Pairing Cigars & Alcohol – Angostura & Peychaud’s
Cigars and alcohol. Two luxury products that go hand in hand, and sometimes even meet on business level. Aging tobacco in whisky, rum, or cognac barrels is a practice several brands do to achieve extra flavour to the wrapper for certain lines.
The famous bourbon brand Maker’s Mark has their own cigar, sold in tubes with the signature wax coating. Drew Estate works with Pappy van Winkle and used to make Kahlua cigars. Mombacho used to have the Diplomatico series but Mombacho no longer exists. General Cigars works with Sazerac, which resulted in Fireball cigars, Weller by Cohiba and collaborations with Buffalo Trace. And there is the Diesel Whisky Row, a collaboration with Rabbit Hole Distilleries. Fratello Cigars also sells craft beer.
Most famous are probably the Cuban collaboration between Martell Cognac and Cohiba. Dominique London, the European retailer with more than 20 shops in the UK, Belgium, Switzerland and the Canary Islands takes it one step further. They bought a distillery in Wales and produce whisky, gin, rum, vodka, cognac and liquors.
Bitters
As you may have noticed, every time I pair whisky with cigars and write about it, the article has the same structure. First, I try the whisky neat in a Glencairn glass. Then I try the same whisky in a rocks glass. I do this as the type of glass can make a world of difference. I was at a whisky tasting once, the whisky was amazing in a Glencairn glass but when my friends and I bought a bottle to consume on the spot, and poured it into rocks glasses, everybody was very underwhelmed. We asked for Glencairn glasses and suddenly enjoyed the whisky again.
But that’s not the inspiration for this article. After trying the whisky neat, I always make an Old Fashioned before moving on to a different cocktail for each article. The Old Fashioned is the baseline cocktail, and always made the same. With Angostura bitters, the most famous cocktail bitters in the world. But for another cocktail I needed orange bitters and cocoa bitters. I got some, and made an Old Fashioned with cocoa bitters. That was an eye opener. When a friend passed me a bottle of Peychaud’s, something I wanted but could not find, I was as happy as a child because that’s an ingredient used in Sazerac and according to the professionals cannot be substituted with Angostura.
This intrigued me, so I went for a hunt for different kinds of bitters, and now that I have about 20 different bitters it’s time for an experiment. I am going to dedicate a few written pieces to the Old Fashioned, but all with different bitters. To keep things fair, the four different Old Fashioned cocktails in this article are made with the same whisky: Stall Dhu Cgars Malt.
Angostura
The story of ANGOSTURA® aromatic bitters is a journey through time. It started in 1824, when founder Dr. Johann Siegert first produced aromatic bitters as a medicinal tincture designed to alleviate stomach ailments. In the 1870’s, Dr. Siegert’s three sons migrated to Trinidad, among them Don Carlos Siegert, who pioneered the brand, establishing ANGOSTURA® aromatic bitters as an integral ingredient in cocktails and in food. The rest, as they say, is history. ANGOSTURA® aromatic bitters is today a staple for bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts, professional and home cooks alike, bounded only by the creativity and imaginations of those who use it.
The Stalla Dhu CGars Malt Old Fashioned has the aroma of orange and caramel. Orange is not surprising as that small piece of orange peel is always overpowering the aroma of the spirit. There is no alcohol noticeable in the aroma. The alcohol is noticeable in the drink though. The cocktail is sweet and creamy with an orange flavour and a slight bitterness. The alcohol burns a little. The aftertaste is almost minty. This version of the old fashioned is beautifully balanced. This cocktail will be very nice with a medium bodied cigar with a nutty, woody or even chocolate flavour profile will be a perfect pairing. Something like the Rocky Patel ALR second edition, CAO Sessions or a Cuban Sancho Panza.
and now for the Old-Fashioned recipe:
1 sugar cube
3 dashes of bitters
2 oz or 60 ml of Whisky
orange peel
Put the sugar cube in a highball glass, add the dashes of bitters and a splash of water. Muddle the sugar cube. Add ice and the whisky. Stir for 10 seconds, then add an orange peel.
Angostura Orange
ANGOSTURA® orange bitters is the second offering available in the range, introduced in 2007. Made from its own special recipe, ANGOSTURA® orange bitters is a complex blend of tropical oranges and spices. ANGOSTURA® orange bitters is the soul of an exceptional dry martini. It is a versatile bitters that works incredibly well with vodka, gin and whisky, and adds real depth of flavour to rum cocktails. Its complexity and layers of flavours also makes it a culinary must-have ingredient. World renowned chefs have found that it works particularly well in savoury sauces; it complements seafood dishes and marries well with chocolate.
Normally an Old Fashioned already has a lot of orange in the nose, and if you swap the aromatic bitters for orange bitters, that only enhances the orange aroma. The cocktail is sweet, sweetness from honey and ripe oranges, with a creamy mouthfeel and a fresh orange citrus finish. The warm characteristics of the whisky remain standing. Just swapping three dashes of aromatic bitters with orange bitters makes a world of a difference. The bitterness is less and the cocktail has a much stronger ‘warm weather feel’ to it. I would pair this with a creamy, medium bodied cigar. A thicker vitola Connecticut Shade cigar such as the Casa Magna Connecticut or My Father Connecticut in robusto or bigger.
And now for the Old-Fashioned recipe:
1 sugar cube
3 dashes of bitters
2 oz or 60 ml of whisky
orange peel
Put the sugar cube in a highball glass, add the dashes of bitters and a splash of water. Muddle the sugar cube. Add ice and the whisky. Stir for 10 seconds, then add an orange peel.
Angostura Cocoa
Few flavours delight one’s palate in a way that leaves you wanting more. None more so than the rich taste of cocoa! ANGOSTURA®, celebrated worldwide for its rich history in creating aromatic and orange bitters, has expanded its renowned collection to include ANGOSTURA® cocoa bitters. This cocoa bitter was introduced in 2020
ANGOSTURA® only uses the world’s finest, the Trinitario cocoa from Trinidad and Tobago. This paired with 200 years of unparalleled bitters expertise have resulted in this truly decadent, indulgent new flavour. Top notes of rich bitter, floral, nutty cocoa with a bold infusion of aromatic botanicals provide endless possibilities to remix classic cocktails. Trinidad and Tobago is one of the few countries designated as a 100% fine or flavour cocoa producer. A status it has held for decades.
The nose is mostly orange, but there is a slight cocoa undertone. You can’t say the same for the cocktail, the cocoa flavour is quite strong and I’ll tell you a secret: if my wife wants a cocktail and I am not in the mood to shake an elaborate concoction, I make her a simple Old Fashioned with cocoa bitters. She’s not the biggest fan of the Old Fashioned, but with cocoa bitters it’s a different story. The citrus of the whisky with the sweet honey notes shine through though, with the dark chocolate bitterness on the back of the palate in the long and lingering finish. Pair this with a dark, sweet chocolaty maduro cigar and you will match the flavours perfectly. Take a 601 from Espinosa, a Padron 1928 Maduro or a Cohiba Maduro for example and you’ll be in chocolate heaven.
And now for the Old-Fashioned recipe:
1 sugar cube
3 dashes of bitters
2 oz or 60 ml of whisky
orange peel
Put the sugar cube in a highball glass, add the dashes of bitters and a splash of water. Muddle the sugar cube. Add ice and the whisky. Stir for 10 seconds, then add an orange peel.
Peychaud’s
Peychaud’s Bitters is a bitters distributed by the American Sazerac Company. It was originally created between 1849 and 1857 by Antoine Amédée Peychaud, a Creole apothecary from the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) who traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana, around 1793. It is a gentian-based bitters, comparable to Angostura bitters, but with a predominant anise aroma combined with a background of mint. Peychaud’s Bitters is the definitive component of the Sazerac cocktail. It is currently produced at the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky.
The nose shows the aniseed of the Peychaud’s bitters combined with the orange from the peel. This is the version of the Old Fashioned with this whisky and these bitters that feels the strongest. The creole bitters definitely offer something else than any of the Angostura, not better or worse, just different. Stronger, fresh and minty aniseed aftertaste. Yet, because the alcohol feels stronger, I would pair this with a full bodied cigar, something peppery would be nice so then I quickly think of My Father Cigars or A.J. Fernandez,
And now for the Old-Fashioned recipe:
1 sugar cube
3 dashes of bitters
2 oz or 60 ml of whisky
orange peel
Put the sugar cube in a highball glass, add the dashes of bitters and a splash of water. Muddle the sugar cube. Add ice and the whisky. Stir for 10 seconds, then add an orange peel.
Inspector X
