Perdomo 2 Natural and Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout

Perdomo 2

The CigarWrapper: Nicaragua Natural

Binder: Nicaragua

Filler: Nicaragua

Size: 5 x 50

My Strength Rating: 4.5

The cigar is not all that complex. It has a nice medium roast coffee profile along with some nice earthy notes and some mild spice. This would be a very good stick to smoke with a coffee – medium roast of course!

I have to say, I think it is a pleasant smoke. It is not anything to write home about but, then again you probably never write home. Let’s see how it serves up some taste with a stout.

The ale that I have selected is Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout. This ale is complex. The other day I sampled a bottle to see what this beer is all about. I was not sure what I thought; do I like it, do I not? So, tonight I am going to have one before dinner to establish what these flavors are all about. Then, I’ll do the pairing after dinner.

The ale like I said is complex – a candy like sweetness is quickly interrupted by some really nice roasted, almost burnt quality, malts. Then, just in a blink of the eye there is a sourness that is interrupted by a little bitterness and an earthiness or maybe a grainy coffee. The chocolate is hard to notice in the background because all that other stuff going on inside the mouth. Then, I start to think ‘sour’ – what was that – ‘sour’- was it sour lemon rinds or sour milk, I don’t think it was sour vinegar. After several sips I just came to the conclusion, whatever sour it is, I don’t like it in the ale. And as the ale warmed up I really didn’t like the sour note. But, I really liked those roasted malts and some of the sweetness. I think the hop bitterness was nice but, the hoppy lemon rind was a distraction for me in this ale. I just can’t call it sour milk taste because that sounds really unappealing. Double cream? I don't even know if it was there, too much going on with this beer. I would recommend trying this beer and drinking it slowly to get all the flavors that are going on.

When I paired this ale up with the Perdomo cigar I liked how the earthiness of the cigar managed the malts and the hops of this ale. The sweetness was not as intense and that sour note was managed a bit. I also liked how the bitterness was a little more pronounced and then the roasted malts were still solid. But, this gave me the opportunity to say, where is the cream! The creamy profile is on the front of the taste, right when it passed over my lips. And then, to me it is lost with all the intense flavors going on in the mouth. I would like this more if the creaminess had a chance to play a role in the mouthfeel.

This was the right cigar to pair with this very complex beer. The cigar is not complex and pretty straight forward with its earthy, medium coffee and light spice profile. Come to think of it I never noticed any of the light spice from the cigar, probably because of the complexity of the ale. I wonder what will happen when I pair this ale up with a stronger cigar with some solid coffee, chocolate and solid spice. Will it be taste bud overload or, will it be the matching that will maximize my pleasure?