Pairing Cigars & Alcohol – Stalla Dhu Single Cask 11-Year-Old Oran Isla

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 but Mombacho no longer exists. 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.

Stalla Dhu Single Cask 11-Year-Old Oran Isla

Stalla Dhu is an independent bottling and often they can reveal the distillery where the whisky is distilled. But sometimes, they are not allowed to, or the distillery mixes a little bit of whisky from another distillery into their spirit. That makes it illegal to designate those bottles to a certain distiller. I don’t know what is the case of this 11-year-old Oran Isla but I do know that it comes from an undisclosed Islay distillery. It was distilled in 2010 and bottled in January of 2023, which actually makes it a 13-year-old according to my math skills.

The whisky was finished in a Sherry butt and bottled at 50% ABV. It is a single cask bottling, with only 657 individually numbered bottles released. The whisky was created by Ron Morrison from the Snowdonia Distillery in Wales, the birthplace of Foragers gin, one of my favourite gins, and Mitchel Orchant from Dominique London. It scored a Spirit Silver award in 2023 with 91 points at the 2023 International Wine & Spirit Competition.

Neat

As you may have picked up from my previous whisky pairings, I am not particularly crazy about peated whiskies. Islay is not my kind of thing, I prefer sherry or port finished whiskies without the peat. But when I smell this whisky from a Glencairn glass, I fear the worst. I smell smoke, I smell peat, and I smell a very little bit of orange. Flavour wise there is first a sweetness and freshness that reminds me a little bit of orange but then comes a punch of classic Islay smoke and peat, exactly the flavours I don’t like. Because of that smoky and peaty flavour, I would pick a stronger cigar. Maybe a Diesel Unholy Cocktail, maybe an A.J. Fernandez Enclave Broadleaf or an EPC Allegiance.

In a rocks glass, the nose is milder. The whisky is very light in colour and a bit thin. In this type of glass, there is no orange aroma at all. The whisky packs more punch than before, with a slightly spicy smoke and peat flavour. This is not my kind of whisky. To add a little sweetness, I would go for a nice Maduro cigar. The Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro, Liga Privada #9, Partagas Maduro if you want a Cuban, or a Perdomo Champagne Noir.

Old Fashioned

The oils and the peel of the orange usually completely overpower any aroma of whisky in an old fashioned, but in this case that aroma marries well with the peat and smoke. The orange, added sugar and the bitters mute the peat while bringing out a little more of the orange sweetness from the whisky. Where I would not drink this whisky neat, as it’s not my cup of tea, I will probably finish the bottle by turning it into a bunch of Old Fashioned cocktails. Because of the added sweetness, I would not pair this with a Maduro cigar. I would go with a Habano, Corojo or Cameroon wrapper, something medium bodied. Pick your favourite cigar with this wrapper and enjoy.

And now for the Old-Fashioned recipe:
1 sugar cube
3 dashes of bitters
2 oz or 60 ml of whisky
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.

Gazpatalisk

The Gazpatalisk is almost like the cold Spanish tomato soup, Gazpacho, but with Talisker whisky and the combination of both names results in the name of this cocktail as well. But since I’m not using Talisker, should I call this a Gazparan Isla? Although, the distillery is secret and it could just as well be from the Talisker distillery on the Isle of Skye. Anyway, let’s not mess with the name but make the drink, sort of Whisky’s version of the Bloody Mary. Now, I am not a fan of the Bloody Mary and not a fan of peated whisky, so this might be my worst nightmare.

The nose is salty, and I don’t know whether that is because of the pinches of salt or the tomato juice itself. The cocktail itself is salty, and it’s tomato juice salty with a slight freshness from the cucumber while there is some smoke and peat in the aftertaste. Honest to god, I have no idea what cigar to pair this cigar with. Even if my life depended on it, I could not come up with a perfect pairing. But maybe cigar smokers that love tomato juice can guide me in the right direction.

And now for an Gazpatalisk recipe:
2 ounces or 60ml of Whisky
2 ounces or 60ml of Tomato Juice
½ ounce or 15ml of Lime Juice, freshly squeezed
Pinch of celery salt
Pinch of garlic salt
5cm or 2 inch long cucumber baton
½ red pepper cheek
½ green pepper cheek
Garnish: cucumber topped with the other ½ of the red and green pepper cheek.
Add the cucumber and peppers to a cocktail shaker and muddle. Then add all the other ingredients with ice and gently roll to mix. Strain into a rocks glass, garnish and serve.

Inspector X