Tonight’s Tasting – Blanche de Chambly and Graycliff 1666
Graycliff 1666 Pirate (6 x 52)
This stick came to me by way of Cigars International with the following history and description.
“The site of the Graycliff Resort was originally a church built in 1666, one of Nassau’s first structures and certainly most prominent. Known as the “Pride of the Bahamas,” this historic site later served as a fort before becoming home to the grand 5-star resort it is today. Its visitor list has included Sir Winston Churchill, Aristotle Onassis, Paul Newman, King Constantine, the Beatles….just to name a few. Today – Graycliff boasts one of the top boutique cigar factories in the world. Employing a mere one dozen skilled master-rollers, this small factory is home to the top-rated Graycliff cigar brand.”
From this point the description gets a little too flowery and self-promoting, so let’s switch to my impressions. The cigar looks hand rolled, with a rough, Jaltepec maduro wrapper. Combine that with the almost homemade look of the cigar band, and the presentation is that of a true boutique cigar. The fillers are multi-national, hailing from Peru, Columbia, Brazil and Mexico. The binder is Ecuadorian Sumatra.
The light, burn and draw through the torpedo shape were perfection, and yielded copious smoke. The taste of this mild to medium cigar was of spice and coffee. A touch of bitter on the back of the tongue, but it never became unacceptably pronounced. The smoke became more complex and flavorful as the ash grew.
This is why I subscribe to cigar clubs; a very fine cigar I might never have otherwise encountered. A 9.3 on the Morris Scale.
Blanche de Chambly – White Beer on Lees
I thought I’d grabbed an import based on the fancy label, and I was right, but only from Canada, the Great White North, eh? The beer poured with a nice head and a strong nose of fruit and banana. My first taste was a little shocking with a strong taste of yeast. Totally my bad. I had poured a tad too aggressively, failing to notice the warnings on the label about the yeast sediment. I let the beer settle while I enjoyed the cigar, and the yeast became far less noticeable. Good creamy mouth feel and follow through. The beer gives a false impression of sweetness because of the strong fruit taste, but I don’t think it would impact the drinkability at all. Overall, a refreshing light beer with lots of complexity. I give it an 8.2 because it has a good beat and you can dance to it.
Posted on February 21st, 2009 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Beer, Beer Facts, Cigar Facts, Cigars, Reviews
I had a “banana” beer a few months ago. Not sure if it was this same brand. Very strong banana smell with just a subtle banana taste. Meh.