 |
The Winter Warmer Holiday 12-Pack Posted: Tuesday, December 30, 2003
By Michael S. Marsh
If you're like most lovers of the leaf, you'll most
certainly be spending New Year's enjoying a number of
your favorite cigars. Maybe a Padrón here or a Fuente
there, or how about one of those tasty-looking Cubans
you have stashed away in the bottom of your humidor?
It also means you'll be pairing those cigars with
libations, and it's likely those potent potables will
include a few measures of Bourbon, a dram or two of
Scotch or perhaps even a stick of rum splashed into
your eggnog. And why not? The winter months are upon us
and we all need the occasional spirit to warm up our
insides.
But say you're a beer drinker. Or, let's put it another
way: aren't we all beer drinkers? What happens then?
Brown spirits have always gotten the nod as the best
drinks to pair with cigars because they're complex,
full-bodied and they taste so damn good. But aren't
there any beers out there that are up to the challenge?
Well, 'tis the season. If you take a look in your
local beer stores around this time of year, you'll find
a number of hearty brews that will not only warm the
paunch, but will also hold their own with a cigar. Many
breweries have released their winter seasonals and
others have given special attention to fuller-bodied beers
that are heavy in character and, usually, higher in
alcohol. Traditionally, these include such styles as
India Pale Ale, strong ale and barley wine, stout
and porter.
With so many beers on the market today, it can be
difficult for a consumer to select one that he'll not
only like, but that will also pair well with a cigar.
Trial and error can be a good thing -- and is
necessary in a lot of circumstances -- but it's always
good to have an idea of what your palate is looking
for, while keeping in mind the cigars that you normally
like to smoke.
To help you on your way, we did a tasting of
winter brews, winnowing the list down to 12 fine
brews. We're only scratching the surface, but these 12
beers offer a good starting point for any beer drinker
looking for a few brews to suck on during the holidays.
We tasted each beer on its own, then again with two
cigars: a medium-bodied C.A.O. Criollo Bomba from
Nicaragua and a fuller-flavored Cuban El Rey del Mundo
Choix Supreme.
Here are the results.
Allagash Grand Cru
(Allagash Brewing Co., Portland, Maine)
Since it opened in 1995, the Allagash Brewing Co. has
dedicated itself to crafting Belgian-style ales and the
classic brewing methods first practiced by monks in
Belgium during the Middle Ages. This dedication has won
the company gold medals at the World Beer Cup and the
Great American Beer Festival.
Allagash Grand Cru is the brewery's winter seasonal,
and rightly so. Grand Cru tastes like the holidays. It
has a cinnamon and spice aroma, with a light trace of
citrus and fruit. Spice flavors abound, with notes of
malt and nutmeg, and it is bright, balanced and not too
sweet or heavy.
Both the C.A.O. Criollo and the El Rey Del Mundo Choix Supreme paired well with the Grand Cru, as each reacted splendidly to the spices in the ale.
Brother Adam's Bragget Ale
(Atlantic Brewing Co., Bar Harbor, Maine)
Dating back 1,000 years ago, bragget was a style of
barley wine popular in Wales. It was brewed with equal
parts honey and barley, and aged in cellars during the
winter months.
Brother Adam's matches that style. It's aged for up to
a year before being bottled (the ones we sampled were
marked 2001) and is very complex, not to mention high
in alcohol (11.8% Alcohol By Volume). The addition of 2,000 pounds of
Maine wildflower honey during the boil gives it
sweetness and a dark, golden color. Honey flavors are
obvious, and there's a creamy, vanilla finish.
Brother Adam's fared the best of the 12 in terms of
pairing with the C.A.O., giving the cigar a distinctive
honey character. The El Rey del Mundo also paired well,
but we found that the honey didn't come through as well and that the finish on the Cuban cigar
became slightly muddled.
Dogfish Head 60 Minute I.P.A.
(Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Delaware)
One of the fastest growing craft breweries in the
United States, Dogfish Head brews its family of India
Pale Ales for the unabashed hops lover. All three of
their I.P.A.s -- 60 Minute, 90 Minute, and 120 Minute -- are
intensely hoppy, full in character and excellent winter
warmers.
The 60 Minute gets its name from the single hops
addition that is infused continuously during the
hour-long boil. (The boiling process occurs prior to
fermentation when the wort -- a term for the malt and
water mash that becomes beer -- is boiled in a large
kettle and hops are added.) The result is a complex,
hoppy beer that's pleasantly bitter. It is
chewy, with pronounced fruit and citrus notes, and a
touch of black coffee.
While the 60 Minute I.P.A. was an excellent beer
standing alone, it seemed to clash with both cigars.
The hops and its overall heavy character seemed to
fight against the smokes.
Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
(Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland, Ohio)
Taking its name from the bulk freighter that sank in
Lake Superior in 1975 and was immortalized by
musician Gordon Lightfoot, the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
is a classic representation of a style that originated
among railroad workers in Great Britain in the 1800s.
Similar to a stout with its black color and heavy body,
porter is characteristically bitter, with lots of
roasted coffee and chocolate flavors.
The Edmund Fitzgerald is just that. It is loaded with
roasted malt flavors, and plenty of coffee, caramel and
cocoa notes come to the fore. It was a decent pairing
with the C.A.O., though it made the cigar spike a bit,
and we found it to be a neutral pairing with the El Rey
del Mundo.
Long Trail Double Bag
(Long Trail Brewing Co., Bridgewater Corners, Vermont)
From the Green Mountain State, Long Trail Double Bag is
ale that is complex and flavorful, and one that will
knock you on your rear if you aren't careful. At 7.2%
ABV, you won't have a hard time getting your bag on, or
even two bags for that matter.
It is pleasantly rich, with an apple aroma and flavor
notes of wheat, vanilla and bread. It has a hoppy
aftertaste, but the bitterness has an elegant edge to
it. This bitterness didn't work with the C.A.O., giving the cigar
it's own bitter quality, but with the El Rey del
Mundo, it was superb. The pairing took away a lot of
the ale's bitterness and produced a burst of leather and wood
flavors.
Old Foghorn Barleywine Style Ale
(Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco)
Barley wine, or strong ale as it is sometimes called,
has risen in popularity over the last several
years. More and more beer lovers have become familiar
with this form of brew, and subsequently, more and more
breweries are releasing interpretations of the style.
First bottled in 1975, Old Foghorn was the first of its
kind in the United States and has set the standard for
barley wine in this country. Recommended as a
post prandial, it is high in alcohol (8.8% ABV) with a
sweet caramel and maple nose. Warm, fruit flavors are
abundant, with notes of spice, alcohol and hops.
This beer matched very well with the C.A.O. Criollo,
enhancing it with honey sweetness. It also worked
nicely with the El Rey del Mundo, with the cigar
becoming increasingly leathery.
Pike XXXXX Stout
(Pike Brewing Co., Seattle)
When most people think of stout, the name that
immediately comes to mind is Guinness, also known as
the Genius or Black Gold. However, while Guinness sets
the standard for Irish stout, along with lesser brands
like Murphy's and Beamish, its popularity is by no
means confined to the Emerald Isle; a majority of breweries this side of
the broad Atlantic have released a stout at one time or
another.
Pike 5X is itself a dry stout brewed in the Irish style
and may draw some comparisons to a classic draught like
Guinness. It is rich and heavy, black in color, and has
many of the characteristics so familiar to stout.
In Pike 5X, we found lots of roasted flavors and loads
of cocoa and coffee notes. The finish was dominated by
espresso, along with a slight bitterness common to the
style.
This stout matched best with the El Rey del Mundo. The
cigar gave the stout a spike of sweetness, while the
roasted coffee flavors brought out distinct leather and
espresso flavors in the cigar.
Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock
(Boston Brewing Co., Boston)
While bock beer is historically considered a springtime
tradition, this dark brew from Samuel Adams has a
winter feeling to it. Brewed with a blend of Scharffen
Berger chocolate and cocoa beans, along with caramel
and chocolate malts, it's easy to guess what the taste
is.
This beer is all chocolate, with a slight bitterness
that lingers on the palate. With the C.A.O. Criollo,
this beer worked very well, primarily because the cigar
softened the intense chocolate flavor that dominates
the brew. With the El Rey del Mundo, the pairing was
questionable and one of our tasters was quick to ask, "Why mix a cigar like the Choix Supreme
with a chocolate beer?"
Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale
(Samuel Smith's, Tadcaster, England)
It is no secret that breweries around the globe
traditionally offer stronger beer with a heavier
character during the holidays. Samuel Smith's brewery is no different.
Winter Welcome Ale, though not as strong as some
others, weighs in at 6% ABV. It has a floral aroma and
a light amber color, and we found it to be heavy and
rich in character with lots of malt. We also noted a sweet quality and a walnut flavor that stood out.
This ale worked well with both the C.A.O. Criollo and
the El Rey del Mundo. The C.A.O. and the ale contained
similar flavor notes and were equal to each another.
With the El Rey del Mundo, we found the beer actually
mellowed the full-bodied cigar.
Santa's Private Reserve
(Rogue Ales, Newport, Oregon)
Anyone familiar with Rogue Ale Brewery is sure to have
tasted the St. Rogue Red Ale. It is a high-octane brew
loaded with hops. A variation of Rogue Red is
Santa's Private Reserve. The main difference is that Santa's Private Reserve is brewed with
double the amount of hops as its brother.
Needless to say, this ale is brimming with hops and
hoppy flavors. It has a dark, caramel color with a
cheesy, slightly citrus aroma. There are layers of
roasted malt flavors, with notes of cocoa and coffee.
And, as might be expected, the finish is extremely
hoppy and bittersweet.
Santa's Private Reserve was a superb pairing with the
El Rey del Mundo. It produced strong leather flavors
and also brought a lot of meatiness out of the cigar.
The ale didn't perform as well with the
C.A.O. The intense hoppy flavors didn't quite hold up
to the taste of the cigar.
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
(Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, California)
Being a huge fan of Sierra Nevada's regular I.P.A., I
had great expectations for this holiday brew, especially
after tasting it and enjoying it on draught in Boston a
few weeks back. I was somewhat disappointed with its performance in this tasting.
This ale has many of the same characteristics as
Sierra's flagship ale. It is heavy with notable charred
wood and roasted flavors, and extremely hoppy and
bitter. However, unlike Sierra's flagship ale, which
has more depth and balance, this ale is
one-dimensional, likely from the over-the-top use of
hops.
Celebration Ale fared better next to the two cigars.
The C.A.O. gave the beer a wider taste spectrum and
took away some of the charred hoppiness. The same thing
occurred with the El Rey del Mundo and the beer became
a lot less bitter.
Traquair House Ale
(Traquair House, Peebleshire, Scotland)
Traquair's strong ale dates back to 1566 and the time
of Mary Queen of Scots, but the brewery had lapsed operation in the 200 years prior to 1965. It was in that year
that Peter Maxwell Stuart, the 20th Laird of Traquair,
discovered the eighteeth-century recipe for Traquair's
barley wine-style Scotch ale and, lucky for us, he
quickly set to restoring the brand.
This was by far one of the best performances in the
tasting, both alone and with the cigars. At 7.2% ABV,
the ale is strong, but the high-alcohol content does not
take away from its flavor. It has a toasty nose and a roasted malt body. We also found heavy notes
of cocoa and coffee, and the overall balance is
excellent.
As mentioned before, Traquair House Ale worked well
with both cigars. Although it didn't totally enhance
the C.A.O., the cigar mellowed the ale by taking off its
intense malty edge. With the El Rey del Mundo, the
pairing was great. The full-bodied qualities of the
cigar and ale produced additional flavor while both
were able to maintain their balance.
|
|
Cigar Aficionado RSS Feed