The 30 Minute Cocktail Hour Podcast & Blog

With legs like Heidi Klum running down the sides of my glass, this fine whisky from north of the border really pleased all in attendance with its great flavor. This reasonably new Canadian blend is produced by using three different types of barrels. One for rye, one for grain, and one for corn. This process adds some the very interesting and light flavors of caramel and vanilla. I’ve only had 3-4 Canadians and this has been the best by far. Canadian Mist, Crown Royal, and Canadian Club got nothing on this one. If you’re looking for something new and interesting for your liquor cabinet, pick yourself up a bottle of Forty Creek.

This robusto sized cigar comes from Torano’s strongest line of cigars, the Virtuoso. With a perfectly dark Nicaraguan sungrown wrapper, there was a lot of nuttiness and sweetness from this great smoke. While almost all smokes change as you get closer to the nub, this one never became harsh and always tasted great. The wrapper had some veins but it burned evenly and produced a tremendous amount of smoke.

One of the best sticks from 2008, this one time offering from Rocky Patel offers great flavor if you can still find them. I’ve had probably 30 of these and they’ve all had flawless construction and a great burn. The combination of Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Panamanian filler creates a mix of flavors that’s hard to find anywhere else. Unfortunately Rocky decided to use his small supply of Sumatran wrappers on his new Decade. The Sumatran wrapper delivers the traditional sweetness and spice which would make for a good breakfast stick for the experienced smoker. For the beginner, this medium to full stick might be too strong of a cigar.

Fidel’s favorite, the Monte # 2 is the quintessential torpedo. This batch came in a bit dry and I thought I had given them enough time in the humi but this one was still a bit dry and it burned fairly quickly. I was very pleased with the look and construction of this stick as I’ve had some problem sticks from Cuba in the past few years. This one however had a great draw and held a perfect ash the whole time. Great flavors and that traditional Monte spice made this a great stick to pair with the flavorful bourbons we tried. I firmly believe that there are cigars from other countries that are just as good as the Cubans but this one could start to change my mind. We’ll see how the rest of this half box smokes.

4.5 x 52 - Hell Yes! Now this is a great smoke at a great price. Tons of flavor and strength in such a small stick. There was never any harshness that some would expect from a strong cigar like this. As I said on the podcast, I have had significant nicotine buzzes from these in the past. The Consul put out a tremendous amount of smoke that would just hang in the air like the marine layer in LA. Starting out smooth and luscious, the stogie developed into what I’ve come to expect of Nicaraguan cigars, lots of spice.  Overall a great smoke if you’re looking for one with a lot of flavor.