The Ale
Sierra Nevada Hoptimum
‘Whole-Cone Imperial IPA’
2012
10.4% abv
Appearance: rich amber
Nose: floral, grassy, sweet-bitter citrus
Flavors: tasty hops: floral, grass, citrus meat, and underlying
sweet malts.
Mouthfeel: low-fine carbonation, oily feel, little wool like
on the finish, citrus bitter notes play on the palate for a long lingering
session.
My Strength Rating: 7
To the Point: a very tasty IPA, on the bitter side but, it
does have some underlying sweet tones.
If you like IPA’s give this a try.
The Cigar
La Aurora Preferidos #2 Maduro
Wrapper: Brazilian Maduro
Binder: Dominican
Fillers: Dominican, Cameroon, Brazil
Size: 5 x 54 Perfecto
My Strength Rating: 4 – mild-medium
Flavor Profile: light forest floor with a focus on dry
leafs. there is also a dry wheat toast and
mild coffee.
There is a firm and tight gray ash and the burn is good so
far.
The mouthfeel is relatively smooth yet dry on the palate –
one might call it smooth leather. I
never found these to be complex in any way.
It seems to be a rather stylish smoke.
The body weight is not overpowering and the look of the cigar has – well
– let’s call it – style. This cigar
would pair well with a Pinot Noir, Baco Noir or maybe even a Merlot. It could even be paired with a fuller bodied
white. For beers – I could see Nut
Browns, Brown Ales, or a Belgian Dubbel.
As for an IPA – I think the mouthfeel may be too dry to pair with
that.
The Pairing
And, with that last sentence above I had to go and pair this
cigar with Sierra Nevada’s Hoptimum. My
ruling: it works. I enjoyed these two
together. The Hoptimum had enough malty
undertones to pull this off. The cigar
worked with this IPA because it does not have any spice on the flavor notes and
the main profile is earthy.
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