Cigar and Beer Pairing - The Point System

I have read the articles on Matching Cigars and Beverage stuff just like you have. I have seen it where someone says, “Match up the color of your cigar with the color of your drink.” Really! Or, light colored cigars are mild so drink mild drinks and dark cigars are strong so drink strong drinks. Wow, this is way too generalized and misinformed. I have had Natural colored shade wrapped cigars that have been medium-full in body. And, I have had dark cigars that tasted like air. This is no help at all.

Some articles give you a few ideas but, not enough. I even read one where some guy from a ‘cigar’ magazine said, you can’t mathematically match up your pairings so, don’t do it. Okay, so don’t think about it, light up that Cain Maduro cigar and grab yourself a hopped up IPA and you will find out what a taste collision is all about.

I am going to present a point system that will ‘help’ you to start matching your cigar to a quality beer. Is it fool proof? No. But, we get to examine our flavor profiles, in beer and cigar, in a more objective way. We will find out what works and what does not work, according to our own personal taste buds, and this should help to minimize that collision in taste. And at another time, we will look into those contrasting matching’s (Mild paired up to a Full) that work and at some that don’t.

I will use a Zero to Ten scale to rate my strength of each product. Zero being ‘very mild’ and ten being very strong.

Zero-0.5: Very Mild, Ultra Mild
1 - 2: Mild
2.5 – 4: Mild to Medium
4.5 - 5.5: Medium
6 – 7.5: Medium to Full
8 – 9: Full 9.5 - Ten: Very Full – Have food and drink ready.

This is the scale I use to describe the overall experience of each of these products (taste & mouthfeel).

Adjust the scale to your perception. Start charting your taste on different cigars. Rate them from zero to ten. For example, for me a Don Lino natural would score a zero for very mild. A Camacho, in general, I would score around a 9. I would do the same for the beer as well, a zero for a domestic beer especially ‘light’ beers and then a 9 or 10 for IPA's and sour beers.

Once charted, I would know my taste number and I would go two numbers in either direction for matching. Now, I am ready to pair my beer with a cigar to match.

If my beer is a 4 on this scale I want my cigar to be within two points from this tasting. This gives me a range from a two (mild) to a 6 (medium). The beer flavor will not be lost in this range. Whereas, if I chose a cigar with an 8 score (fuller), it would over-power the beer and the flavor would not be maximized. So, if I was smoking a cigar that was an 8, I would select a beer that would be a 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10.

Let’s take a look. The Wittekerke Belgian Wheat Ale: I would score as a 4, on the mild side of medium, very pleasant tasting wheat ale that would be wonderful on a very hot day indeed. Also, I do not get any strong spicy flavors from this beer, just pure wheat beer pleasure. So, I do not want too strong of a cigar where it overwhelms the beverage or a too mild of a cigar where I lose the smoking pleasure. A nice balanced Cameroon cigar or a Connecticut wrapped cigar would do. The other day I enjoyed my Wittekerke with a Leon Jimenes Cameroon 300 (5 rating) and it was magical.

The Bieken Honey Ale I rated a 4 on my strength scale. The Bieken is an 8.5% abv Belgian beer with a nice mild to medium body flavor. The Excalibur #1 cigar offers you a sweet, woody and wheat bread toasty flavor. I also rate this cigar a 4. The Connecticut shade leaves used on the wrapper and binder gives you a nice mild-medium smoke. The long fillers of Nicaraguan, Dominican and Honduran tobaccos give the Excalibur that classic tobacco taste that I always enjoy. This cigar has been one of my favorites for the last 15 years. Because, of the nice soft undertones, this cigar has the range to go with many foods and beverages. This was a super pairing! I am reserving a spot in my summer time to sit back and enjoy these two again. The point system worked here. So, before you crack open a bottle of quality beer and strike up a $10 stogie – think first – what is the mouthfeel of each (medium or medium-full or full) and how do they compare.

The objective is to maximize your pleasure.