Quesada Oktoberfest – Kaiser Ludwig

I don’t think that we write about cigar and beverage pairings enough.  I am mostly a purist – when I smoke for review I rarely drink anything during the smoke.  Diet Coke afterwards, but almost never anything while I am smoking.  If I’m smoking with friends in an after dinner situation, I’m a bourbon drinker. I am not, for better or worse, a beer drinker.  Nevertheless, I was intrigued to try a cigar that had been made with express intention of going with a beer; Oktoberfest beer.  This cigar is made to be paired with Oktoberfest and is available in short quantity only around the time of the festival.  Were it that this wasn’t so, since this is one of the better cigars that I have smoked in a while.

First impressions of this cigar are good.  It is a box pressed very dark and oily cigar.  It just oozes richness and promise of good things to come.  And then, it delivers.  I punched my stick and it lit without a problem.  It produced nice smoke.

The draw was open in this cigar.  It was, in fact, very easy to smoke.  The edge remained tight and even throughout.  A nice variegated grey ashy held for almost an inch and a half.  Everything points to this stick being well constructed.

I liked the flavors of my cigar  The cigar burned cool and was medium in strength making it a nice ‘lunch’ cigar.  During the first third of the smoke I got a lot of sweet mocha flavor, rich and intense, but not overpowering.  Often when people call a cigar sweet, I see that as a drawback.  I don’t care for a cloying taste.  But a sweetness tat is full and rich without being cloying is excellent.  As the cigar progressed I found the flavors merging into a nice mocha and creamy taste.  Towards the final third there was a bit of spice, perhaps hints of nutmeg and cinnamon.  Overall, this was an exceptionally well balanced rich tasting cigar.

At around $9 the price reflects the rarity and limited availability of this stick.  IF you can find these cigars they will be worth whatever you pay for them.  I can’t imagine not having a few in my humidor for when I want a really special smoke.