PCA Day 1 - Continued

As you may or may not know, the PCA show in Vegas isn’t just an expo, it’s also a gigantic sales floor where retailers like Mission can place orders for limited edition products available only at the expo. There are special discounts, exclusive sticks, and all sorts of unique opportunities for those who attend.

To give you an idea of what's available, let’s start with Rocky Patel.

I immediately grabbed multiple boxes of the ALR (aged limited rare) second edition: a box-pressed cigar rolled at the Tavicusa factory in the heart of Estelí, Nicaragua. They’re wrapped with an oily Mexican San Andres wrapper and they’ve been aged two years before release.

Here’s one I’m very excited to try: the new White Label. This line is going after the Davidoff smoker with a true Connecticut wrapper and what’s rumored to be some Cuban seed filler.

Over at the My Father station we ordered 20 boxes of the Garcia y Garcia 2021 edition, featuring a Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrapper and a Nicaraguan Criollo binder. Creamy, nutty, cocoa, all that. This thing is begging for rum.

After the show it was time to hit the Center Bar at the Mirage and unwind with a cold gin martini. For those who never read my old blog, let me reintroduce you to my favorite person from the booze business, who now—thank God—is in the cigar business. He’s one of my best friends and he’s my mentor for all things tobacco: Matt Freerks. As the VP of Sales for La Palina, Matt is a powerhouse in the business, and I’ve been relishing every opportunity we have to work together again. It’s been a hot and heavy reunion of two old friends.

Matt Freerks is also an amazing combination of styles: part rockabilly, part playboy, part Southern gentleman. Like James Bond, he knows what to order. He has impeccable taste and I find myself biting his style every now and again.

Men either want to party with him, or destroy him.

Dinner was at Brezza, the fantastic Italian-themed eatery in the new World Resorts Casino. This was my first time back in Vegas since its opening, so it was fun to explore. I was sitting with La Palina’s Sammy Phillips and Bill Paley, when out of nowhere Matt Booth walks in and pulls up a chair. Then Alan Rubin from Alec Bradley cigars walked in, along with his sons: Alec and Bradley. That’s when the party really started.

If you’re unaware of the Bill Paley story, and how he came to found La Palina cigars, that’s a much longer saga for another blog post. Bill’s family founded CBS and his mother was “Babe” Paley, at one point the most famous woman in America along with Marilyn Monroe. The stories this man has are simply unreal. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with him on the patio, talking about his past, and sharing some incredible La Palina cigars.

Lots more soon.

-David Driscoll

The PCA 2021 Cigar Show - Day 1

I got the road before 7:00 AM, but it didn’t matter.

It was HOT.

Between Barstow and Baker it was already 111 degrees by 9:00. There were several overheated vehicles on the side of the highway, and countless scattered rubber carcasses from what used to be tires. I had a case of water in the car for emergency purposes. I did not want to get stuck in the desert on a day like this.

I arrived at the PCA 2021 Cigar show around 11:30, and since I was a guest of La Palina for the event, I headed straight to their exhibit. Sitting there, ready to greet me, looking incredibly dapper, was the man himself: Bill Paley, Jr.

I dropped my bag, said my hellos to the team (including my best friend Matt Freerks) and got ready to hit my appointments. With so many exclusive cigars being sold only at the show, and rumors that many of them were on the verge of selling out already, I didn’t want to waste any time.

It was time to load up on inventory.

My first appointment was with Padron, who was offering the Family Reserve No. 95 as a PCA exclusive release. Padron’s founder Josê Orlando Padrón would have turned 95 years old on June 10; hence the tribute. I grabbed multiple boxes of both the natural and the maduro, both at 4 3/4 x 60.

Since I placed a healthy order, my Padron rep walked me over to the vault and grabbed me something special as a thank you: the 1964 Padron Anniversary. I had never had one, so I lit it up right there.

When I walked back over to put some ordering receipts in my bag, my buddy Matt asked me what I was smoking.

“They seriously just gave you that?” he asked in shock. “That’s a serious cigar. That’s a freaking masterpiece of a cigar.”

Indeed it was.

More soon.

-David Driscoll

W's Original

For those of you who tuned into our live Knob Creek barrel selection a few months back, the second cask has now arrived and is in stock at all locations. Jim Beam ambassador Amanda Gunderson thought this particular 9 year old barrel tasted like a Werther’s Original butterscotch candy, so we shortened it down to “W’s Original” on the label for brevity’s sake. Nosing this whiskey now, you’re all going to be very, very happy. Drinking this side-by-side with its sister cask—the Pecan Bomb—is not at all superfluous. They are clearly different whiskies. 

The nose is a big box of cinnamon-dusted Graham crackers dropped inside a bag of oak chips. The sweet spices absolutely explode on every sip, but it’s like a supernova that collapses onto itself, creating a wormhole to a completely new world of flavor. It moves from baking spices, to cedar, forest pine, and black pepper, finishing with another explosion of vanilla and sweet oak. Now that it’s been bottled, I don’t think it tastes all that much like a Werther’s Original, but that’s OK. It’s still an impeccable bottle of whiskey for a great price. 

What other Kentucky distillery out is offering delicious, 9+ year old barrels of cask strength Bourbon for $49.99? There's a reason we're sticking with Beam for our best deals right now.

-David Driscoll

Sticks And Sips

A big thank you to Frankie Dranks and the team at Drew Estate for having me on the show yesterday. I got to smoke my first Liga Privada and talk about the retail business, which are pretty much two of my favorite things to do!

Check out their other episodes at the above link!

-David Driscoll

Putin Declares Only Russian Sparkling Wine Is True Champagne

It’s a headline straight out of the Onion, except that it’s true.

In a move that has me scratching my head, but is also genuinely amusing for a number of reasons, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has declared that only Russian-made sparkling wine can be called Champagne.

What will true French Champagne be known as? Sparking wine, of course.

That means France’s most famous and coveted Champagne brands will have to change their labels to read “sparkling wine” if they want to continue doing business in Russia. According to the Drinks Business, Russia imports about 6.5 million liters of Champagne a year, so do your math and that’s about 722,222 cases annually. Nothing to sneeze at.

Can you imagine telling Dom Perignon it can’t use the name Champagne on its labels?

I’m excited to see where this goes! It’s like an episode of the Real Housewives.

-David Driscoll

Marketing

A longtime customer and friend of mine sent me an email this morning lamenting the days when he could read a new article (sometimes one of mine) and find out about interesting, new, affordable whiskies.

“I miss this kind of whisky writing,” he wrote at the end.

Agreed.

The hang-up with writing about new whiskies right now is that you need new whiskies worth writing about to make it interesting! And right now there’s very little worth writing about (unless you want to write about brands that have been on the market for decades and are mostly known to everyday consumers).

That’s also not to say people aren’t doing it. Because they are.

Here’s the current booze marketing formula:

• Write about new product from large company = clicks for advertising (often paid for by that same company)

• Start a blog to write about new products = receive free booze samples from that company

• Start an Instagram site about whisky = combination of the above two

Hence, plenty of people out there willing to take that deal.

But to write a truly exciting article about a truly exciting new whisky requires the latter of those two things.

Unless you want to fake it.

Which I don’t.

-David Driscoll

Cycles

During a tasting this past week, a sales rep said something to me that made me smile: “There’s never been a better time to be a whiskey drinker.”

I asked him why.

“Because there’s never been this many whiskey brands on the market at the same time,” he replied.

I laughed and said: “So you must think this is the best time to buy a home, too?”

He was caught off guard and replied: “Homes are way too expensive right now. I think it’s the worst time to buy a house.”

“Yes, but there are so many on the market to choose from! Isn’t that the criteria?” I answered with a twinkle in my eye.

Without a doubt, this is the WORST time to be a whiskey drinker in the last twenty years. It’s also the worst time to be a Tequila drinker, and the worst time to buy a house. Quality is low; prices are high.

I said it. I stand by it.

We’re at the tail end of a bust cycle that is getting ready to pop. This happens every few decades. The glut that follows the bust is what leads to the subsequent renaissance. Because whiskey takes time to mature, it also takes time for stocks to build back up once the latest fad fizzles out.

We call them cycles in the booze business.

And it’s not just the case with whiskey. Cigars are also matured for greater sophistication, and—like whiskey—aged tobacco happens to tastes better.

To quote Richard Hacker’s The Ultimate Cigar Book:

During less demanding years when cigar consumption was languishing, companies like Consolidated Cigar Corporation, General Cigar, and A. Fuente used to have huge stores of tobacco that went back as far as the 1980s. Unfortunately, the overwhelming demand for cigars during the boom years of the 1990s depleted this decades-old reserves supply of vintage tobaccos. With the end of the boom followed by a dip in cigar consumption caused by the Great Recession, these stores of aged tobaccos have been allowed to build up again. Today, with a notable increase in cigar consumption, supplies of aged tobaccos are back, which bodes well for the future of super premium cigars.

See how this works with these products?

When no one cares, quality is high. When everyone cares, quality goes down.

Contrary to popular culture, I didn’t get into whiskey because I’m a whiskey nerd at heart. I got into whiskey because—back in 2006—it was getting interesting.

Why was it interesting?

Because there was all this old whiskey available that had been sitting in warehouses for decades and only a small population of people seemed to really care much or know anything about it.

That didn’t last long, however. As soon as everyone started caring, it became far less interesting.

Why?

Because it became a cash game rather than a hobby.

In 2010, I was selling single casks of 30 year Brora cask strength single malt for $300. Today, Brora sells for as much as $3000.

Much like Hacker talks about the cigar boom of the 1990s, the whiskey boom of the 2010s depleted all the reserve stocks of mature single malt and Bourbon. When I say whiskey is less interesting today, that doesn’t mean I don’t drink it anymore; it just means I stick to basic value bottles that I think still deliver quality.

All of the old whiskey that made whiskey hunting fun is long gone. And if you can find it, it’s way too expensive.

That’s the reason I’m digging deeper into cigars right now. Cigars have been out of fashion since the last big boom, and only over the last few years have they been picking up steam once again. The cycle has come back around, cigars are once again where whiskey was back in 2006.

I’ve had a number of friends in the cigar industry recently tell me: “There’s never been a better time to be a cigar smoker.”

Why?

Because there’s never been this much good, mature, high-quality tobacco on the market at the same time, both because we’re at the start of another quality cycle and because other tobacco-growing countries have had time to improve their growing practices.

If you’re not into cigars, I get it. What I’m saying is: don’t wait another five years to start learning about cigars. By that time, it will probably be too late.

-David Driscoll

Central American Focus

I’ve been learning quite a bit about Central American tobacco lately, as I try to quickly educate myself on cigars ahead of the big PCA show in Las Vegas next week. Just about everything I’m reading points to a modern renaissance in Nicaragua, especially in the region of Estelí where a number of top producers are growing tobacco right now. It’s a hot topic among industry professionals right now.

Interestingly enough, another industry professional recently spoke to me about the incredible quality coming out of Nicaragua, but he wasn’t talking about tobacco; he was talking about rum.

Karthik Sudhir, the man behind the incredible new Ron Izalco rums, is passionate about the rising quality of Nicaraguan rum, especially as a base for his ten and fifteen year old Central American rum blends. “The structure of Nicaraguan rum is what makes it unique,” he said during a visit to Mission earlier this year, touting the virtues of Panamanian rum and Guatemalan rum as well, each adding richness to the blend.

While I’ve been completely smitten with Karthik’s 10 year old Ron Izalco as a cigar rum, with its sweeter profile and rounder texture, I can safely say that I have never tasted anything quite like the new 15 year old 55.3% ABV expression. I’ve been doing my best to stay patient while Karthik put together a new batch (as it’s been sold out for months), but since first tasting it back in April it’s all I’ve been able to think about—especially given my growing interest in cigars.

If you want to get geeky about Central American rum, Karthik will go deep into the fertile, volcanic soils where the sugarcane is grown, how the heat leads to a greater evaporation, and all the other details that make these spirits unique. But if you want tangible proof that Karthik is on to something special, look no further than the incredible 15 year old Ron Izalco: without a doubt the most complex and mind-bending spirit I’ve tasted in 2021.

Comprised of rums from five different Central American countries—Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Guyana—each matured for at least 15 years in ex-Bourbon barrels, the nose is a whirlwind of tobacco, dried fruits, scorched earth, and molasses, with some brighter aromatic notes bringing up the rear. The palate carries some sweetness, but it’s far drier than the 10 year and it quickly dissipates under the intensity of both the proof and the flavor.

There are no additives in this rum, nor is there any sugar—or mercy! Take off the rum training wheels and throw them across the room. In fact, throw them out the window, into the garbage, and bring the garbage can out to the street. This is not a spirit for beginners or for people who like to sip on something sweet from time to time. The Ron Izalco 15 year is bold, robust, and incredibly earthy, but it’s also harmonious, balanced, and completely in sync. It starts with richness and dried fruits, but halfway it transforms into something else entirely. It quickly turns into a big mouthful of dried tobacco, bitter herbs, and cigar smoke. The finish is as dry as it is intoxicating, leaving your mouth wondering: what in the hell just happened?

That’s when you go in for another sip. And another. And another. It’s a transformation that you have to experience to really understand. I’m obsessed with it.

Karthik has described the 15 year old as something more for agricole and pot still fans due to its intensity, but it’s not at all along those lines in terms of flavor. There’s no grassiness, no funkiness, and none of the high-toned ester notes you get from Jamaican pot still rums like Hamden. The Izalco 15 is more akin to a peated Sherry butt Scotch, or a super earthy Bourbon, where the smoke ends up more like ash, or the wood comes through as damp and herbaceous. You still get that little smack of caramel and molasses on the front and the finish, but it’s really just a canvass for the earthier elements.

As you might imagine, I took it for a test spin yesterday evening with some fine Nicaraguan tobacco from A.J. Fernandez: the Upmann Nicaraguan Toro, which got completely obliterated by the intensity of the rum. You need to match like with like, so I’m gonna have to try this again with the Room 101 10th Anniversary or the Diesel Crucible, both of which have a little more grit. Or I may even go the Tatuaje route.

I’m excited to find the right pairing because I know once I hit that right balance, it’s going to result in something truly special.

-David Driscoll