First Cigar Dinner of 2012

I was not sure if we were supposed to wear Summer Cuban Casual or Summer Cuban Tourist Casual, but I tried to squeeze into the Guayabera and slacks, took a deep breath asked the boys how I looked. They struggled to speak between smirks, giggles and howls of outright disgust. The club elder was less subtle “Like an Igit if you really want to know.”


Right ; three quarter shorts, sandals and cotton shirt (at least I bought that in Cuba), Panama hat hmmm, I know I have one, show boys photographic evidence of them wearing it, they assure me I never owned one and that anyone can Photoshop things nowadays…

I arrived early at Caveau. The MC had also arrived dressed very casually, with Panama hat, mind you. As they all arrive - it’s weird from the usual black tie, today it’s casual. Good thing too because it's a scorcher. The evening starts with a Mojito. Not sure why it’s quite so medicinal, so I get a second, just to make sure. The Cigars arrive. I inspect them. They look in pretty good shape, which is great considering they were box pressed in October 2000. That makes them 11 years old. Watching them closely I suggest to most that a shallow cut or punch cut will probably be a better choice that a normal clip as older stocks tend to unravel easier.

The construction looks good, with the box pressing for 11 years the feel may well be a bit hard, the construction was good and the slightly oily wrapper had a shimmer showing its age. The draw was good and a very subtle easy start, new-mown hay, green, grassy almost. As this burnt on it revealed itself as a really fine medium-bodied cigar, a dusty centre with notes of cocoa and honey - not sweet though. The finish was really big with spicy notes of ginger and white pepper.

It was never planned but after some fantastic mezzos, the starter of smoked salmon trout with baby potato and rocket seemed to match the cigar’s profile, the oily fish, the wrapper and the green rocket developed the pepper notes. All in all a cigar that worked really well as an aperitif. It was challenging enough to keep one interested and subtle enough to smoke to the end.

Caveau co-owner Jean-Yves Muller gave us a brief rundown of the wines. They were superb. The first was a Chenin Viognier blend, easy drinking, crisp with good minerality. Jean-Yves did not tell us the actual terroir (but maybe I was not paying close enough attention) but it seemed almost like Rawsonville with its stony river banks. The second was a red blend of, if I heard correctly, Syrah, Mouverde and Cinsault. I was thinking both are Rhone style, so maybe it’s the Swartlands Perdeberg. Anyway, both were good quality made for everyday drinking which translates to affordable without the headache.

Both found good balance with the cigars, the second of which is one of those masterful sticks that just burn evenly and slowly, it ebbs and flows and really becomes your companion for the next hour and a half. It is truly good company, it does enough to keep you interested and rewards when you give it attention. Smoked during the main course, which in my case was beef fillet, medium rare, with black beans and sautéed potato. The genius here was they had rested the medallions sufficiently before serving, which often in more casual settings does not happen. The other offering was yellowtail, which looked superb, succulent and grilled to perfection.

The fast pace of the casual environment moved things along nicely which allowed us to truly relax and really enjoy the cigars at leisure. And easy it was, the construction was good although it may be packed slightly light. The burn was pretty good, only needing a few adjustments along the way. It really provided a typical old school earthy Cuban note, rich mouthfuls of smoke and creamy enough so as not to overpower. I think it is one of the few sticks out there that still provides us with a Cuban palate and it’s as good today as it was 30 years ago.

We ended off with some fantastic cheese boards and some good coffee. While it approached 1am, I headed off, truly happy with another great cigar club gathering. The usual suspects were left to continue the Journey.

Cigar 1 Rafael Gonzalez Corona Gorde Box Code CPV Oct 2000 (Villa Cara also manufacture Romeo y Julietta and Partagas)

Cigar 2 : H.Uppman No 2 Piramides Box Code MOA Nov 2009 ( H.Uppman Factory, now known as Jose Marti)

Rambling

I was just beginning to think I may well have taken a wrong turn when another breathtakingly beautiful corner exposed the large gates. From what I thought was going to be a small quaint boutique hotel opened an enormous well kept property. With its white walls and beautifully manicured lawns and gardens I was quite impressed. I walked down to the old cellar with its traditional double volume space. A long table was set up for us and the simplicity of the place really had me intrigued.


A whisky dinner with cigars can go horribly wrong; luckily this was an easy crowd, a well managed kitchen and not surprisingly great whisky. I later discovered it was very much a farewell dinner for the GM and seemingly 4 of the senior staff. Le Franschhoek 5 Star hotel is truly a magnificent venue. I did not think I would be doing work there again due to the exodus of all the staff and I never really thought of it again till this weekend. My son was to play in a seven aside Rugby Tournament so rather than get up begrudgingly at 5 am Saturday morning we decided to drive through Friday afternoon and overnight. Where to stay?? After purveying a multitude of options The Villas struck a chord. I ignored the insistent "where is this place?" from both wife and children, remembering how a year earlier I too felt it seemed a long way out. Once we had driven through gates, though they were silenced.

I think my journeys around the world have taught me one thing about myself, and that is I am never content with something until I can share it with others. This is why I soldier on my journey of Discovery and of course sharing a dram or two

Take 20837 /1a

Well it appears a belated happy New Year to one and all is in order.It seems I am always trying to use a blog to make communicating easier for those of you that follow me yet somehow I cannot seem to keep them going. So for the nth time lets see what we can do. Tommorow 26 Jan I gather with fellow cigar club members at Caveau for a casual Cuban affair. Coming up in a few weeks time I will be presenting some incredible malt whiskies not readily available in South Africa. I will try my best to get my website http://www.whiskyshop.co.za/ updated. I have been offrered quite a bit of help from fellow whisky lovers. I will try my hardest to ensure that we repeat the Wine and Whisky fest we held at Montecasino last year( in fact there is a Rumour that we will do it twice) so watch this space. Hope we will meet this year and share a wee dram or two.

Its hard to believe that it is exactly a year ago that I last wrote on whiskylive 2007 and today is the eve of Whiskylive 2008.
Please support my stands the Single & Single as well as Nikka.
My workshop 100 years of Umami is on the Friday Night and features some great Japanese Malts.
Please drop in and share a wee dram or two with us.
Slainthe Mhath

Whisky Live Cape Town

Well incredibly this years festival is over for Cape Town anyway we have Johannesburg starting on Wednesday. Thankfully Jack Daniels left their Harley at home so I still have a voice.
Thank you to all of you that came to say hello and all of the new folk I met it was great to meet you.

They were here once more in bright blazing technicolour, the Brands we all know Johhnie Walker, J&B, Bells, Jack Daniels, Glenfiddich with lounges, extended areas and all the marketing Rand thrown to create that space in our minds as first associated with whisky.
This year there had an underlying intelligence from the smaller stands, the back to basics area succeeded in achieving exactly that showing that knowledge allows for more discerning tastes and less gimmicks.

Ryan O'Conner was a great MC the music was vibrant and fitting all in all it was Wow. The calibre of people attending was so special, I must say though I still dread the Friday night, it seems as though this year was no different.
The lady who sold the extra coupons was rushed off her feet by 7.30 she had sold more tickets than she had sold the entire Wednesday and Thursday combined. It amazes me how many people bought extra coupons before they even started tasting so it would appear they were there for a reason, and polite conversation was not high up on their lists.

The crazy rush and vibe though allows the night to zip past and before you know it the vultures arrive waving their glasses as they slurr as honestly as they can," ag jist ooonnnnne mooore pleeeshhh." Now I would love to say that its my high standard when it comes to promoting responsible drinking that allows me to instantly reject and possibility of giving them even a sniff of what's before me. The truth is how on earth could I live with myself knowing that I poured a 32 Year old Glen Scotia for someone who had lost all sense of feeling a least 30 minutes ago.

No No its not going to happen I will not allow the Friday binging to spoil what is an otherwise very good production and certainly a world leader in its field , Whisky Live is here to stay and Cape Town and Johannesburg will continue to be the biggest and brightest.

The State of Idependents

Whisky Live Cape Town 2007 kicked off last night and whilst I would love to comment on the festival as a whole, I cannot, as I found myself bogged down on my stand.

What I did get to see is surely one of the very best shows the world has to offer.

I am very fortunate to be manning the Independent Bottlers Challenge stand this year, and those of you lucky enough to have sought me out last night I am sure will agree. The collection of malts is absolutely superb.

One has to wonder how much longer the independents are going to be able to get hold of such gems as they have over the last decade or so. As demand increases distilleries are less likely to let go of their casks opting rather to release proprietary labels only.

Having said that the malts on offer are as always of the highest quality with most of the older whiskies attracting the most attention. It is probably the hardest thing to convince someone that age does not mean better especially when whiskies like The Balblair 40 from whisky exchange and Duncan Taylor's 39 years Old Bunnahabhain not to mention Dun Bheagans 31 years Old Glen Scotia offer such a good argument to the contrary.

Of the independents on show though its rather interesting that more and more now own distilleries too. Ian Macleod owns Glengoyne, Signatory owns Edradour, Cadenheads owns Springbank or is it Springbank owns Cadenheads, Gordan MacPhail owns Benromach, I guess its a trend and there are many more examples.

What is evident though is that the independents are still offering some of the very best casks of whisky available and I for one would be very sad to see them fade away. My favourite drams thus far have got to be the Highland Park 18 and Port Ellen 24 from Dewar Rattray , The Tamdhu 13 and Rosebank 15 from DunBheagan. Old Malt Casks Port Ellen 25 and Ardbeg 15 I have to get through at least another 50 drams over the next 2 days and will report on the actual results from whisky magazine too and then decide for once and all which are my favourites of the lot.

Get yourself to the stand and try some for yourself, it is truly an experience not to be missed.
See you then Slainthe Mhath.

Update whats been up.

The 7th was real fun try presenting whisky to 250 people, their is only so much time you can manage to keep them listening, I have told most people I prefer to limit a tutored tasting to 50 people and rather go Whisky dinner for such large groups, that way you only need their attention for 20 minutes.
Ahhh well I still need to decide if I am too boring or if the crowds are just rude.
The 8th saw a nice group of people with a lot of new faces and boy were they lucky we featured some fantastic whisky they all seemed very keen and open minded.
I managed to go a whole week from the 13th to the 20th without presenting an event I finally caught up on some paperwork.
The 20th kicked off with me presenting the Van Gogh Vodka range to what turned out to be a very surprised and delighted crowd. My club met on the 22nd for part 2 and were rather pleased with being able to sample 2 whiskies that are not available in SA, it must be said they had a negative prejudice towards J&B Nox which I am afraid I could not change until they discovered Knockandoo that is.
A few were very pleased that I finally included a blended whisky(JW Blue Label) no I will not be featuring blends in the future. The reason I did it was The Royal Lochnagar did not arrive on time as such I selected what I thought was the next best thing.
The 23rd had me presenting to Beluga's Staff a full range of whisky including bourbon.

As of Monday the 27th I have been in Jozi I kicked off at Melrose Arch Wine sense with a Whisky and Sushi evening which must have been one of the toughest crowds I have ever presented to. Tuesday we gathered at the Wanderers Club with a great bunch of enthusiastic people thanks to Jeff Spiller. It turned out to be a brilliant tasting and was really well received.

Tonight I present at the Wanderers to The Rotary Club so I am sure it will be a lot of fun.
Tomorrow I am off to Pretoria to present to a Wine Club I will do my best not to have a go at their sour grapes I am sure we will have a blast though.

Then Friday Its back to the Mother City to celebrate my younger sons second birthday.

That's what I've been up to.Please do not be scared post a comment if you like but do consider yourself updated.
Slainthe Mhath