Premium Pairing: Forty Creek Confederation Oak Whisky & Montecristo No. 2 Cigar

Like star-crossed lovers, it just so happens that some things were ultimately meant to be together.

When it comes to pairing a cigar with whisky, we’ve fallen upon a pairing so seemingly perfect, that we just had to describe its dynamics with the utmost detail to our readers – stat.

As it turns out, Forty Creek Distillery’s Confederation Oak Reserve Canadian Whisky and Montecristo’s classic No. 2 Cuban cigar make for a celestial, stars-aligned heavenly match, which we shall fully outline in the following piece, as well as provide an essential pinch of backstory on what makes both offerings so very special in the first place.

THE CIGAR: MONTECRISTO NO. 2

Created in pre-Castro Cuba in 1935 by Alonso Menendez, the Montecristo Number 2 (or the ‘Monte 2’ as it’s widely known), is one of the most sought after and commercially successful cigars of all time. If Webster’s were to include a picture beside the definition of ‘Cigar’ in their dictionary, they’d quite possibly use an image of Monte 2.  It’s distinctive iconic torpedo shape (known as a ‘figurado’ within the cigar world) features a unique tapered head that comes to a fine point and is more on the challenging side for cigar rollers to make – thus adding to its overwhelming zeal.

In addition to this, Cuba reserves its utmost premium tobacco – the creme de la creme – hailing from the lithium-rich soil of the Piñar del Rio region – for only its finest cigars. Ones like – you guessed it – the Monte 2. Also referred to as ‘Cuban black tobacco’, cigar nerds widely claim that the tobacco grown within this region is simply the best mother earth has to offer.

Cuba’s Pinar del Rio region is often hailed as ‘best in the world’ when it comes tobacco

Cigar Aficionado Magazine (the world’s foremost cigar publication) annually rates cigars via blind taste test and then crowns a Cigar Of The Year to one cigar. In addition to being bestowed Cigar Of the year in 2013, it’s also the first cigar ever to receive a 96 rating (out of a possible 100) in a blind taste test.

Pretty serious stuff. 

When smoked on its own, the well-constructed Montecristo No. 2’s most prominent note early in the burn is of leather, but soon makes way for spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and a hint of black pepper to join in on the flavor mélange before some cedar and coffee start to present themselves within bottom of the first third.

Early on, the Monte 2 produces little smoke, and smokes like a medium-bodied cigar. But not for long. As second third is reached, it begins to impart a heavy cream as well raisin, black liqorice and floral notes with a now fuller draw of creamy smoke. At this point, the cigar smokes like a medium-to-full bodied stick and continues on this way until the bottom third, where black pepper, raisin, cinnamon, cedar and definitely dark roasted coffee round out the experience.

And what an experience it is. Which now leaves us to describe its partner-to-be:

I must first forewarn you: I possess a wicked sweet tooth.

I swear I’d trade my right arm for a piece of super-rich, deep-chocolate-upon-chocolate cake. Given that we all have different tastes and palates that favor savory or sweet, one person’s whiskey and a cigar experience might not be echoed by everyone else. However, I feel my experience with cigars and whisk(e)y runs deep enough to recognize when a certain pairing is quite exemplary, and this paring my friends – is one exemplary marriage indeed.

No shotgun wedding here.

The significance of this pairing lies in the fact that though these two items exactly don’t match each other note for note, the notes they do match on become significantly intensified when paired together.

There are numerous crossover notes between the two: Cinnamon. Raisins. Oak. Leather. When enjoyed together, the leather is first out of the gate in both cigar and spirit. Almost like being hit in the face with an old, Rawling’s catcher’s mit. Almost like smelling a grand bookshelf of old classic literature, with lots of Hemingway on its shelves (ok, ok – just for the record, Hemingway’s literature does not have a distinct smell, it just sounded appropriate). Early on into the cigar, Confederation Oak maple notes  now taste more like maple cinnamon toast.

Thank you Monte No. 2.

Into the early second third of the Monte No. 2, raisin dominates. Once I put the Monte 2 down to rest on the edge of my Montecristo single cigar ashtray, I take a another slightly syrupy sip of Confederation Oak only to notice how the charred wood (oak) is now amplified, and then get hit with a sweet desert-like amuse-bouche with vanilla cream with raisins. immediately afterward I pick up my stogie and draw creamy smoke that has borrowed some vanilla from the whisky and stirred it in with the heavy cream. Leaving the whisky alone for a few puffs allows some coffee notes (now not quite as burn and dark-roasted as when smoked on its own) to be perceived and enjoyed.

I could go on, but instead i’ll leave it to you to go off on your own and dabble in this hot little Cuban-Canadian mixture.

CONCLUSION

It’s clear to see that this particular pairing had got me all hot and bothered to the point of having to put it all down on paper and pass on to our community of cigar and whisky lovers. I encourage you to delve into this pairing and experience it for yourself. The timeless Montecristo had been patently waiting about for the better part of seven decades for the Confederation Oak Reserve to be born and celebrated together.

Cheers.

-Kurt Bradley