One of the downsides of being where I am, at the end of the world, is the difficulty in finding days with calm winds, to enjoy a proper cigar. This being the case, I had to convince myself to set aside the long cigars and replace them with short ones that could be paired with a simple, calory-rich cocktail fit for this climate.
One of my most used cocktails is the Espresso Martini with Rum, but for this pairing I wanted to add another touch to bring it more in line with the coffee houses in the area, resulting in a Latte Martini with Rum.
For this cocktail I selected Ron Panamá 15 Años, Reserva Especial. It was a new bottle, so I had to try it neat first. The aroma is clean, with typical notes of caramel and old oak. Once on the palate, it reveals leather and wood, but then the alcohol notes take over with a marked sweetness. I would have liked to taste the 15 years of age a bit more, but I’m not going to judge it in this pairing.
The recipe is as follows, adhering to the original cocktail’s proportions. I used a 3 oz. Martini glass.
1 oz. Ron Panamá 15 Años
1 oz. Coffee Liqueur
1 oz. Espresso
1 dash of Sweetened Condensed Milk
Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with a couple of large ice cubes and shake and then strain and serve in the glass. Make sure your Martini glass is already chilled, otherwise the cocktail will warm up too quickly, since we are straining the ice.
Originally, I wanted to choose a different cigar, but the rain kept sabotaging me. Consequently, I selected a Purito from the Dominican Republic, with very dark Kentucky leaves, with rich leather and coffee notes, which are ideal for the cocktail. The tobacco even has a residual sweetness on the lips, that combines beautifully with the Latte, making it a great pairing right from the start.
I must admit that the smoothness from the sweetened condensed milk in the cocktail is excellent. The sweetness needs to be something that reminds you of brown sugar, almost a liquid dessert. It was just a dribble, anything more than that would make the cocktail too sweet and would throw off the pairing.
It is also OK for the cocktail to be a bit sweet, but there is a fine line between sweet enough and oversweet.
These short pairings, almost become “shot” pairings, due to the briefness of the time and the reduced serving volume, but they are satisfying. Coffee and cigar lovers also find their sweetness hard to resist, it is a heavenly marriage.
If you are recreating this pairing in a warmer climate, you could easily double up the recipe and prepare the cocktail in a blender with ice, as a Frappé, it will undoubtedly be good in the summer.
I hope that readers everywhere can recreate the pairing, adjusting it to their climate, so that they can enjoy it fully during the day.
Philip Ili Barake
#GRCigarPairing
