The Good Stuff:

It’s everyone’s favorite Halloween cigar time! Every year Pete Johnson of Tatuaje releases a new Monster cigar which celebrates… well… monsters. Monsters from the past, and from iconic movies:

• 2008 – The Frank
• 2009 – The Drac
• 2010 – The Face
• 2011 – The Wolfman
• 2012 – The Mummy
• 2013 – The JV13
• 2014 – The Jekyll
• 2015 – The Hyde
• 2016 – Krueger
• 2017 – The Michael
• 2018 – The Bride
• 2019 – Chuck and Tiff

This year the focus is on the Tiff from the movie Child’s Play. Breaking some of his traditions, Pete also launched the Chuck this year to pair with the Tiff, but we’ll talk about that one another day. Rolled at the My Father Cigars S.A. factory in Nicaragua the Tiff features an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan filler. The Tiff, as do most of the Monster Series cigars, comes in either dress boxes of 13 or standard boxes of 10 running the standard $13 a cigar. I got mine over from our friends at Fox Cigar Bar who still have them in stock with free shipping, no minimum.

• Size: 5 7/8 x 52
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Medium
• Strength: Medium
• Price: $13
• Pairing: Great Notion Sticky Bund (Imperial Stout 11.25% ABV)

Prelight:

The Tatuaje Tiff Starts out with a beautiful, consistent, buttery brown wrapper. There are a few darker spots scattered throughout the cigar’s wrapper. The wrapper’s texture is very smooth, oily and dense as I am careful not to handle the cigar too harshly. The cigar is nicely packed, but very light while I wasn’t able to location any soft spots. There are a few very mild veins running through the cigar’s long, chubby body up to its round double-wrapped cap. The cigar is polished off by the beautifully simple and elegant white and black Tatuaje band with “Monster” and “Halloween” printed in red on the sides.

The wrapper on the Tatuaje Tiff gives on subtle cedar and tobacco aromas while the foot of the cigar carries more spice and earthy scents. The cap cut like butter using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some really nice caramel, honey, and earthy flavors.

First Third:

The Tatuaje Tiff starts off with a very mild black pepper punch which really only lasted the first puff or two leaving behind a good amount of bold cedar and honey backed by caramel, earthiness, soft spice and hints of pine. The draw is absolutely perfect as each tiny puff kicks out massive clouds of thick, white smoke which hangs around my porch for a considerable amount of time before fading away. The burn line is slightly wavy, and very sharp leaving behind a trail of lightly compacted medium gray ash which held on for 3/4 of an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Tatuaje Tiff and not a whole lot has changed in the flavor department. The cigar still leads with cedar and caramel backed by honey, soft spice, earthiness and cinnamon. That pine flavor has made it’s exit in the first third. The retrohale really brings out the cedar and I find myself doing it much more often than normal as I am really enjoying the extra complexity it gives to the experience. The burn line is sill slightly wavy but manageable while I close out the second third with nothing in the nicotine department.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Tatuaje Tiff and a really bold pecan flavor has entered the mix and has completely taken over the flavor profile backed by bold cedar and caramel, along with the soft spice, cinnamon, and earth notes. It took me an hour and a half to take this cigar down to the nub and I never once had to reach for my lighter to touchup or relight the cigar. I close out with no harshness, no extended heat, and only a very mild bit of nicotine.

Overview:

I really enjoyed this cigar. The Connecticut shade is a departure from what we have grown to expect from the Monster series, but a welcomed one. While the cigar remained in the medium strength, medium body arena I was really able to pick apart and appreciate all the flavors the cigar had to offer. This cigar delivered, without having to hit you over the head with flavor or strength and makes for a perfect mid-afternoon smoke and one of the better Connecticut shade cigars I have smoked in my recent memory.

Pairing:

Sticky bun in a 11.25% Imperial stout brewed with melted brown sugar, toasted pecans and cinnamon by Great Notion Brewing in Portland Oregon. The beer leads with a whole mess of sweetness. The cinnamon and brown sugar are very present with notes of malt, chocolate, vanilla, and coconut with a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing with more sweetness, vanilla, cinnamon and a whole ton of pecan on the aftertaste which I wouldn’t think you’d be able to pick up as prominent as you do. This is a pastry stout by far, a very sweet and enjoyable one. The cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla really complimented the flavors in the Tatuaje Tiff while the sweetness helped bring the cigar up to a whole new level.

The post Tatuaje Monster Series #12 The Tiff appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

As with all Protocol cigars, Themis is manufactured at Erik Epinosa’s La Zona factory in Nicaragua. The blend features an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. The cigar was first released in Robusto (5 by 52) and Toro (6 by 50) in 2017 with the Lancero (7 1/2 by 38) and Corona Gorda (5 5/8 by 46) added this year.  The Corona Gorda vitola is exclusive to Famous Smoke Shop.

THE FACTS

Price: $10.50
Vitola: Lancero
Size: 7 1/2 by 38
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Smoke Time: 1 Hour and 25 Minutes

PRE-LIGHT

The Protocol Themis Lancero is dressed in a golden wrapper. Even though there a few medium-sized veins and scattered bumps, the cigar feels smooth, almost paper-like, to the touch. The cigar is rolled a bit looser than normal.

A sweet aroma of chocolate and honey is found on the wrapper leaf. More of the same notes come across on the foot of the cigar, but fuller and earthier. The draw is snug but workable. Again, the honey and chocolate are dominant on the cold draw, but this time there is a peppery spice and cedar alongside them.

FIRST THIRD

This 7 by 38 lancero opens with medium to full flavors of cedar, sweet grass, and a bright white pepper. A lingering spice heat can be felt on my lips between puffs as the pepper flavor and heat intensify as the cigar progresses. The burn is right on and holds well as a dark gray ash forms.

MIDDLE THIRD

A fantastic combination of sweet and spicy flavors is going on as I make my way into the second third of the Protocol Themis. There is a sour edge to the flavors that is working well. A dry cocoa makes it way into the finish of the smoke and a dried fruit flavor enters in near the middle of the cigar. The ash is dark and flaky, but not dropping off prematurely. 

FINAL THIRD

With the final third underway, the change in flavors is easily noticeable as the earlier cedar and sweet grass give way to earth, coffee, and cocoa. The pepper remains strong and the cigar is spicy up to the final draw. An eye-liner burn remains even as it has throughout the whole Protocol Themis Lancero. 

WRAP-UP

As is the case with many of the Connecticut Shade wrapped cigars coming out these days, the golden wrapper on the Protocol Themis is somewhat deceiving. But once the smoke starts flowing, you know this isn’t the typical mild to medium shade cigar. The flavors open medium to full and, along with the spice, hold their ground to the very end. The first two-thirds remained consistent flavor wise with just a hint in the second third of what was to come in the final third. The flavors were balanced and meshed well together. Even the sour quality enhanced the flavors. The Protocol Themis Lancero is an excellent smoke and one that is deserving of its $10.50 price tag.

The post Cubarinqueno Cigars – Protocol Themis Lancero appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff:

The Highclere Castle was revealed at last year’s IPCPR show in Las Vegas. Nick Melillo tamed up with Sir George Herbert, the 8th Earl of Carnarvon who is the current owner of the Highclere Castle which is famously known for it’s location on the hit TV show Downton Abbey. 

The Highclere Castle Website has all the details:

Highclere Castle Cigar was meticulously crafted by master blender, Nicholas Melillo, inspired by the style and flavor profile of cigars imported by the earlier Earls of Carnarvon to Highclere Castle at the turn of the 19th century.

The result is a hand rolled cigar from Estelí, Nicaragua, using the best Connecticut Shade wrapper available.  The filler includes both Criollo and Corojo from the volcanic soils of Jalapa and the island of Ometepe.  For the binder, the ancient Mata Fina, a carefully selected dark tobacco from Brazil, is used to tie the flavors together. Our special blend is finalized with our very own exclusive hybrid seed that we have named Nicadán, whose flavor is reminiscent of tobacco leaf from a bygone era.

The resulting smoke is silky smooth, exceptionally creamy with a lite peppery profile.  Close your eyes and you’ll get a nose of fireplace and leather books that brings you right to Highclere Castle’s library. Subtle, sweet notes lend themself well to hints of citrus and the finish is elegantly clean. 

We control each step of the production process starting with carefully selecting the tobacco, monitoring the weather and growths year to year, and managing the rolling process.  Even our boxes are hand made from sustainably grown cedar logs grown on Nicaragua’s east coast at our friend Pedro’s family business, also located in Esteli. 

The Highclere Castle comes in five size: Churchill (7 x 48), Corona (5.5 x 46), Petit Corona (5 x 42), Robusto (5 x 50), and the Toro (6 x 52) all packaged in boxes of 20 ranging between $12 and $14.40 a stick. Big shout out to my buddy Jason for hooking it up with a few of these.

Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade
Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina
Filler: Nicaraguan
Strength: Mild/Medium
Body: Medium
Price: $12
Pairing: Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Chili Hazelnut Break (Imperial Stout 11.5% ABV)

Prelight:

The Foundation Highclere Castle starts out with a beautiful light, orangish brown wrapper that’s extremely consistent in color. The wrapper’s texture is silky smooth with a good amount of oils and almost no tooth or grit. There are almost no present veins, only natural webbing running through the wrapper’s leaf as it’s laid seamlessly over itself. The wrapper feels very thin and delicate while the cigar itself is packed nicely, not to tight or too soft. The cigar features a standard body with a round double-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with a manilla band with gold, red, and orange metallic in featuring the Highclere Castle crest boldly on the front of it. 

The Foundation Highclere Caste’s wrapper gives off light cashew and cedar aromas while the foot of the cigar features subtle cedar scents over natural tobacco. The cap cut like butter under my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw features a nice subtle sweetness and pepper mixed with spice, cashew, and naturally tobacco flavors. 

First Third:

The Highclere Castle starts out with a massive cayenne pepper blast that totally caught me off guard and left both my lips and tongue tingling. The pepper only really lasted through the first few draws but my lips felt the sting for quite some time. After the pepper fades I was greeted with lots of cedar, spice, nutmeg and honey flavors along with soft coffee and hazelnut. Some nice saltiness started to transition to my lips mellowing out the pepper sting. The burn line was thin with slight waves leaving behind a good amount of rightly compacted medium gray ash which held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray. 

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Foundation Cigars Highclere Castle and the flavors have really creamed out into a more balanced experience. Creamed coffee, hazelnut, honey and spice lead the charge backed by a soft brown sugar sweetness. I just wish this cigar carried over the body it started out with, I feel it mellowed out a tad too much. The retrohale brings out some of the spice and pepper that I picked up in the first third. The burn line is still a bit wavy but I haven’t had to reach for my torch so no complaints there. I close out the second third feeling absolutely nothing in terms of nicotine. 

Finish:

Into the final third of the Foundation Cigars Highclere Castle and the cigar has continued to mellow out more and more as the experience progresses. There is no more spice or pepper all I am really left with at this point is some lightly creamed coffee, light hazelnut, soft honey and spice. The cigar took me a little over an hour to smoke down to the nub and I experienced no harshness, nor extended heat. 

Overview:

The Highclere Castle started out with a bang, but quickly began to fade out into something just a bit too mild for my preference. The cigar was beautiful and burned brilliantly but the flavor profile left much to be desired. One thing I had to keep reminding myself was that this cigar was blended for a different market. Usually the European cigars tend to resemble the Cuban cigar market a bit closer producing much more milder cigar experiences which is exactly what the Highclere Castle delivered. For the price though, I think I can think of quite a few mild cigars that I personally would reach for before this one. 

Pairing:

Because of the existing hazelnut flavor I repeatedly picked up in the Highclere Castle I decided to pair this cigar with Evil Twin’s Imperial Biscotti Chili Hazelnut Break. The 11.5% Imperial stout leads with roasted malt, cocoa, hazelnut, caramel, and even a nice tartness with a medium mouthfeel before finishing with gobs more hazelnut and cocoa along with a great sweetness and good amount chili with a decently boozy aftertaste. 

The post Foundation Cigars Highclere Castle appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff:

Year after year Drew Estate has kicked out solid release after solid release. This year, the company decided to take a bit of a different approach by taking the ever-popular Undercrown and adding a no-so-popular wrapper on it, thus the Undercrown shade was born. The Undercrown Shade is amongst a slew of premium cigars to hit the market lately using a Connecticut Shade wrapper. While I wasn’t a big fan of this movement some time ago, I, as well as many others out there have really come to appreciate all that Connecticut Shade has to offer. The fact that this was blended under the skillful eye of master blender Willy Herrera only adds to the excitement as he’s produced some of the best blends I have ever smoked. While the name may suggest that Drew Estate simply took the existing Undercrown and added a new wrapper, that’s not the case. The cigar was reblended with the wrapper in mind starting with the Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper, Sumatran binder, and Dominican Criollo 98, Nicaraguan Criollo, and Nicaraguan Corojo fillers. It’s easy to see that the two cigars are very different beasts. The Undercrown shade comes in six sizes: Belicoso (6 x 52), Corona Doble (7 x 54), Corona (5 5/8 x 46), Gordito (6 x 60), Gran Toro (6 x 52), and the Robusto (5 x 54). Each size comes packed in boxes of 25 and runs between $7.50 and $9.95 a stick. Big thanks to Drew Estate and crew for sending these our way.

Size: 6 x 52
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade
Binder: Sumatran
Filler: Dominican Criollo 98, Nicaraguan Criollo, and Nicaraguan Corojo
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium
Price: $8.25
Pairing: Fremont Spring Elixir (10.5% ABV Imperial IPA)

Prelight:

The Drew Estate Undercrown Shade starts with an absolutely stunning, consistent medium to very light brown wrapper. Like many cigars produced by Drew Estate the wrapper is absolutely soaked in thick oil. The texture on the wrapper is silky smooth with little to no tooth, and many smaller veins running their course through the cigar’s body. The wrapper on the Undercrown Shade is very thin, and delicate while the cigar itself is actually packed very tightly resulting in a good amount of weight, and no soft spots through the cigar. There is some very slight yellow areas scatters throughout the natural webbing in the wrapper leaf which lead up to a beautifully round double cap. The Undercrown Shade is polished off with the standard Undercrown band except the blue is replaced with white making for a very elegant feel and they have added a foot band that simply states “Shade”. You know, just in case you somehow get these mixed up with your standard Undercrown blends. Kidding aside, I really like the look of the packaging on these.

The wrapper on the Undercrown shade gives off a very bold cedar aroma while the foot of the cigar carries some sweetness, honey, and spice. The cap cut very clean and easily using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw exhibits a bit of tartness, honey, soft sweetness, and natural earthy flavors.

First Third:

The Undercrown Shade stats out with a nice little black pepper punch that I wasn’t expecting. After a few puffs this reduces in power as some strong cedar, honey, sweetness, cashew, and earthiness come to the forefront. There is a little bit of pine that keeps poking through every few puffs or so as well. The draw is absolutely perfect on the Undercrown Shade. Each tiny little puff kicks out massive clouds of very thick, white smoke which linger around for quite some time. The burn line is razor thin, and dead even leaving behind a beautiful trail of thick, white, tightly compacted ash which held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

While the first third of the Undercrown Shade lingered in the mild/medium category, the body has started to amp up a bit into the second third landing it in the solid medium area. The flavors are still pretty bold for a Connecticut Shade cigar leading with the honey, cedar, and cashew backed by some slight coffee, earthiness, and spice. The retrohale coats my nasal passage with some great cedar, spice, and dare I say it gingerbread? Whatever, it’s good and I find myself going back to the retrohale often. The draw is still perfect, while the burn line has some slight waves now, but nothing too concerning. I close out the second third with nothing in the nicotine department, no touch ups, no relights.

Finish:

Right out the gate the Undercrown Shade has consistently increased in body and is now tiptoeing on the very edge of medium/full where I’ll call it. The flavors are very similar to the second third, lots of cedar, honey, and cashew with the coffee and spice backing, and a bit of the pine coming back in the final third. It took me an hour and forty five minutes to take this cigar down to the nub. It burned real slow and finished nice and creamy with no harshness or extra heat. I never once had to reach for my lighter to touch up, or relight.

Overview:

In the last few years some great Connecticut wrapped cigars have crashed into the cigar world, the Undercrown Shade is amongst the best. I was once very wary of Connecticut wrapped cigars, but the manufacturers have really done a bang up job creating blends utilizing this wrapper that remain bolder, yet balanced and the Undwecrown Shade is a perfect example of that. While it’s on the very mild side of medium/full, the cigar showcased some great flavors, a perfect burning experience, all at a great price. Not really much more you can ask for there. This is perfect for the novice smoker looking for a premium cigar that won’t overpower them with strength or body. And us seasoned smokers ca really appreciate the cigar as well. I’ll be sure to keep quite a few of these around for those times when I’m looking for something that delivers on flavors, but isn’t quite as strong as some of the other cigars in my rotation.

Pairing:

IPA season my officially be over fort he United States, it’s always IPA season at the Casas Residence. One of my favorite IPA’s I’ve had all year was Fremont’s Spring Elixir which came to me courtesy of our good pal Jeff up in Seattle. The 10.5% Imperial IPA is brewed at the Fremont Brewery in Seattle, Washington. Jeff had a bit of info on the brew:

“The Fremont/Bartell Drugs 125th Anniversary Spring Elixir Imperial IPA was made to commemorate Bartell’s 125th year in business in Washington state, making it the oldest continually family owned drug store in the country.”

The Spring Elixir leads with some great bitterness, soft hop, citrus, malt, and sweetness with a very light mouthfeel before finishing with even more sweetness, soft hop, and malt with a bit of grapefruit on the aftertaste. Raw hop increases as the beer warms. I love how this beer resembles a Belgian style IPA by really toning down the hop and increasing the bitterness and malt which made for an absolute perfect pairing with my Undercrown Shade. Again, bit thanks to Jeff for sending a few of these my way.

The post Drew Estate Undercrown Shade appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff: I reviewed the broadleaf less-exclusive version of the cigar here and we actually named it as our cigar of the year for 2011.  This is the more exclusive version of the already incredibly exclusive cigar. Each of the 3,700 boxes came with 16 cigars, one of those 16 cigars is this shade wrapped blend. It’s basically the exact same blend only with a tweaked Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper. The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition 2011 is very similar in blend to the standard Reserva Especial only with a higher priming. After the wrapper Jaime decided to showcase some of his choice Pelo De Oro leaf as well as two different types of Cuban Seed. These cigars were showcased at this year’s IPCPR convention, and started to hit shops in August. These cigars are probably sold out by now, but if you are lucky enough to stumble across them they will run you about $16 a cigar. Check out this review of the broadleaf version so that you can see just how absolutely beautiful the box these cigars come in are. I won’t go into details.

Size: 6.5 x 52  –  Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade  –  Binder: Nicaraguan Pele de Oro  –  Filler: 2 Cuban Seed Nicaraguan  –  Price: ~$16

Prelight: The first thing I noticed about the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition Shade was that this cigar weighed a ton. The Standard Limited Edition was heavy as well, but in comparison to those that I have and this shade one, the shade was so much heavier. I’m sure this wasn’t done on purpose as this is supposed to be the same blend, only with a different wrapper. Anyways. The Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper on this bad boy is a beautiful one. The wrapper is a very light, yellowish brown and like most shade wrappers, is incredibly consistent in color, smooth, and vein free. The body of the cigar is silky smooth, heavy, and firm while the delicate wrapper leads up to the round triple cap. The double band on this cigar matches the LTD Reserva Especial with the broadleaf wrapper identically.

Unlike the broadleaf, this wrapper is a lot more modest with its aroma only teasing with a subtle cedar and spice. The foot however expels a ton of spice, pepper, and tobacco. The sharp pepper actually irritated my nose a bit as I went in for a huge whiff. The cap was REALLY tough and took a little convincing from my double bladed Palio cutter. Once cut, the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition Shade let loose this crazy lacquer, paint flavor. I picked it up in the Broadleaf version too, but not as strong as I could in this one. It has to be from the filler tobacco. Anyways, outside of that I got a little salt off the wrapper, and some spicy earth and cedar tones from the filler.

First Smoke: Right away I am greeting with a ton of pepper on my lips and tongue followed by some really strong spice and cinnamon, some soft tobacco and cedar, and a little underlying sweetness and honey. Just like the broadleaf version, that paint I picked up in the cold draw wasn’t in the actual experience at all. The draw on this thing is crazy. I find myself only puffing the cigar once and getting plenty of thick white smoke. The burnline is pretty even with only some very subtle waves, and razor sharp. This cigar kicks out tons of smoke on the draw but almost nothing at all as it sits in my ashtray. The ash is a really nice white and light grey which held on for a little over an inch before giving way into my lap, again. So this picture is of the second ash. I really need to stop being lazy and get up more often to take these pictures before the ash falls.

Halfway There: Holy Cedar Explosion Batman! Seriously. The Broadleaf version was sweet while the Shade version of this Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial explodes in the second third with some crazy thick cedar and honey flavors. It tastes like I am smoking a graham cracker. There is still a ton of spice and a little pepper, but the cedar, cinnamon and honey have completely taken over. The retrohale is just awesome coating with this strong cedar with a hell of a lot of spice. I usually don’t feel much of a nicotine kick from shade wrapped cigars due to their mildness, but I swear I’m already feeling a little something from this one. The burnline is still a bit wavy but I haven’t had to touch it up or relight so I’m ok with that. Another note is that the ash fell into my lap yet again. This ash my look strong, but be careful, It’s not! Now let’s see if I can manage to get any ash in my ashtray at all.

Finish: It’s always nice when band on cigars come off with ease, and in the case of both massive bands on this Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition Shade that was the case. This cigar has started out flavor packed and although the body has really ramped up into the final third of the cigar (plus I have a nice buzz from this beer), the cigar has remained true producing a very smooth experience. The main flavor is still that cedar but the honey and spice has really toned down leading the way for the earth and tobacco flavors to really shine though. I am feeling a mean nicotine kick at this point. All in all it took slightly less then two hours to smoke this cigar down to the nub and I experienced absolutely no harshness into the final inch. The cigar required no touch ups to relights at all.

Overview: Although the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition 2011 Shade is a good cigar, in my opinion it doesn’t hold a candle to the broadleaf counterpart. You need to keep in mind that this cigar was originally blended for the broadleaf wrapper, not the shade and because of that, it isn’t nearly as balanced. The body is way to high for the wrapper and at times the filler and binder overpowered the hell out of the wrapper. It’s a good cigar and a nice departure and a nice touch for an already limited edition blend, but I am glad the box only came with one of these. If you are a fan of the Reserva Especial blend then by all means, check this cigar out, it’s fun. It’s neat to see just how much of each cigar smoking experience weighs in the wrapper. But if you are looking for a nice, full flavored Connecticut I think you are way better off saving your money and looking at something like Oliva’s Connecticut reserve or EP Carrillo’s New wave Connecticut.

Pairing: Pairing with another wonderful Belgian winter seasonal, this Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition Shade went down with some Scaldis Noel Premium (Also known as Bush de Noel). The only difference between the Scaldis Noel and the Premium is the ABV as the Premium sits at 13% while the standard Scaldis Noel sits comfortably at 12.5%. Both pack a hell of a punch. The extra .5% actually comes about as the beer is literally refermented in the bottle it comes in. This brilliant red Belgian strong ale is brewed at Brasserie Dubuisson Frères sprl in Belgium. The beer has a very fruity and sweet complex as it masks the strong alcohol complex. Smooth and rich this beer paired perfectly with the strength and body of the Jaime Garcia Limited Edition Shade without overpowering it. They actually went along perfectly hand in hand taking turns complimenting each other. This beer probably wouldn’t go well with any other shade cigar, but would pair perfectly with a nice Habano.

The post Jaime Garcia – Reserva Especial Limited Edition 2011 Shade appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.