Beer, Motorcycles and Cigars — Beer, Bikes and Butts

Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Dark Corojo Doble Fuerte (5 ½ x 54)

With so many cigars to experience and review, it is seldom that I smoke the same cigar two nights in a row. However, after smoking the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Dark Corojo Doble Fuerte, I couldn’t wait for round two and smoked another one the next night. I posted a quick review of this cigar in January of last year, while enjoying it at the 8Eightyeight Cigar Lounge in Fullerton, California (isn’t technology grand?). I now give this fine stick a more detailed review from the Lido Deck.

The Joya de Nicaragua Antaño consists of 75% Ligero leaf and is a Nicaragua puro. I’m a huge fan of Nicaraguan puros, and the Joya de Nicaragua Fuerte Serie B is already one of my top drawer cigars, earning a whopping 95 on The Morris Scale when I reviewed it in 2010. Like that great stick, the Antaño invoked an “oh yeah” from the first puff. Not too surprising since the two cigars have very similar (but not identical) fillers, and the wrapper is the same gorgeous Nicaraguan-grown Colorado shade leaf. The cigar is nice and complex and very full bodied, with tastes of spice and notes of chocolate and coffee.

This cigar is impressive looking, with a dark maduro wrapper and fat 54 ring gauge. (In apparent recognition of the strength of this cigar, a 60 ring size is available, but only at a one inch shorter length.) The construction was flawless as was the burn throughout. I could see the rich oil released by the burn. Cigars seldom have any physical effect on me, but half way through this stick, my feet were tapping and I wanted to go climb something. Yet, despite the obvious strength of this cigar, it was one smooth smoke and never displayed any harshness.

I suspect the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Dark Corojo Doble Fuerte I smoked some 20 months ago entered my humidor at the same time as the two I smoked these past two nights, so this is also a review of how well this cigar ages. In my first quick review, performed probably while watching some sporting event at the 8Eightyeight, I rated this cigar at 91. With the benefits of 20 months of aging and my undivided attention, I now elevate this cigar to a 93 on The Morris Scale. This is a very good cigar and quite a value.

I was at a herf the other night, and the topic arose concerning neophyte cigar smokers. We had all shared the common experience where someone who has never had a cigar before (how is that even possible?) wants to join in when the cigar smokers adjourn to the man cave for cigars and whiskey. That’s fine – always willing to welcome newbies into the fold – but the frustration is when they help themselves to a $20 stick, take three or four puffs and then proclaim, “How can you guys smoke these things?” as they stub it out in the ashtray.

The conventional wisdom has always been to nicely steer them to a very mild smoke as their first introduction to the pleasure that is cigar smoking. You’ll have to play it by ear, according to whether you think the person is really capable of enjoying a stick, but I think it might make more sense to steer them to something like the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Dark Corojo Doble Fuerte. That way you’ll only be out about $7 if they don’t enjoy it, and you at least have a shot at a little entertainment as they turn green. Just a thought.

From the cigar maker:

“A decade ago we created the much-heralded Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970 to share the unbridled richness of our Nicaraguan tobaccos with the world. For us, Antaño represents the toil of our people, the fruit of our beloved fields and ultimately, it is a reflection of our souls. We have labored nearly ten years to create the Antaño Dark Corojo, never before has there been a puro so creamy, rich and smooth, yet simultaneously so enthrallingly robust at its core. I promise you, this is a smoke you will remember…”

Dr. Alejandro Martinez Cuenca
Master Maker of Joya de Nicaragua

From SeriousCigars.com:

“The Joya de Nicaragua Antano Dark Corojo is the embodiment of the Nicaraguan power cigar personified. The oily, seal brown capa serves as foreshadowing for the extra full-bodied flavors of its complex, pungent blending of mature, locally cultivated leaf. With each draw, this puro builds in strength to leave even the most jaded smoker satisfied and spent. This is a cigar for the experienced connoisseur who not only appreciates, but craves unadulterated boldness in their cigars – novices need not light.”

The Joya de Nicaragua Antano Dark Corojo line comes in the following shapes and sizes: Azarosa (4 ½” x 52), El Martillo (5 ½” x 54), La Niveladora BP (6” x 52), Peligroso (5” x 44), Pesadilla (4 ¾” x 60), Poderoso (6” x 54).

Pyramid Hefeweizen by Pyramid Brewing Co., Seattle, Washington

Well, you can’t win them all. All is good with the world when I put together a good pairing, but the beer I selected did not hold up it’s end of tonight’s tasting.

This wheat ale was a real disappointment. I really enjoy hefeweizens, but this one from Pyramid Brewing had none of the qualities of a hef. It was thin and tasteless. As I have suggested before with really bad beers, you should not only avoid this beer, but if you happen to see it on the shelf at your market of choice, put something else in front of it as a favor to other beer drinkers who might make the mistake of giving it a try. I’ll give it a 60 on The Morris Scale, and it gets 60 points only because it is beer, and if dropped to me on a desert island I would probably enjoy it as a break from water and coconut milk, so on that basis I can’t really give it a zero.

Posted on August 11th, 2012 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Beer, Beer Facts, Beer History, Cigar Facts, Cigar Lounge, Cigars, Reviews