Best After-Dinner Drink & Cigar Pairings
The best way to wrap up a satisfying meal is with an after-dinner drink and a cigar. For most connoisseurs, whiskey and cigars are a first choice, but let’s not ignore the intricate marriage of flavor and aroma a vintage glass of port or rum offers with a fine cigar. Here are five amazing cigar-and-after-dinner-drink pairings you should consider the next time you’re eating your last bite of dessert.
Single Malt & Ashton ESG
Scores of aficionados order a single malt before anything else on the menu when they’re about to fire up a cigar. Top-shelf single malts like Macallan 18, Lagavulin 16, and Oban 18 elevate the taste of a premium handmade cigar with otherworldly sophistication. Ashton ESG is an ideal cigar to pair with high-quality scotch. World-renowned cigar-maker Carlito Fuente blends a rare and ultra-premium Dominican Puro from reserves of his finest aged tobaccos and a pristine Sun Grown wrapper leaf. Notes of cedar, cocoa, black pepper, and graham cracker cloak the palate with perfect proportion in five classic shapes. Ashton ESG imparts rich, creamy nuances that balance the pronounced and sometimes peaty profile of the best single malts.
Bourbon & Arturo Fuente Anejo
Bourbon and cigars symbolize the ultimate American after-dinner pastime. Famous bourbons like Basil Hayden’s, Blanton’s, and Angel’s Envy soothe the senses with deep, spicy notes of oak, vanilla, caramel, and crème brûlée. Arturo Fuente Anejo is an unequaled cigar to pair with bourbon. A dark and oily Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper is matured in a cognac barrel for an extended time before it’s gently draped over a full-bodied blend of premium aged Dominican tobaccos created by Carlito Fuente. Tasting notes of dark chocolate, hickory, brown sugar, and buttery spices weave in an intricate, smoky display that entices from beginning to end in a classic collection of wildly sought-after shapes like No. 77 Shark.
Rum & La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor
Following its debut, La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor scored 95 points in Cigar Aficionado as well as ‘#2 Cigar of the Year’ honors. Nicaragua’s foremost cigar-maker Pepin Garcia blends Mi Amor from a lustrous San Andrés wrapper leaf over vintage binder and filler tobaccos grown the Garcia family’s prized Nicaraguan estates. A medium to full-bodied profile of cracked black pepper, dark chocolate, almonds, and fresh espresso tastes amazing with a refined rum like Brugal XV or Ron Zacapa XO. The dense, dark, and sugary consistency of rum has made it the premiere partner for premium cigars for hundreds of years.
Cognac & San Cristobal Revelation
Cigar lovers revere cognac for its sweet, buttery, and extravagant taste. Fine cognac is soft and savory and features notes of honey, candied fruit, caramel, citrus, and barrel oak. Top-shelf pours of Remy Martin Louis XIII and Hennessy Paradis command a hefty price in most establishments, but affordable editions like Hennessy V.S. and Martell V.S. provide an accessible introduction to this distinguished spirit. An optimal profile of peppery caramels, wood, nuts, and coffee beans emerges in San Cristobal Revelation when you want a great cigar to go with an after-dinner cognac. A well-aged Ecuador Sumatra wrapper conceals a luscious, complex blend of premium Nicaraguan long-fillers in a collection of popular sizes.
Port & Padron Family Reserve
Port is the ultimate dessert wine. It’s viscous and loaded with dense flavors of raspberry, blackberry, caramel, butterscotch, cocoa, and baking spices. Brands like Graham’s, Sandeman, and Fonseca produce flagship ports that are aged for two to three decades or longer. It takes a special cigar to keep up with a good port because it’s such a sweet and potent after-dinner drink. Padron Family Reserve delivers equally rich flavor with an all-Nicaraguan blend of tobaccos aged for ten-year minimums. Tasting notes of cocoa, cedar, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon layer the palate and exude impressive aromas before a complex finish resonates. Celebrate a special occasion with a vintage port and the 95-rated Padron Family Reserve.
