Memoirs of a Cigar

I went grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s earlier today, and while they only have a small selection of Belgian Ale’s, they do have Chimay, Duvel and some Fruit Flavored Lambic Ale’s. I picked up 2 bottles of Chimay Grand Reserve aka Chimay Blue, and can you imagine my excitement when I saw a Chimay Belgian Cheese in the cheese isle? I almost fainted! Not really, but it did bring a smile to my face.

Back at home I broke out the Chimay Cheese and Beer, along with a cigar I have been aging for a few years, the Hoyo De Monterrey Double Corona.

I first picked up a box of these Hoyo De Monterrey’s close to two years ago. They had a box code of OCT 2008. At that time they were overly powerfull, bitter and wood tasting, so I laid them down to rest for a while. Boy am I glad I did! They have now blossomed into an amazing 94 point smoke that is smooth and elegant. You can taste the subtle nuances of nougat, the sweetness of toffee, and the creaminess of a cafe au lait. All these flavors are engulfed in that magical aged cuban ‘Je Ne Sais Quoi’. The Hoyo De Monterrey Double Corona slowly, and smoothly, increases in strength, becoming more leathery and cedar wood tasting in the process. By about the half way point the leather and wood move to the forefront, but the cigar retains it’s sweet and savory qualities.

The 2008 Hoyo De Monterrey Double Corona; an Amazing, Fantastical, Mesmorizing and Magical Cigar…the kind that Memoirs are made of.

Wednesday I came home, took the dogs out on the grass, popped a Belgian and clipped a Torpedo. The Moinette Blonde is one of the best Belgian Beers I have ever had, and so I needed an excellent cigar for pairing. The 95 point Rocky Patel Decade Torpedo was the answer.

Moinette Blonde is made by Brasserie Dupont in Belgium, which has been operating since the 1950′s. It’s most well know in the states for it’s Saison Dupont, but it’s long time standout is the Moinette Blonde. A hazy golden beer that provides a spicy flavor and smacks your lips with hops as you take your first sip. Your mouth then fills with the flavors of citrus and papaya fruit. The palatte is then quenched, and followed with a funky yeast or bread like taste. The Moinette Blonde is a very refreshing and satisfying beer. It satisfies like a full meal, and at 8.5 percent, it carries a significant buzz as well. 98 points!

The Rocky Patel Decade Torpedo is made in Honduras with an Ecuadoran Sumatra wrapper and a secret blend of Nicaraguan tobacco for the binder and filler. It was rated 95 points by Cigar Aficionado, which is basically unheard of for a freshly produced cigar. Most great cigars need a few years of aging to reach 95 points, and many good cigars never reach the classic 95 point mark. The Decade is an amazing smoke, full of rich flavor that is balanced and smooth. In fact it’s so smooth, it almost fools you into believing this full bodied cigar is medium in body. It produces flavors of black pepper and leather, rich chocolate and nuts, aged tobacco and cream, and even a hint of black cherry. Truely an outstanding cigar. 95 points!

The Moinette Blonde and the Rocky Patel Decade Torpedo are 2 of the best Beers and Cigars you will ever smoke. The Moinette Blonde retails for around $10 in the states, or around $5 in Belgium. The Rocky Patel Decade Torpedo retails for around $15 in CA, or $10 in FL (where there is no Cigar Tax). I honestly don’t know of another 95 point cigar that is this affordable. For a little over $20 dollars you can have your own amazing Wednesday too! But a word of caution, you might quickly find yourself hooked on the good life, as I am.

As I returned home from work this evening, I threw together a little International Sampler Platter consisting of a Belgian Beer, Cuban Cigar and Danish Cheese. Some might consider indulging in such fine delicacies on a typical Tuesday night to be overzealous at best, or pompous at worst, but I have concluded that each day on this earth is something special, and each day deserves a celebration of life.

The Belgian Beer I am trying today comes from one of the worlds seven authentic Trappist breweries. Orval Abbey is a Cistercian monastery founded in 1132 in the Gaume region of Belgium. In fact, the site has been occupied since the Merovingian period, with recorded proof of beer consumption going back to 1628. The Orval Trappist Ale was created in 1931 and is considered “The Queen Of Trappist Ale’s”. It has a fruit filled aroma, a leather texture, hop bitterness and a long dry finish.

Rumor has it that in 1076 AD, Countess Mathilda of Tuscany was visiting the site and dropped her wedding ring in a spring. She then prayed for the rings return, when a trout appeared with the ring in it’s mouth. The logo for Orval Trappist Ale pays tribute to this legend, as you can see below.

The Partagas Serie P No.2 Torpedo is the big brother to the Partagas Serie D No.4. They are essentially identical in flavor, but the No.2 looks a little more mature with it’s torpedo tip, and lasts a little bit longer with the extra length. The length and torpedo tip actually combine to give you much more time to seperate the wonderful flavors (herbs, spice, sweet wood, esspresso and Coca-Cola?) whereas in the No.2 the flavors seem to be mixed at random throughout. You can read my full flavor comparison of the 2 cigars here:

http://www.memoirsofacigar.com/2010/03/05/partagas-serie-p-no-2-vs-partagas-serie-d-no-4/

Rumor has it that the Partagas Serie P No.2 is the favorite cigar of Bill Gates, although I suspect that’s just a rumor. Regardless it’s not hard to imagine that a cigar such as this, with such class an elegance, would be the top choice for many of Silicon Valley’s C-Level Executives.