Eight to Ten Years Shift

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                                Eight to Ten Years Shift

For this month’s pairing I arranged for Bacardi friends to come over.  I’m referring to Nicolás Gallegos and Juan Bautista, both of whom are Bacardi brand ambassadors for their rum portfolio here in Chile.  We agreed that they would supply the rums and I would supply the cigars, basically we wanted to recreate a typical gathering of friends over the weekend.  The plan was to create simple pairings, with only a touch of complexity, yet easy for readers to recreate from their own homes.

For the first cocktail we created a Rum Old Fashioned using Bacardi 10 Year Old, with a coffee variant proposed by Nicolás.  The variant consisted of infusing the ice cubes with the coffee, for approximately one minute, in order to get a well-defined coffee flavor in the cocktail.  The recipe is as follows:

  • 50 mL (1.7 Oz.) Bacardi 10 Year Old
  • 15 mL (1/2 Oz.) Espresso Coffee
  • 7.5 mL (1/4 Oz.) Brown Sugar Simple Syrup
  • Orange Peel for garnish

As I mentioned earlier, it is very important to refresh the ice with the coffee, in order to have just the right amount of flavor for an elegant cocktail.  To accomplish this, we asked Elisa Reyes, one of the bartenders who works at Red Frog (my bar), to follow the recipe exactly.  When you recreate it at home, you start with a large glass, fill it up with ice cubes and then pour in the espresso coffee.  Stir the ice with a long spoon, covering the ice with the coffee, for 40 seconds or so, then drain all the liquid from the glass, keeping the coffee-flavored ice cubes.  Add the simple syrup and the rum and stir again with a spoon, making sure to have a homogeneous mix.  Transfer the liquid to a serving glass, which can be a rocks glass or any other short glass and garnish it with the orange peel.

As soon as we had our cocktails ready we proceeded with the lighting of the cigars.  

For this pairing I chose the Bolivar Belicoso Finos (52 x 140mm) from Cuba, also known as “Campanas” at the factory (“Galera”).  It is a cigar brand with a full body, but keep in mind that I’ve kept them in my humidor for 10 years, which should result in a reduction of intensity.  This aging, it turns out, was the key to the fusion between the excellent combination of tobacco leaves, excellently-aged, and the subtle notes of the cocktail made with Bacardi 10 Year Old Rum.  Selecting the correct rum for this pairing is not easy, as the rum goes well with the first third (the least aggressive part) of the cigar only, since the cigar will only increase in temperature and complexity afterwards.It is hard to describe a “correct” pairing, since the experiences are always subjective, and they always depend on the individual preferences of those involved.  Having said this, I will say that during the first third of the cigar we had a “correct” pairing, almost an excellent one.  We all enjoyed the subtle coffee notes and the balance of the finish.  Refreshing the ice cubes with the coffee was a new technique for me and it is one that we’ll be incorporating into our cocktail menu for our Winter Cocktail Selection.

As we approached the second third of the cigar, the increase in intensity was evident, which we know will happen with almost all the cigars.  For this pairing you should ideally select one with a medium to full body.  At this point we were ready for the second cocktail, and it was Nicolás’ turn to give the instructions for the Espresso Negrocho, here is the recipe:

  • 30 mL (1 Oz.) Bacardi 8 Años
  • 30 mL (1 Oz.) Martini Rosso
  • 30 mL (1 Oz.) Martini Bitter
  • 15 mL (1/2 Oz.) Espresso Coffee
  • A couple of dashes of Angostura Bitters, ideally Orange Bitters

Place all ingredients in a large shaker or a large glass.  Stir the ingredients until combined, then taste it for balance.  It is always a good idea to taste and make small corrections along the way, until you have a truly customized cocktail based on your preference.  You can adjust the proportions of the ingredients to make the cocktail drier or sweeter.

A word of advice: based on the cigar we chose and the one you will choose for your own pairing, it is very possible that a sweeter cocktail will be better suited than a dryer one, since the intensity of the cigar will be on the rise, changing the pH of our saliva.  The sweeter cocktail will be a welcomed “palate cleanser” that will leave pleasant notes behind.

The cocktail is basically a Rum Negroni but personalized to make it more agreeable.  It is possible that changing the Martini Bitter for Campari results in a cocktail that is more bitter, but this is where personal preferences come into play.  For me, the bitters we used are very enjoyable, I even feel it sweeter and, as I explained earlier, the sweeter elements go well with the most aggressive part of the cigar.I’ve described the substitutions you can make when recreating this pairing at home.  Hopefully you can follow the recipe word for word.  The first cocktail is truly marvelous, with a touch of coffee.  If you don’t have a Campana de Bolivar, simply replace the cigar with another one with medium to full body, 50 ring or larger and with a length that will give you more than 30 minutes of smoking time.  You will have an excellent pairing!

Cheers!

Philip Ili Barake

#GRCigarPairing