortunately the aftertaste of the ale sticks around. 

The lightly toasted grains; faint minty-herbal hop; herb biscuit; and dust of the ale seem to want to help the cigar but, the cigar just goes back to boredomville. 

These two are like two C minus students working together.  Both want to do something but, they just aren’t smart enough to know what to do so they end up with a D on the project. 

I’m telling you … don’t buy either one of these products.  Unless you are a married man and you know what boredom is all about.