Pairing Cigars & Alcohol – Yamazaki 12
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 and liquors.
Yamazaki 12
Yamazaki distillery is a Japanese whisky distillery located in Shimamoto, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Opened in 1923, and owned by Suntory, it was Japan’s first commercial whisky distillery. Seven thousand bottles of unblended malt whisky are on display in its “Whisky Library”. The company founder and chairman of Kotobukiya (the predecessor company of Suntory) wanted to produce a serious whisky and therefore hired Taketsuru Masataka, whom he appointed factory director of the Yamazaki distillery in 1924. This descendant of a sake brewing family from the 17th century was in Scotland in 1918. He travelled to study at Glasgow University and learned how to make Scotch whisky on site. He married a Scottish girl, Jessie Roberta “Rita” Cowan († 1961), who went to Japan with him in 1920. Under Taketsuru the production of the first whisky was completed in 1929, which was sold as shirofuda (English white label). Due to differences with Torii, Taketsuru left the company in 1934 and founded the Dai-Nippon Kaju KK company, later called Nikka Whisky Distilling, in Hokkaidō in the same year.
There are three primary variants of Yamazaki whisky:
Yamazaki Single Malt 12-Year-Old whisky
Yamazaki Single Malt 18-Year-Old whisky
Yamazaki Single Malt 25-Year-Old whisky
There are also other offerings outside of the US such as the 10-, 25-, 35- and 50-year-old whiskies. Some offerings are dated vintages such as 1980, 1984, 1993, and there are also Puncheon and sherry offerings.
Neat
In a Glencairn the nose is very pleasant. There is not a lot of ethanol, but instead there is a nice nutty and citrus nose, with floral notes. There’s also some tropical fruit in the nose. There is a slight burn with a very mild smoky and peaty note, with winter spice, citrus and tropical notes. The finish is not too long, but also not short, with a fruity and fresh taste. This will pair well with a cigar with some woody flavours, medium bodied not to overpower the whisky.
In a rocks glass, the nose has more punch and more ethanol yet all the aromas of the whisky in the Glencairn glass are still there. The flavour seems to have more of a nutty taste to it, and the smoke and peat is completely gone. The winter spice and tropical notes are still there. This can be nice with a slightly stronger and peppery cigar, but also with a woody cigar.
Old Fashioned
The nose is all orange as usual with an Old Fashioned. The cocktail is nice, warming, slightly bitter because of the Angostura with some added sweetness. The notes of the whisky shines through still and the combination makes this a great Old Fashioned to pair with a medium to full bodied cigar. The flavour profile doesn’t really ask for a specific flavour profile for a cigar. Any will do.
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.
Autumn Delight
Autumn, for our American readers, it’s the season you call ‘fall’ and it’s the season for abundant apples. So the name of this drink makes sense looking at the recipe. The nose is a beautiful blend of the cinnamon with the apple, with a hint of the whisky.
The winter spice of the whisky goes fantastically with the cinnamon, while the citrus and fruit flavours of the Yamazaki 12 pair well with the apple cider. Due to the 4 ounces of apple cider, this is not a strong, boozy cocktail at all. I would not call this my favourite cocktail though and it will be hard to find a perfect cigar match for this. I would not go for anything over medium, nothing really outspoken. Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure for example, Joya de Nicaragua Classico, that kind of work, good cigars but not outspoken.
And now for the Autumn recipe:
2 ounces or 60ml of Japanese whisky
4 ounces or 120ml of Apple cider
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Garnish: 2 slices of apple and a cinnamon stick
Add the whisky and apple cider in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Dust with the fresh cinnamon and garnish with the cinnamon stick and two apple slices.
Inspector X
