Cigar & Rum Pairing
“Cola de Mono”
(Monkey Tail)
End of year pairings are always a challenge, especially after looking at all the pairings throughout the year, the last one tends to be the most memorable or special, even though it may not necessarily be the best. For this occasion I decided to prepare a typical cocktail we consume during this season, it is commonly sold at grocery stores and supermarkets, but we’re going to make it from scratch, with a personal touch.
If you search the internet, you’ll find many different ways to prepare the Monkey Tail. The basic recipe calls for Aguardiente de Vino (grape wine distillate), but we’ll prepare ours with a touch of rum, which I believe works better.
These are the ingredients:
- 500 mL Aguardiente de Vino. These are usually sold at 50% ABV, but if you can’t find it, substitute with overproof rum
- 250 mL White Rum
- 3 American Coffees (200 mL each coffee)
- 1 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk (200 mL)
- 1 can of Evaporated Milk (375 mL)
- 1 Tbsp. Cacao (ideally bitter)
- 500 mL Milk
- 2 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract
- Ground Cinnamon
- Aged Rum (ideally a very sweet one)
You’ll also need a large mixing bowl and a colander/sieve.
We’ll start by heating up the aguardiente, remember that you can replace it with overproof rum. The goal is to evaporate only the most volatile/aggressive alcohols. After heating it up for a couple of minutes, pour in the white rum, along with the evaporated, sweetened condensed milk and the remaining ingredients, except for the aged rum. You’ll need to stir the mix constantly until it reaches boiling point, continuing to stir for 3 minutes, then remove from the heat and let the mixture cool down while constantly stirring (to avoid the formation of the custard layer, from the milk products). Once the mixture has cooled down, add the aged rum, remember to use a sweetened one. By adding this rum last, after cooling down the mixture, the alcohol from the aged rum will not evaporate, retaining its intensity.
As a last step, most people filter/strain the mixture into bottles, which can then be kept refrigerated. In my case, I did not strain the mixture because I wanted to retain all the flavors.
Once I finished preparing the Cola de Mono, it was time to decide which cigar to pair it with. In my humidor I found a Motecristo Open, it was an Eagle (54 x 150mm). The Open line can be easily identified by the second cigar band, with a very distinctive green color. These cigars are made with a larger proportion of Volado leaves, which allow the cigar to burn more easily, preventing them from going out when being smoked while playing golf. The concept makes sense to me, even though I don’t recall seeing many golf courses in Cuba.
Consume your Cola de Mono chilled and served on the rocks. While the pairing is far from a traditional one, it is easy to find agreeable flavor combinations. The cigar delivers all the classic Cuban tobacco notes, including barnyard and leather, while the drink enhances those notes with the coffee, cacao and distinctive aroma of clove. The consistency is not the best, but all the flavors offer a well-balanced experience.I hope that you can make this pairing at home, feel free to adjust the recipe to your liking, giving it your own personal touch. It is a great way to end 2023 and to start 2024.
Cheers!
Philip Ili Barake
#GRCigarPairing
