This $200 bourbon is crafted to pair with a superb cigar

Meanwhile, many Americans have additionally at all times beloved a superb cigar. And today, they’re displaying their appreciation greater than ever. Imports of premium (or hand-rolled) cigars have grown from 330 million stogies in 2017 to 464.5 million in 2022, in keeping with the Premium Cigar Association.

All of which makes a cigar-friendly bourbon a pure, no?

Indeed, Joseph Magnus, a Michigan-based distillery whose roots return to the pre-prohibition period, has been promoting such a bourbon (and a reasonably high-end one) for the previous few years. It’s launched frequently in restricted portions and batches are usually gone pretty shortly, in keeping with Matt Overway, manufacturing supervisor for the model.

So, how do you craft a bourbon that pairs with a cigar? Overway says it’s all about having a sip that’s wealthy sufficient to face as much as these potent tobacco flavors.

Part of that’s concerning the proof — which means it wants be boozy sufficient to holds its personal (the Cigar Blend we tried clocked in a reasonably alcoholic 114 proof). But it’s additionally about growing old the spirit to a sure maturity, so it ought to come as no shock that Cigar Blend is a mix of whiskeys aged between roughly 10 to 18 years. Plus, the whiskey is completed in barrels that previously held Armagnac, so the French brandy provides its personal notes of candy complexity to the combination, Overway explains.

What we give it some thought

I’m a cigar-loving whiskey drinker so I used to be particularly inquisitive about this one. To Overway’s level, it’s a giant, daring bourbon that may simply meet the problem of pairing with a giant, daring stogie. You’ll get notes of vanilla and dried fruit, slightly trace of spice and a boozy kick with every sip — in all, fairly hearty and scrumptious.

My solely quibble is that you just don’t actually need to spend $200 to discover a good whiskey (or different spirit) to take pleasure in with a cigar. I significantly like aged rums and Calvados, a French apple brandy, with my smokes — and people might be discovered for properly beneath $100, to say nothing of different flavorful bourbons that may be had for much lower than $200. Still, the Magnus Cigar Blend is sort of a delight.

How to take pleasure in it

Overway suggests having this neat when you’re pairing it with a cigar, so the proof stays excessive. But if you wish to sip it sans stogie, he suggests attempting it with some ice and letting it slowly mix into the whiskey. “I like the journey of the proof change as the cube melts,” he says.