“SMOKE THE CHOOCH!”
—Frank Minutillo, The Great Lakes Smoke Show
What Makes It Special
When the Great Lakes Smoke Show “Chooches” (Ronnie Pecorini, Kyle Jesso, Frank Minutillo, Bob Pecorini) & Co-Host Jerah Hutchins, recommend and send a cigar to review…you “smoke the chooch!!” Three of these big boys arrived at my door on a “happy afternoon”, from Florida, the home of the cigar’s Florida Sun Grown (FSG) tobacco. FSG tobacco is “humbly grown one harvest at a time”, from heirloom seeds, in the Florida sun and fertile soil, and then air-cured.
The cigar is named after the Clarmont, Florida 20 acre plot of land, owned by Corona Cigar Company founder Jeff Borysiewicz, who used the land to revive the state’s tobacco growing heritage. It has an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade Grown wrapper over a Sun Grown Habano binder from Honduras. The filler consists of a blend of Borysiewicz’s FSG and Nicaraguan tobaccos from Esteli and Jalapa. The cigars are blended by Master Blender Willy Herrara and handmade at the La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate in Esteli, Nicaragua.
20 Acre Farm FSG
Brand: Drew Estate
Vitola: Gordito 6×60
Filler: Nicaragua / U.S.A. Florida Sun Grown
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Shade Grown Connecticut
Binder: Honduras Habano
Body: Medium Boldness
Price: $15
Visual / Pre-light Draw
The Ecuadorian Connecticut golden-blond wrapper appears a little darker than the U.S. Connecticut Shade. This may be due to the constant Ecuadorian cloud cover and volcanic soil versus the tenting used in the U.S. The individual cigars are secured in nice cedar sleeves, with a fancy red ribbon at their foot, to help contain their flavor. The minimalist red, white, and gold oval shaped traditional style band is accessible for easy removal, and displays a large “20” superimposed over a smaller “Acre Farm”. The cigar is firm with a slight softness to it, it has a nice oily feel, strong looking veins, and appears to be packed well. The gauge size is of course large and in charge. The Colibri V-cut dry draw produced big raisin notes, followed by nice creamy hints of fresh hay and oats. Overall, the dry draw was very creamy and fruity.
First Third
Ecuador Connecticut tends to be sweeter right off the stalk than the American grown Connecticut Shade, and that sweetness definitely dominates this cigar. Along with honey sweetness, comes big creamy and cedar wood notes on the palate. The medium body cigar’s draw is smooth and easy with tons of sweet smoke input. The cigar burns evenly and fills the room with tons of foot smoke output as well. I put this big boy down for a few minutes during conversation and it stayed lit no problem!
Second Third
There are some nice deep vanilla oak notes coming in. There is also a nice white pepper spice that transitions into nutmeg spice on the retrohale. The now citrus sweetness of the cigar’s Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper continues to dominate, along with some earthy sandlike flavors on the palate, reminiscent of Florida’s beautiful beaches. The cigar continues to pull tons of flavorful smoke input and output, and gives off tons of foot smoke, even while resting on the edge of the ashtray. The ash holds the big shape of this Gordito nicely and then falls off with dignity approaching the final third.
Final Third
Make sure you have plenty of time to enjoy this slow burning Gordito! The cigar burns slowly and really relaxes the smoker, there is no rushing through this one. The cigar’s citrus sweetness dissipates in this final third, and a cool smoked meat note reveals itself. More oak notes and a nice almond flavor becomes present in the long minty finish. The foot smoke output on this baby continuously fills the room, with a nice odor of a freshly charred oak whiskey barrel. The access to the smoked meat note was definitely a nice surprise, especially for a Connecticut Shade wrapped cigar. This is definitely a big smokey cigar for those aficionados that prefer a big and lengthy smoking experience.
Combined with this FSG cigar, there was an incredible balance that produced creamsicle and marzipan chocolate notes, followed by an awesome fruity and cinnamon flavored finish. This pairing is like creamy fruit cake, the whisky alone is like Christmas in a glass!
The Pairing
They say opposites attract, so I chose to pair this summery American Florida Sun Grown cigar with “A Tale of Winter”. This is a special Single Malt release from one of my favorite Highland scotch distilleries, Glenmorangie. Glenmorangie is famous for having the tallest stills in Scotland, and their signature orange citrus profile. Their director of whisky creation, Dr. Bill Lumsden, is notorious for experimenting with their signature “original” ten year old whisky, which is aged in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels. Every year, the doctor does a special release by extra aging that core range whisky, for a minimum of two years in special casks. This year’s thirteen year old 46% ABV limited release expression, “A Tale of Winter”, has been extra aged in Marsala wine casks from Sicily. Marsala wine is known for having exotic flavors of apricot, vanilla, tamarindo, tobacco, morello cherry, walnut, and licorice.
The bottle’s back label states Dr. Bill’s goal “was to capture the snug and magical feeling of sitting in front of the fireplace as snow blankets the world outside”.
Combined with this FSG cigar, there was an incredible balance that produced creamsicle and marzipan chocolate notes, followed by an awesome fruity and cinnamon flavored finish. This pairing is like creamy fruit cake, the whisky alone is like Christmas in a glass! So I recommend hunkering down by the fire, with this awesome cigar and whisky pairing!
I recently reviewed this pairing live on the Great Lake Smoke Show, with the help of Whisky Whistle’s WhiskyTuber Mark Kaufmann. You can check that out here:
Happy 2nd Anniversary Whiskey Network!
Acknowledgment
Thank you to The Great Lakes Smoke Show (GLSS) crew for recommending and providing such an awesome cigar. Thank you for having Whiskey Whistle’s Mark Kaufman and I on the show, we had a blast!
Thank you Mark Kaufman, for your expertise and guiding us through a proper review of Glenmorangie’s “A Tale of Winter” Single Malt Scotch Whisky.
Photography by: James Archie
