Welcome back to Dice and Drams! If you’re new to this column, I like to bring a whiskey and board game together to be enjoyed in one experience. Just as you would pair a whiskey and cigar that highlight and enhance each others’ flavors, I bring together pours and games that complement and enhance each other. The pairing could be about the region of the whiskey and theme of the game, or the experience of drinking and playing, or something else that stirs me. For this month, I focused on history – a brand rich with history, and a game themed around it.
The Pairing: Eagle Rare & Memoir ’44
The Whiskey: Eagle Rare
Eagle Rare is a whiskey that needs no introduction. One of the flagship products of Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare is often a hard-to-find bottle, with an incredibly high demand. I’ve never actually seen one around my market; I had to get lucky in a small rural store to get the bottle I have. While the scarcity of Eagle Rare can be obnoxious, I will say that I can understand why the demand is so high. It is a great product for its retail price, which is around $35. A 10-year aged bourbon for that price is always great value.
Beyond the age, though, I think the bourbon speaks for itself. The nose oozes sweetness — confectionary sugar, cotton candy, and caramel all mix together into this beautifully desserty experience that I really like. I want to point out one other note I find on the nose — grape candy. This is apparently a note unique to Buffalo Trace products. I’ve heard others attribute this note to Buffalo Trace, and I definitely get it on this. It’s nice, and really unique, without being overwhelming at all. The palate makes me think of a gooey brownie – chocolatey caramel goodness. It has a nice backbone of oak, too. One other part of the palate that sticks out to me is how viscous it is – I would almost describe the mouthfeel as syrupy. The finish is long and rolling, with the grape candy note making a noticeable return. A truly delicious bourbon.
The Game: Memoir ’44
Memoir ’44 is a war/skirmish game known for its accessibility in a genre usually marked by high rules overhead. Based around World War II, Memoir has players taking on both sides of different battles throughout the conflict. The game is played on a board broken down into three sectors; players take turn issuing order cards that move units in those sectors. The cool thing about Memoir is that it starts each scenario with a introduction that gives historical context to the battle and a starting point; players then take it from there. The battle can either be played like it unfolded in history, or it can take alternative paths.
Memoir’s system has a lot of dice-rolling and card draw, so battles can sometimes be swayed by bad rolls or being unable to issue orders to certain vital units. For me, though, this is a small sacrifice for being able to play a World War II skirmish game in under an hour. If you can put aside the potential swings of luck, the game is great fun and a fantastic way to introduce important history to people. Those same swings of luck can also produce some great gaming moments – waiting to see the final dice roll on the climactic battle of the scenario and celebrating or mourning appropriately has made for some great memories.
A final plus is that, being 20 years old, the game has seen a ton of expansions. There’s an expansion for pretty much every front of the war, from western Europe to Soviet Russia, all the way to Japan and northern Africa. At this point, you could play out the entire war from beginning to end, which sounds a little much for me, but epic in theory.
The Final Pairing:
I couldn’t help the obvious this time – how could I not pair a whiskey called Eagle Rare with a game that features the Screaming Eagles of the U.S. 101st Airborne?! It would be a crime not to. Beyond that though, this pairing highlights history – Eagle Rare, being a storied bottle from a historical distillery, and Memoir ’44 whose entire existence is based around bringing history to new generations. Sitting down with a pour of Eagle Rare, playing through the Battle of the Bulge, then wrapping up with an episode of Band of Brothers sounds like an epic night to me.
Cheers and happy gaming!
