Trinidad

I enjoyed tonight a Trinidad Fundadores from Habana Cuba. 





This cigar was top notch for sure. I find again and again that the Cuban cigars are really enjoyable, but can easily be matched by cigars from Honduras, Dominican Republic or Nicaragua. This one was different however. Running at about $20 a stick I assumed it would taste pretty amazing.


I was immediately surprised by the creaminess of this cigar. It enveloped my mouth and lasted the entire time. Quite a bit of chocolate, and good hints of coffee. Towards the nub of this cigar it began tasting a little more earthy but still kept the easy smoking feel.


Quite pleased with it and would love to buy more, if I can get my hands on them!

Time affects all

I was thinking, there are a lot of people who claim to not ever drink beer past it's prime, and decided to test the theory. 


I once had a man tell me that fresh hops made all the difference but doubted him to the extreme. This idea made no sense to me... but then I realized I was mistaking him. He meant the actual date on a beer... not the actual freshness of the hops used in the beer. He was also an asshole so I won't feel bad calling him the ultimate dipshit extreme. Naturally I put him in his place with a few facts and he never spoke to me again. Good thing I never really got to know him.


I have had fresh hop ales (meaning beers with freshly picked hops, not dried) and they were delicious but not a major difference from those that use pellets or dried whole leaf. However, it does make the beer seem a bit higher end.


I then went to test the theory this man had come to me with in such an ignorant and pompous manner. I tried a Sierra Nevada Torpedo soon after its bottling date and was hit right in the face with a copious amount of hops. So bitter I felt like I was sucking a lemon!


I then went and purchased a Torpedo that was close to its prime and tried it. The malty sweetness was so overwhelming that the hops barely came through. 




This is pretty common I discovered, which is why such beers as Barley Wines, Imperial Stouts and Scotch Ales age so well. They are so malty that time works well with them. Hops dissipate over time, and although that is not a bad thing... a nice hoppy beer sometimes just hits the spot.


So if you are planning on cellaring any beer, be sure to cellar something seriously high in malts.

Do not try and age a lager or pilsner, because the noxious gas resulting would be enough to knock out an elephant.

A Simple Questionnaire

Just wanted to throw a few questions to anyone reading my blog, so please if you have time answer these or suffer the consequences. Just kidding! No but really, do it or pay... please!


1) Would tabs to distinguish posts between Beer and Cigar posts improve the blog?


2) Which posts do you desire most:


     a) Quirky, just for fun, posts.
     b) Informational posts
     c) Reviews of Beers, Cigars, Locations etc.


3) Would you like to see more external links, to send you to check out some of the things I am talking about, in the posts?


4) Would you give me all your money?


and finally, if you can think of anything to improve the blog I would like to know it. Be brutal, and honest, and brutal because without criticism I will never improve it!


Thanks very little! I mean, a lot!...

Extreme Cigars (for your viewing pleasure)

Just came across these while web-surfing and thought I would share them. They are by far some of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen.

One of the "World's Largest Cigars" at the Pipe and Tobacco Museum in Brussels

The same cigar being rolled

Final result of Brussels cigar.

This cigar used 9,900 tobacco leaves and weighs 1,014 lbs. It is 21 feet long! Someone had too much time on their hands... 

Gran Habano's Gigante cigar in the making.. You can actually purchase this.

Attaching the Ringer.

Finished Cigar.

The tube in which the cigar is stored.

This crazy tobaccy stick is 19 feet long, 1600 lbs, and was used to protest smoking bans in the workplace. Psychotic.

Last but not least, feast your eyes on the world's longest cigar.

Kristoff Ligero Review

I went to an event at Cigar Cigar! in Sugar Land Town Center last week that was open to the public. It was a blast. Not many people were there all at once but the flow of bodies was steady. Kristoff was the cigar event of the evening and I purchased one of the Ligero's while enjoying free beer (Sam Adams) and live music.

The cigar was pretty damn tasty. Started off a medium body with a small amount of sweet cedar, but as the burn progressed I was overcome with tastes of leather and the cedar grew stronger until I was finished with the stick. Pretty amazing to find a cigar that evolves until the very end. 

The draw was fantastic and the cigar tightly wrapped, but toward the end I had trouble with tunneling, probably just from the fact that the cigars were laid out on a table for easy access and were a little off. 

One of the better cigars I have had, and I prefer medium-full bodied cigars.


"A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke."
Rudyard Kipling

The Taste Cycle

Throughout my many beers on the path to enlightenment, I have noticed a trend in my taste buds that are worth noting.

My first craft beer was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. This particular pale ale, is super hoppy and delicious. The hops are just perfectly balanced with the malts to give a good bitterness but not overwhelming enough to take away form the refreshing aspect.

Oddly enough this beer pairs very well with creamy chicken ramen, but that is getting off topic.

This started my hop craze, where I worked from the most basic pale ales to the craziest of imperial and double IPA's. At some point however, I noticed that I was enjoying these hoppy beers less and less, until I had stopped drinking them all together and had replaced them with super malty beers like stouts.

This phase lasted a few months when I just decided, "Hey I am just sick of these super malty beers". Word for word I imagine.

I then started drinking many light styles of beers, including lagers, pilsners, and oddly wheats. This, as the others had, lasted a few months and I started drinking the good old hoppy beers that started it all once again. I am now starting to crave heavy malty beers, so I am using my logical mind and saying that this is my taste cycle. 

I get tired of one style and go for another, oddly enough they follow a trend. Some people find that this lines up with the seasons. Hoppy beers in the spring, light beers in the summer, heavy beers in the winter and seasonal releases all other times. Not for me but it makes sense.

What is your beer cycle?