The bottle
Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend Bourbon, $199.99
The encourage memoir
Individuals continue to cherish their bourbon and other home-made whiskeys. Gross sales have soared for the category in most modern years, with the Distilled Spirits Council of america reporting that they reached virtually $5.1 billion in 2022.
Meanwhile, many Individuals have also continuously loved a legitimate cigar. And for the time being, they’re exhibiting their appreciation bigger than ever. Imports of top price (or hand-rolled) cigars have grown from 330 million stogies in 2017 to 464.5 million in 2022, per the Premium Cigar Affiliation.
All of which makes a cigar-pleasant bourbon a pure, no?
Certainly, Joseph Magnus, a Michigan-based mostly mostly distillery whose roots return to the pre-prohibition technology, has been promoting this kind of bourbon (and a sexy high-kill one) for the outdated few years. It’s launched recurrently in diminutive portions and batches are most often long past pretty rapid, per Matt Overway, manufacturing supervisor for the ticket.
So, how keep you craft a bourbon that pairs with a cigar? Overway says it’s all about having a sip that’s rich enough to resist those potent tobacco flavors.
Section of that is ready the proof — that technique it wants be boozy enough to holds its possess (the Cigar Blend we tried clocked in a sexy alcoholic 114 proof). Nonetheless it’s also about increasing old the spirit to a obvious maturity, so it would possibly per chance per chance most likely level-headed come as no shock that Cigar Blend is a mix of whiskeys ragged between roughly 10 to 18 years. Plus, the whiskey is done in barrels that formerly held Armagnac, so the French brandy adds its possess notes of candy complexity to the mix, Overway explains.
What we specialise in it
I’m a cigar-loving whiskey drinker so I used to be particularly outlandish about this one. To Overway’s point, it’s a huge, courageous bourbon that could without considerations meet the relate of pairing with a huge, courageous stogie. You’ll procure notes of vanilla and dried fruit, somewhat of hint of spice and a boozy kick with every sip — in all, somewhat hearty and beautiful.
My handiest quibble is that you simply don’t indubitably have to use $200 to win a legitimate whiskey (or other spirit) to revel in with a cigar. I particularly cherish ragged rums and Calvados, a French apple brandy, with my smokes — and folks could even be chanced on for well below $100, to claim nothing of alternative flavorful bourbons that could even be had for some distance lower than $200. Mild, the Magnus Cigar Blend is somewhat a satisfaction.
How to revel in it
Overway suggests having this sparkling when you’re pairing it with a cigar, so the proof stays high. Nonetheless when that potentialities are you’ll cherish to sip it sans stogie, he suggests attempting it with some ice and letting it slowly mix into the whiskey. “I cherish the experience of the proof swap as the dice melts,” he says.
