Cuban Cigars and Fine Spirits: Go for the Right Combination

Smoking cigars and consuming alcoholic beverages are pleasures that are inexplicably interconnected. Some cigar smokers would like to keep the two distinctly compartmentalized. Others with a creative bend of mind would prefer to have the right liquor to give the right stimulus for smoking a Cuban cigar. Yet others would like to finish off a cigar and then go in for a drink.

For an individual whether to have cigars and liquor is a choice of taste. But that is not so if you were organizing a party in which case you have got to be sensitive to the needs of your guests especially if you had guests who were non-smokers. In any case a Cuban cigar goes well with alcoholic beverages whether it is for the individual or in a party scenario.

Let’s start with liquors. Smoking Cuban cigars with just plain fine malt whisky is appealing. That’s a good combo. So is fine scotch. Especially if it is single malt scotch it would be great with a Cuban Cigar. But if you are a stickler for coffee flavored liquor go ahead and use it with a Cuban Cigar. It’s also a good combination.

What about beers? Don’t go for weak tasting light-colored beers. They don’t go well with Cuban Cigars. Try beers which are dark and taste strong. They have what it takes to strike the right balance with a Cuban Cigar. Many have found that stouts and ales go well along with Cuban Cigars. Stouts are the strongest of beers you could get and there are variants including dry stout and imperial stout. All of them go well with a Cuban cigar. As an example try the combo of chocolate stout with a chocolatey puro cigar. In general go for good quality beer that gels with cigars. For example it doesn’t make sense to override the taste of a Cuban Cigar with a bottle of Bud (American lager beer). On the contrary try a Guinness which is an Irish stout. That might go well with a Cuban cigar.

What about mixed drinks or cocktail? Try White Russian (it’s a cocktail of vodka, coffee liquor and crème). It works well with Cuban liquor. Or try Mudslide which is a cocktail of vodka, coffee flavored liquor and Irish crème flavored liquor. Want to try still more exotic stuff? Then go in for Stinger with Cuban brandy. Stinger is a cocktail of one part of crème de menthe with two parts of brandy.

What about good old wines? Do they go well with Cuban cigars ? Not all of them. Avoid sweet wines and ultra bitter wines. Both leave a compelling strong taste and don’t leave room for the taste of your Cuban cigar to show itself. Also avoid ultra subtle wines. Why? They don’t stand out against the taste of your Cuban Cigar. Meaning they are neither assertive nor subtle. The best is obviously red wines or port for example. Go in for Spanish and Italian red table wines as also Pinot Noirs and red zinfandelis. These wines do not have extreme taste. On the contrary they have strong tastes and sort of works complimentary to the taste of your Cuban cigar. When you choose a wine remember to choose a wine that does not have such a strong taste that it dominates the taste of your cigar. The finer the wine is, the better the mix, and as a corollary, good wine goes well with cigars. There are some things common with both cigars and wine. Both need to be aged and both are bitter. You got to enjoy your cigar and wine alike. Enjoy it. Savor it. But don’t rush through your cigar.

Extremely sweet and bitter wines do not get with Cuban Cigars. So what happens? The taste of the cigar is so compelling that it dwarfs the taste of the wine. Writer Tad Gage is a cigar expert and wines like Red Zinfandels, Pinot Noirs and Italian and Spanish wines do have his imprimatur. White wines do not get with Cuban cigars although a neutral and placid tasting white wine would just about pass by with a Cuban cigar.

Both wine and Cuban cigars benefit from the process of aging and in that respect they are similar. The older they are the better it gets to be. Both have to be consumed leisurely and not rushed into. You certainly don’t take wine in a gulp nor do you puff a Cuban Cigar at one go.

It is better to remember that usually only high grade alcoholic drinks or well aged wines should be taken with strong tasting cigars. On the contrary the lighter cigars always go well with lighter spirits. Go light on hard liquors because otherwise you cannot be sober enough to enjoy the pleasures of smoking a Cuban cigar.