Brand evangelist, digital marketer, cigar and spirits expert specializing in consumer tasting and educational events. Matthias made the long trek from his hometown of Portland, Oregon to New York City in 2007, and in nine years has hosted more than 120 events and helped promote and launch dozens of cigar and whiskey brands in the U.S. In 2016, he joined the Cigar Journal Tasting Panel, blind-reviewing pre and new release cigars.
The Quesada Cigars Oktoberfest has, for three years now, been one of my favorite seasonal releases. Also, one of the few releases I enjoy in a larger format – my max preferred ring gauge is 54.
In either case, the Quesada Oktoberfest series is a medium to full bodied offering that I think offers a fun and approachable flavor profile that can be enjoyed by new or experienced cigar smokers. Today’s review covers the Triple Bock, one of the larger sizes in the series.
Blend Specifics
Wrapper – Nicaraguan
Binder – Nicaraguan
Filler – Nicaraguan
Size: Triple Bock (6 x 56)
Appearance & Construction
The Quesada Oktoberfest 2017 is a deep, dark brown. The branding has been updated for 2017, with a new white band and a new band shape. After a straight cut, the draw is slightly restrictive (which when I light up proves to create a huge amount of smoke, which is awesome). Throughout this smoke, the burn was even, smoke production was high, and the ash a mix of white and gray.
Flavor & Smoke Characteristics
Lighting up the Quesada Oktoberfest 2017 is like lighting up a good memory. Opens with an ultra velvety smooth texture, with hints of spice. Predominant though is a deep milk chocolate combined with flakes of sea salt and peanuts.
About an inch in, the smoke becomes a bit spicy, with a sort of smoky (charcoal grill) sort of flavor rounding out the sweeter notes.
Moving into the second third, the body moves from mild – medium to a solid medium. The spicinesss and smoke become the predominent notes and the creamy, chocolatey notes take back seat.
In the final third, the Quesada Oktoberfest 2017 becomes a solid full bodied smoke. Really, really enjoyable. The smoke doesn’t heat up, construction remains perfect, and the flavors, though unchanged, are delicious.
Final thoughts
This cigar goes down as my favorite cigar from Quesada cigars ever, and that’s saying a lot because Manuel has created some truly special smokes, most recently the Plasencia Alma Fuerte.
Buy a box of these from Famous Smoke Shop, our preferred retailer, here.
Like many cigar smokers, the name Perdomo brings back fond memories of my earliest days smoking. Lot 23 Maduro, for instance: one of the first cigars I ever reviewed. So I was excited to finally get a chance to review the 20th Anniversary Maduro.
Beautiful branding and a great overall look. The wrapper of the Perdomo 20th Anniversary is a deep dark chocolate brown that sports a lot of oils as well. Just a touch of toothiness. The cold draw is slightly restrictive and gives clear notes of sweet granola, chocolate, hay, and earth.
Flavor & Smoke Characteristics
The 20th Anniversary Maduro kicks off with medium bodied smoke with notes of black pepper, bittersweet dark chocolate, dry cedar strips, some salt and other spices. The spices border more on being akin to hot peppers. Combine that with the dry cedar and you’ll need a drink to go along with this cigar.
Into the second third the cigar changes considerably. The hot pepper tones down (my palate is thankful) and moves more toward the retrohale, and the flavor becomes a bit sweeter, with the dark chocolate note becoming a bit more like milk chocolate. Additionally, there is a slightly savory note akin to beef jerky.
By half in, the peppers are still drawing down, and the texture of the Smoke is changing from very dry to slightly creamy.
In the final third, the smoke becomes dry again, a shift I’m not a big fan of.
Conclusion
Overall, I wasn’t impressed with the Perdomo 20th Anniversary Maduro. My favorite part of this cigar was probably the first 10 minutes, but I found after about an inch in the pepper notes and dry consistency of the smoke too much to be enjoyable. You’re better off sticking with other classic cigars from Perdomo like the Champagne 10th Anniversary or Champagne Noir.
I’ve been a well known fan of the team at Ashton and San Cristobal Cigars for a long time now. They create some of the most well balanced, flavorful cigars in their price range. So when I chanced upon a few San Cristobal Quintessence cigars at Nat Sherman on 42nd st, I picked them up for this review.
Enough chit chat, let’s find out how this cigar performs.
Blend Specifics
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Size: 5.5″x 50 (Robusto)
Appearance and Construction
Like other San Cristobal cigars, the Quintessence is moderately soft to the touch. There are some veins apparent, as well as other minor imperfections. The wrapper is just a shade lighter than milk chocolate. The band features the beautiful artwork so typical of San Cristobal, with the parrot centered dramatically.
Flavor and Smoke Characteristics
First third kicks off plenty with of smoke. Notes include black pepper, wood, toasted bread, and a slightly sweet, creamy flavor. It’s apparent right away that this is a sipping cigar: one that has a delicate balance of flavors and shouldn’t be smoked too quickly or flavors degrade. By an inch in, the flavors have diversified. The pepper has drawn back and joining it are notes of cloves, vanilla, and grass.
By the halfway mark, the flavor has moved from medium to medium full. Whereas in the first third the pepper was dominant on the retrohale, in the second third the retrohale is a bit gentler. By halfway, construction has remained solid and smoke production is still high
Moving into the final third, notes include pepper, some salt, floral, and creamy sweetness. Body is solid medium.
Conclusion
I don’t know what the guys at Halfwheel were smoking when they gave this cigar an 82 rating (ok, theirs is the Bellicoso size). The San Cristobal Quintessence is a phenomenal cigar for the new or veteran Smoker. You can buy the San Cristobal Quintessence from Famous Smoke Shop, our recommended retail partner, here.
It isn’t often in the world of spirits (or cigars for that matter) that a new accessory creates the veritable firestorm of buzz on whisky social media that was created by the release of the Norlan Glass. In 2017, Norlan Glass announced its newest product: Norlan VAILD (not veiled or vailed!). In this post, I’m going to go into a lot of detail on my experience thus far with the Norlan VAILD. But, I’ll cut to the chase first so you can get the gist if that’s all you want:
The Norlan VAILD is an amazing product and elevates the scotch experience. Not only that, it elevates the experience in such substantial and emotive ways that I have to recommend purchasing a set to anyone who either loves whisky or has a loved one who does.
Why? Let’s find out.
For the purposes of this review, I’ll be taking a look at form (how is it made), aesthetics, and function (what do I like / dislike about using the product).
Form
The Norlan glass is made of hand-blown borosilicate glass. For the Norlan VAILD, a matte black exterior finish is added. Inside the glass, the designers of VAILD added a recursive infinity mirror that traps the light entering the glass and putting it on full display within the glass.
The lip is concave, giving it a width very uncharacteristic of most whisky glasses.
The shape of the glass, inside and out, is distinctive, and intentional. The unique shape was made to achieve two goals, and here I’ll let the creators do the talking.
Goal 1: Aeration Through specially developed protrusion forms inside the glass — adapted through studying bio-mimicry — when swirled around the glass the fluid forms a standing wave shape, which increases the surface to air ratio and rate of oxidization. The effect here is that considerably more ethanol evaporates. This resulting reduction in volatility allows the whisky to become significantly more expressive. This feature is an invention of the Norlan glass — no other whisky glass will do this for you.
Goal 2: Aroma Focus The second main performance feature is the shape of the inner walls, which close as they rise and then flare out again so as not to hit the nose. The height and diameter of the smallest aperture focuses the aromatics to the nose while simultaneously diffusing the ethanol away from the face, fantastically improving the taste of your whisky.
Marks for form: 15/15
Aesthetic
I was in Toronto on a business trip when I saw this video in a Facebook ad for this glass. As the camera panned over the glass and the whisky was highlighted by the light emanating from the infinity mirror, I fell in love and ordered the set on the spot. However, after ordering I had my post-purchase thought: it can’t be as awesome as that video. There’s no way that the scotch is going to glow in the glass, it’s a marketing effect.
Two weeks later, I opened up the box, dropped a dab of Glenfiddich XX into the glass, and behold: there was light. It really works as advertised. Even after testing in high light to low light rooms for this review, the glow ranges from a faint, dark gold to a bright shine. It is positively hypnotic, and gives every glass of scotch I have a sense of mystery.
The glass itself is gorgeous. It falls far outside the aesthetic of a typical scotch glass. Its angular curves are modern without being flashy. Its black color is modest, creating stark contrast to the light emanating from within and keeping the focus where it belongs: on the whisky. I think aesthetic deserves a perfect 15 out of 15, but I have heard some comment that the design seems snobby or pretentious. Since the world isn’t joined in agreement on the aesthetic, I’ll knock one point off
Marks for aesthetic: 14/15
Function
As of my writing of this post, I’m about one week in to owning my Norlan Glass. Here are the highlights of what I love most about the form of this glass:
Infinity Mirror:I’ve already mentioned it but I’m going to do it again: I love the infinity mirror on the inside of this glass. It is a brilliant touch. It works as advertised. I continue to be impressed.
Wide lip: the wide lip adds a ton to the experience. As I sip my whisky, I can’t help but feel that the additional thickness of the lip adds a sort of feeling of substance to the taste of the whisky. Almost a kind of chewiness. I won’t keep going into detail on this: you’ll have to try it for yourself.
Aeration: my experience thus far is that scotches I know to be heavier on the nose in terms of ethanol are softened with this glass. I couldn’t explain to you exactly how it works, just that it does.
Weight: I’ve seen some comments about the glass itself being too light and feeling almost fragile. I think the weight is perfect, perhaps a touch on the light side. But I like the delicate feel – it encourages me to pay attention more, to take my time, to experience my whisky intentionally.
Marks for function: 15/15
Overall score: 44/45
Numbers are, of course, symbolic when it comes to reviews. The point is, this glass ups the ante on any other scotch glass in existence today, including the original Norton Glass. Of course, price is an important component, and at $58 for two, they are the most expensive whisky glasses I’ve ever purchased. But the Norlan glass is also the only scotch glass I’m likely to purchase from this time on, and that’s saying something.
Conclusion
The Norlan VAILD is a no brainer for any new or veteran whisky enthusiast. If my experience of the glass changes at any point, I will of course come back and update this review. Until then, consider me a Norton glass fanatic.
El Gueguense (“The Wise Man”) is the first release from Nicholas Mellilo of Foundation Cigar Co. Like The Tabernacle, it was reviewed very favorably by myself, the wider cigar blogosphere, and also Cigar Aficionado which gave it a Top 25 rating in 2016.
As you’ll see in the review below, this cigar deserves the praise that it gets.
Silky smooth, almost velvety wrapper. Chocolate brown criollo wrapper. Solid amount of weight in the hand. Slightly springy when squeezed. Off the foot I can smell some hay, spices, and woodiness.
Beautiful artwork on the band, but zero points for pronunciation of the name.
Flavor & Smoke Characteristics
Opens with strong notes of cedar, cinnamon, brown sugar, and touches of white pepper, baking spices, floral notes and salt. Very intriguing. Throughout the first third remains very smooth, with an enjoyable mix of sweet and savory notes. Smoke production is strong.
In the second third, black pepper notes begin to predominate, alongside lots of Oak. On top of the floral notes, this is one heck of a flavor profile. No touch ups on the burn required so far.
In the final third, the strength increases and I’m really feeling the nicotine of the smoke. The taste borders much more on the savory side. As the cigar comes to a close, the smoke is mostly dry with notes of oak and some floral notes. Not how I hoped it would end, but still a fantastic smoking experience overall.
Conclusion
This cigar offers a flavor profile that is very unique given what is currently on the market. If you are looking for a cigar that is bold, complex, and unique, then pick up a five pack.
Final grade: A
Buy the Foundation Cigar Co Gueguense from Famous Smoke Shop (our preferred retailer) here.
