Luxury single malt whisky, The Macallan is taking over London’s Two Temple Place for two nights only. On 2 and 3 June, The Macallan Residence will unlock its doors and invite guests into the world of The Macallan.
The first UK event of its kind for the brand will take guests on a journey of carefully curated experiences exploring the world of photography, food and fashion.
Visitors to The Macallan Residence will learn how to expertly nose and taste single malt with Gold, Amber, Sienna and Ruby, award winning whiskies from The 1824 Series. Master-classes from Mixologists Wayne Collins and David Miles will showcase the art of creating the perfect Old Fashioned cocktail.
Chocolate and whisky pairings from Artisan Du Chocolat will be on offer, as well a bespoke styling service from a number of hand-picked partners. Photography from The Macallan’s latest collaboration with the world’s most glamourous and iconic fashion photographer, Mario Testino will also be exhibited for guests to enjoy.
Keith Bonnington, The Macallan Senior Brand Manager said: “The Macallan Residence is an exciting and unique event which will take consumers on an exceptional whisky experience. Set in the iconic Two Temple Place, guests will be fully immersed in the world of quality craftsmanship synonymous with The Macallan.”
A limited number of tickets are available for the two hour experience on 2 June at 7.30pm and 8.30pm and 3 June at 6.30pm at Two Temple Place, London, WC2R 3BD. To reserve your place please visit: http://www.themacallanresidence.com/.
Notes
Please enjoy The Macallan responsibly, visit www.drinkaware.co.uk for the facts.
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Founded in 1824 in the heart of Speyside, The Macallan was one of the first distilleries in Scotland to be legally licensed. Since then it has built a reputation as one of the world’s leading single malt whiskies. The creation of The Macallan draws on the vital contributing influences of Spain, North America and Scotland, and of their respective natural raw materials, combined with traditional methods and craftsmanship. From its founding, through the subsequent owners of The Macallan distillery in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and into the present century, The Macallan has been recognised for its outstanding quality above all else.
Recluse Cigar Company, led by J.R. Rodriguez, is dedicated to making the absolute best cigar they can through unique innovation. Starting with the Recluse OTG in 2012, the company has since produced more blends, all of which are manufactured by Tabacalera Leyendas Cubanas. These new blends, such as the Amadeus, are cigars offered in ten sizes, three of them being completely new sizes that have never been made before (labeled the Kanú by the Recluse company). All cigars are made exclusively from leaves that have been through not one, not two, not three, but eight fermentation cycles before being rolled into the stogy now I hold in my hand. Let’s see if those extra five or six fermentation cycles made a difference.
Form and Substance
Vitola: Robusto
Wrapper: Connecticut Seed/Ecuadorian Shade
Binder: MBC (proprietary)
Filler: Dominican Ligero, Dominican Viso, Dominican Seco, USA Pennsylvanian Broadleaf
Dimensions: 5’ x 52”
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Aesthetics, Construction and Feel
In spite of the ridiculously prominent leaf stems, the Recluse makes for a great first impression. The wrapper bears almost no veins, stems aside. In spite of the occasional spaces, the wrapper is is also well-constructed with a solid box press construction. The body is a bit flexible and there are no soft spots; a sure sign of careful and meticulous work on the part of the roller.
Smoke and Flavor
First Third: The first puffs are an unwelcome challenge due to a tight draw, which refuses to let up. The burn is also off to a rough start; there’s no canoeing, thankfully, but the burn is uneven at this stage. Fortunately, the flavor gets better immediately after the first few puffs. The difficult foretaste of bitter wood soon softens into a smooth cedar, simultaneously sharing the foreground with a lovely note of butter and supported by a creamy undertone. A touch of coffee also appears here and there, adding some extra zest to the mix. The smoke clouds are medium-volume throughout.
Second Third: This is where all the pieces star falling into place. At this point, the brilliance in the construction becomes apparent; the burn evens out, and the multi-shaded ash has no flakes, solidly holding its form even when it starts tilting. The draw remains tight, but the smoke clouds begin to thicken. Here, a subtle spice note joins the coffee in the background, intermingling with the butter, cream and wood. The spice is followed up by a hint of caramel in the background as the the final third is approached. At the same time, the cedar note becomes more pronounced, embedding itself into the palate and drying it.
Final Third: The Recluse is now on the home stretch as the lips begin to burn with each puff. As the ash finally falls off, the cedar and spice gradually take over the mix. The butter gives ground, but still maintains a presence, fighting the spice and coffee for its rightful place in the foreground. The coffee and caramel, now firmly established in the mix, remain in the background. They are eventually joined by a nearly undetectable touch of sugar cane. Suddenly, the spice and the cream merge together into a combined third note, sharing the foreground with the cedar and butter. Concurrently, the many background notes also converge and meld together. The result is a delicious, well-balanced mix of flavors that brings the smoke full circle into a harmonious close.
The Final Verdict
The flaws in this blend came out with guns blazing right from the get-go; there was trouble with the draw, trouble with the burn, trouble with the flavor. Fortunately, this meant that the flaws immediately got out of the way to make room for the virtues, which far exceeded the flaws. The brilliance of both the flavors and the way they intertwined with each other demonstrates creativity in the blending process. But most importantly, the smoke itself was enjoyable overall. Recluse still has a ways to go (who doesn’t). But in the mean time, they’ve delivered a truly great connecticut cigar that any serious aficionado should try.
Final Grade: A-
Tips for a Perfect Smoke Experience
While this is technically a connecticut, the Amadeus still has some power to it, so balanced it out with something warm and sweet. Black coffee with sugar should do the trick.
The Montecristo Relentless, joining a long line of Montecristo brand extensions, is manufactured at the Tabacalera de Garcia in La Romana, Dominican Republic by Altadis S.A., a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco Group. The Relentless is specially made for Famous Smoke in Pennsylvania. The cigar for this review came from Famous Smoke.
Blend Specifics
Cigar: Montecristo Relentless
Vitola: Toro 6” x 54
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Mexican San Andres
Filler: Nicaraguan and Brazilian Mata Fina
Appearance and Construction: The Montecristo Relentless has a very light coffee with milk complexion, very minimal veins, tight, almost invisible seams, a slight oil sheen, and a very smooth silky feel. Evenly dense feel throughout with a nice spongy give. A good-looking triple cap and overall presentation looks great.
Flavor and Smoke Characteristics
Cold Aromas: Off the wrapper is a hefty cedar and dry wood. The foot shows cedar, caramel and hay, with a hint of hazelnut to cashew note. Dry yet, sweet. The cold draw presents hay, a slight buttery nuttiness, cedar, and a salty taste left behind on the lips. The draw is very open and airy with just a touch of tension.
First Third: The first notes are dry and bitter hay with a touch of bitter coffee bean, with a transition into cedar and a dry woody finish. The draw is very open and airy, providing plumes of creamy smoke right off the bat, though the smoke has a bit of grit to it. Burn line looks phenomenal from the start, and the aroma is a salt and cedar mix. Ash is a salt and pepper grey and has a nice formation. There’s also a slight touch of cinnamon on the draw but doesn’t last long at all. Settling in, the smoke does start to develop a creamy buttery feel and that feeling also last through on the tongue and in the nose until the next draw, which starts to develop a cashew and almond note. From the looks, this may be a fast burner, but we’ll see how things progress. The butter and hay hold the main stage while the cedar has dropped a bit.
The profile is medium in body, medium in flavor, and medium in strength. While the flavor is weighed at medium, I find this cigar to be quite flavorful and semi-complex. There is also a slight grass and vegetable note that lingers for a bit but doesn’t come that far into the fold. The ash holds very nicely, and pretty well, even at 1.5 inches. Starting the transition from the first third to the second, the caramel that was found on the foot is starting to become more present in the smoke. It is not heavy but noticeable, and provides a nice smooth creamy texture, slightly syrupy, to the already smooth and creamy smoke. There is also a touch of white pepper that also comes up on the finish, and leaves a little tingle on the tongue. The finish is clean but not short-lived.
Second Third: The ash is still holding strong, and usually I would have tapped it off by this point but I’ll do the cigar justice let it see how far it wants to go before falling off on its own. Flavors are holding steady with the hay, caramel, butter, cedar, and touch of white pepper mix. Aroma is hay, cedar, and a touch of saltiness; that saltiness can also be found in a minimal amount on the finish in the nose as well. Burn line still looks really good and performance is phenomenal. Smoke production is still airy, clean, thick and plumy. The ash fell off on its own at 2 inches as one solid chunk. The smoke is extremely cool. The profile is still holding at medium in body, medium in flavor, and medium in strength. Removing the bands is fairly ok, the smaller top band comes off easily and the larger black band comes off fairly easy as well, but it did pull a little bit of the wrapper. Though, this was minor and shouldn’t affect the performance. The caramel has dropped a bit, leaving more of a dry hay and slight cedar profile. The white pepper has also been completely dropped.
Final Third: The butter is transitioning into a fuller nuttiness and taking on the characteristics of almond. The hay is still the main note but dropping a bit as the almond becomes a greater competing factor. The cedar is still sticking around as well. The smoke is still creamy, thick and plumy. The aroma is still wonderfully cedar and salt. This cigar ends at medium in body, medium in flavor, and medium in strength for a very consistent smoke.
Final Thoughts
While not a very complex or heavy cigar, there’s a decent amount of flavor and roundedness to be found in the Montecristo Relentless. The profile stays consistent throughout the session as a medium, through and through. This cigar is filled with great billows of smoke, aided with its open and loose draw with just the right amount of tension, providing greater control to the smoker. As stated earlier, this cigar is surprisingly flavorful and something I’ve always enjoyed about cigars that utilize an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper. They tend to provide much more flavor and durability than U.S. Connecticut Shade wrappers. The blend here delivers a concoction of hay, caramel, cedar, touches of grass, salt and white pepper notes and a roundedness of buttery almond. An enjoyable any time of day smoke, though preferable for the morning and early afternoon before breakfast or brunch.
The burn stays consistent and doesn’t stray at any point, and can also be put down for a minute or so without fear of going out. While it does come off as a fast burner, this is mostly an illusion as the cigar definitely last a good smoking time, which satisfies the appetite but also doesn’t last too long.
Similar cigars are the Gurkha Park Avenue.
Smoking time was 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Grade: A
Update: you can read a list of our top three favorite cigars from Montecristo cigars here.
On Thursday, April 16th, we’re breaking all the rules. For the first time, we’ll be hosting a three-course cigar and spirits dinner on both floors of the gold-medal Neely’s Barbecue Parlor. This event is only possible due to a rare legal exemption provided to Neely’s/Merchants before NYC restaurant smoking bans went into effect.
The event starts at 7:30pm and will run until 11pm
UPSTAIRS: 7:30 – 9PM
Our three-course dinner upstairs features the new “Churchill” from Davidoff Cigars, live entertainment, a selection of wine and beer and a professionally guided pairings of single malt scotch from The Balvenie and Glenfiddich.
DOWNSTAIRS: 9 – 11PM
After dinner, guests will move downstairs to a closed-to-the-public Merchants NY Cigar Bar to pair new blends from La Hoja Cigar Co. with an array of paired drinks.
The Alec Bradley Mundial Punta Lanza No. 5 was featured at our last Smoker Social and was branded as a “Live True” event. Jonathan Lipson, representative for Alec Bradley was on hand to sponsor and discuss AB’s blends with our guest. The Mundial is manufactured at Fabrica de Tabacos Raices Cubana in Danli, Honduras. Mundial translates to “World-Wide.” It features the same wrapper as the Prensado line offered by Alec Bradley, which was the second offering with a fuller-body profile after the Tempus.
Blend Specifics
Vitola: Punta Lanza No. 5 (Perfecto) 5” x 52
Wrapper: Honduran, Trojes region
Binder: Double Binder, Honduran and Nicaraguan
Filler: Honduran and Nicaraguan
Appearance and Construction: The Mundial has a medium dark chocolate wrapper with a very minimal reddish tint. Tight seams that are hidden by the bands, a couple noticeable veins that are also hidden by the bands pretty well. Silky texture, minimal tooth, and slightly oily feel and sheen, make this a very smooth wrapper. An excellent looking triple cap but has the appearance of having a double cap. This cigar also features a lance-looking point on the foot and gives it its perfecto shape.
Smoke and Flavor Characteristics
Cold Aromas: On the wrapper there’s earth and leather with an underlying sweetness, a little tea and slight floral notes. On the foot is also tea and floral, a sweet tobacco, and a touch of cayenne pepper. The cold draw shows earth, a hint of leather, and more of the tea and floral notes. Draw seems just right.
First Third: The first notes are a light earth and tea; the aroma is heavy with leather and earth. There’s a hint of pepper on the retrohale that gives this cigar a warm start. The tension on the draw is somewhat tight, but not too much and also aids to a warming start in the nose. Great amount of smoke production early on. The profile isn’t heavy at all, though, as the tea and floral are the dominant notes with the leather and earth following. On the retrohale, there’s a sweetness followed by a medium amount of pepper and mostly characterized as cayenne. As the foot opens, the earth and leather come up and there’s a warm spice tingle on the front of the tongue and heavier in the back. Burn line is close to razor sharp, and ash production is a medium warm to darker grey with a lot of even darker grey mixed in. The cayenne becomes more of a black pepper but not overly heavy. The cigar has a paper like drying effect on the palate. Body stands at full, the flavor is medium to full, and strength is medium to full. About an inch in, the pepper dies down, which gives more room to the tea notes. A light lemon / citrus peel come in to play right around the first band point. Removing the first band is a bit difficult but comes off with no harm to the cigar.
Second Third: Transitioning into the second third, there’s also a heavy bread note that comes in and moves far to the front, replacing the tea. The leather and earth are still present. The tarty citrus peel is still around as well, and is very noticeable on the sour buds of the tongue. The ash is hanging on solidly at 1.5 inches, it is slightly flaky but really only in appearance and is holding quite well. Removing the second band was considerably easier than the first. The aroma is still characterized by the earth and leather, with a hint of cedar. Body is still holding at full, flavor has moved up to full, and the strength is close to full but still really at medium to full. There’s also an interesting soapiness lingering, of the floral category and most resembling Johnson’s baby shampoo, or baby powder. Not really chalkiness, just more clean and soapy. Ash falls off as a solid chunk at 1.75 inches. Even though the spice has died down, the tongue still receives a plethora of tingle for the duration of the smoke. At this point the flavors start to transition again, with a dry, slightly sweet dark chocolate coming into the fold, reminiscent of a dark chocolate powder.
Final Third: entering into the final third, the chocolate note is still leading the way, the slight citrus, leather, slight bread, and touch of earth are all still hanging around bringing this up to a very complex concoction. This cigar keeps the palate pretty dry the duration of the smoke, even into this final third. The tea and floral notes are way back, and technically too light in flavor to keep up with the other notes now at play. The body finishes at full, the flavor at close to full but has come down a bit to a high medium to full, but still very complex, and the strength at full with the cigar heating up near the nub.
Final Thoughts
First thing I noticed at the end of this session, which I didn’t pick up on while smoking was how smoky this cigar makes one’s environment. It produces a lot of smoke, not necessarily plumy and creamy, there are touches of that but it’s really just smokier, creating a thick haze and generating large smoke clouds. The Mundial progressively gets more complex as the duration draws on with a myriad of notes ranging from light tea and floral, slight herbs, leather and earth to heavier breads, cocoa powder, soapiness that extends from the floral and citrus notes with touches of cayenne and black pepper. The burn stays consistent and the blend remains powerful, yet balanced in its profile. Has a tendency to be very dry on the palate but is also accompanied with a citrus and pepper tingle on the tongue. The finish last long and the profile hovers around full and high medium to full across the board in body, flavor, and strength for the duration of the cigar.
