Pairing Cigars & Alcohol – Gouden Carolus Single Malt

Cigars and alcohol. Two luxury products that go hand in hand, and sometimes even meet on business level. Aging tobacco in whisky, rum, or cognac barrels is a practice several brands do to achieve extra flavour to the wrapper for certain lines. The famous bourbon brand Maker’s Mark has their own cigar, sold in tubes with the signature wax coating. Drew Estate works with Pappy van Winkle and used to make Kahlua cigars. Mombacho used to have the Diplomatico series. General Cigars works with Sazerac, which resulted in Fireball cigars, Weller by Cohiba and collaborations with Buffalo Trace. And there is the Diesel Whisky Row, a collaboration with Rabbit Hole Distilleries. Fratello Cigars also sells craft beer. Most famous are probably the Cuban collaboration between Martell Cognac and Cohiba. Dominique London, the European retailer with more than 20 shops in the UK, Belgium, Switzerland and the Canary Islands takes it one step further. They bought a distillery in Wales and produce whisky, gin, rum, vodka and liquors.

Gouden Carolus Single Malt

Gouden Carolus is a famous Belgian craft brewery, known for their specialty beers. But from the mash of the Gouden Carolus Triple, a whisky is made every year. It started about a decade ago and the whisky is in high demand since with several different offspring. The mash is distilled in hand hammered copper pot stills, the only ones in Belgium, and the spirit is then aged in first fill bourbon casks and further aging in Anker casks, made in accordance of the specifications of Gouden Carolus. The result is a smooth single malt, none chill filtered and no added colours, with an ABV of 46%. Distilled at De Molenberg Distillery in Blaasveld, Belgium. The whisky doesn’t have an age statement.

Neat

In a Glencairn glass, this mahogany coloured whisky has a fruity nose with apple, pear, and citrus combined with vanilla and white pepper. If you are familiar with the Gouden Carolus beers, you notice some familiarity in the whisky as well. Even though this is a 46% ABV whisky, there isn’t much ethanol in the nose. The whisky flavour also has familiarity with the beer. Toasted malt with pear, vanilla, caramel and white grapes, but with a spicy aftertaste. Pepper and cloves. The lingering finish is more on the spicy than on the sweet and fruity side of the flavour wheel. This is an oily whisky, smooth and friendly with enough character to be interesting. A nutty cigar, so something with a corojo wrapper, would go really well. And then I am thinking something made by Aganorsa Leaf, either under their own name of one of the many private labels they make for Viaje, Warped, Illusione of a handful of Gurkha cigars such as the Treinta.

In a rocks glass the nose is milder, but the pear and apple still are dominant, with less of the spicy notes. The flavour it’s the other way around, the spiciness is stronger with white pepper as a stronger finish. There is also some nuttiness with caramel and just a little bit of the fruit. A medium to full bodied cigar with wooden notes is a perfect match. I loved this with the Flor de Las Antillas Toro, but a Cohiba Robusto would pair nicely as well.

Old Fashioned

A classic, maybe the mother of all cocktails and I still make mine with sugar cubes, the old way, instead of switching to simple syrup as many bartenders do nowadays. I recently saw another twist, the salted old fashioned and that is a twist that intrigues me. I’ll use that in one of my other whisky and cigar pairings soon.

On the nose it is pure orange, the orange peel and the oils overpower any other aroma. The cocktail is sweet with caramel and sugar, with a nice dose of orange from the peel and oils, warm with pear and apple. Well balanced, with a slightly peppery finish. This old fashioned has character and needs a cigar with character as well. I smoked a Romeo y Julieta Tacos Edicion Limitada 2018 and that was a bad pairing, as this cigar has way too less character. Maybe I should have picked a Bolivar Royal Corona or Belicoso Finos. I could recommend an Eiroa the first 20 years from Honduras, or a Laranja Reserva from Espinosa from Nicaragua.

And now for the Old-Fashioned recipe:

1 sugar cube
3 dashes of bitters

2 oz or 60 ml of Gouden Carolus Single Malt
orange peel
Put the sugar cube in a highball glass, add the dashes of bitters and a splash of water. Muddle the sugar cube. Add ice and the whisky. Stir for 10 seconds, then add an orange peel.

Trader Vic’s Sour

Trader Vic is a serious name in the world of the Tiki cocktails. It is the nickname of Victor Jules Bergeron, an American entrepreneur from San Francisco. In 1934, at the age of 22, he founded a small restaurant & bar named Hinky Dink’s. That name disappeared soon to become Trader Vic’s and it rose in popularity. From that one restaurant and bar came a chain of Polynesian themed restaurants. Trader Vic is one of the two people that’s being credited for the Mai Tai, the other person is Donn Beach aka Don the Beachcomber, Trader Vic’s largest competitor, but they were amicable competitors. Nowadays there are still 18 Trader Vic’s worldwide, of which most in the Middle East. Even though this is called a sour, Trader Vic’s sours are known to be quite sweet. Very acidic cocktails are not easy to pair with cigars, but with the sweet reputation I am curious if this works.

On the nose it’s citrus with almonds and fruit. So not only the lemon shines, but also the orgeat and the whisky. This is indeed a sweet cocktail but the lemon provided enough tart as well. It is well balanced. The orgeat delivers a little nutty flavour that works well with the nutty flavours in this whisky. The fruit is there, but way on the background. This is very refreshing. I would also pair this with a nutty cigar, something with a corojo wrapper. My Father Fonseca for example, Rocky Patel Honduras Classic, Camacho Corojo or the Tatuaje Nuevitas Jibaro #1.

And now for the Trader Vic Sour recipe:

2 ounces or 60ml of Gouden Carolus Single Malt
¾ ounce or 22½ml of Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
½ ounce or 15ml of orgeat
¼ ounce or 7½ml of Simple syrup
garnish: lemon slice
Add the liquids in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until well-chilled. Strain in a rocks glass over fresh ice.

Inspector X