Cigar and Rum Pairing
10 Lot 23
For this pairing I didn’t want to search through cocktail recipes: I wanted something simple and straightforward. Among the options I spotted a bottle of Bacardi 10 Year Old, which I had opened recently and I imagined its potential paired with a medium-bodied cigar. It is possible that the cigar I selected is slightly more intense, but it was love at first sight so I went with it.
Bacardi Gran Reserva 10 yr old
When I first saw the bottle of Bacardi Gran Reserva 10 Year Old, I saw a cigar band (more precisely a “puro” band) around the bottle’s neck. It is a visual reminder that Bacardi was born in Cuba, a land also known for its rums and, even though Bacardi is not made there anymore, it will always be part of its history.
Perdomo Cigars
Tabacalera Pedormo
The cigar I chose was the Toro (6” x 50) from the Lot 23 line from Perdomo Cigars. It is a cigar from the Estelí Valley in Nicaragua. As the name implies, it is made from tobacco leaves grown in Lot 23, near the cigar factory. Just like a Gran Chateaux in the world of wines comes from a specific lot, throughout the years Lot 23 has been the birthplace of many cigars of different ages. Before lighting it up, I examined it and can indeed tell that it has been aged at least 4-5 years. The complex aromas coming from the foot of the cigar (the end you light up) are a giveaway. The cigar has Nicaraguan filler and Connecticut wrapper.
I gave the cigar a “V” cut (I really like the draw you get with it) and, once lit, it had a textbook medium-intensity body. Towards the end of the second third, the intensity increased a notch, but it was still very enjoyable. I had already started sipping the rum a few minutes before lighting up the cigar. It is a clean blend of rums, with notes of bananas and pears, a bit oxidized, accompanied by hints of vanilla and soft caramel from the charred barrel aging.
There is great synergy between both products from the very beginning, a great draw, beautiful light grey ash and the tobacco notes start to develop complexity, pairing up with the rum in a very classy way, with prolonged aftertaste. Neither the rum nor the cigar attempt to overpower the other, resulting in a very pleasant pairing that lasts for about an hour.
Philip Ili Barake
#GRCigarPairing
