Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Especiale LE 2004 (FJN Feb 05) – Navazos La Bota 88 de Malt Whisky - Navazos La Bota 87 de Gin
Sometimes, the stars simply align. Sadly, that might just mean one whopping black hole.
Decided last night, that with the rugby league back and isolation finally on the skids, I needed, nay I deserved, a cracking cigar. Plus, a couple of spirits I have been chasing for a long time, eventually successfully getting a bottle or two of each, that these could be the drinks. All of this was to offset the possible humiliation that the local footy team was likely to cop. And didn’t they get bent over and proverbially… It was almost bad enough to ruin the cigars and drinks matches.
Nuff said on that. We shall move on.
The cigar suggests that dodgy labelling on Limited Edition cigars is not new. An 05 code on a box of LE’s from 2004? No matter. This was a box I picked up many years ago – whether Cuba or from Rob is lost in the mists of time (I think Cuba but I could be wrong). I did look up my previous notes and I was stunned at how brilliantly the box has smoked. About half a dozen left and there are scores of 91, a 92 and the rest between 93 and 98. Have to be very happy with that. I have a box of Lusi's, which has given me a few 100's and very high 90s, but also a couple of high 80's. Otherwise, I don’t think I have a single box of cigars that can come close to what this box has provided.
I pulled out an old LE because Rob and I were discussing the ageing of LE’s in our recent video, so I thought I'd do the taste test. To say it did not disappoint would be an understatement on par with suggesting that the entire world should be unhappy with our current leadership. I am talking the world, but better we do not go any further down that road.
Lovely construction. Still a hint oily. There was an immediate old toast and chocolate note. Complex. Smoking beautifully. The early days of these LE’s saw the chocolate as delicious molten choc. This has evolved into a much more toasty choc character. Which you prefer is entirely personal. Love them both. The construction was perfect. Balance was excellent. Lovely texture. Towards the end, it went more to a sweet black coffee note. Just absolutely loved it. For me, 97-98. I went back and forth. What a cracking cigar.
To match it, two spirits from the world’s most exciting sherry producer, Equipo Navazos. As well as sourcing brilliant sherries and bottling them, they occasionally get hold of some wonderful old spirits. I think I have covered their Rum before (if not, time to do so).
Sadly, the price of their sherries has gone ballistic as the worldwide demand far exceeds their tiny production. They source a barrel, sometimes several, from a traditional producer who has no need for it and then bottle them individually. So, some releases are nothing more than a single barrel. And so it was here. Each release is numbered (first up was a sherry from the Ayala bodega – no relation – which was number 1, and the most recent, about 15 years later, is No 96, an Amontillado which was bottled in magnum only. Just 600 magnums for the world).
Their Rum is spectacular and, a while back, I was staggered to learn that they also bottled a Gin. Somewhere, I have an unopened Brandy from them in the cupboard. They have put out a few whiskies and now this Gin. I got a bottle each of their two most recent whiskies: the No 89 being a 14-Year-Old Grain whisky from Spain, one barrel only, so just 570 bottles; and No 88, a 12-Year-Old Malt from “offshore” (700 bottles). The Gin is also a single barrel (No 87 – usually an unlucky number, but not here, 570 bottles). I was told the entire Australian allocation was two bottles, so I had not been confident, but the importers were kind enough to give me both. Woohoo.
The Whisky No 88, was wonderful. Obviously old material with a linseed oil, old teak note. Quite nutty. To me, more akin to an old Cognac. Lovely supple texture. Good complexity. Real maturity. The flavours were very similar, slightly less chocolatey, to the cigar and that worked magnificently to make the pair an impeccable match. For me, 96 for the Whisky but 99 for the match.
As mentioned, it was described as “Overseas”, and all they will tell us is that it was distilled from malted barley in a “prestigious distillery in Scotland”. The last seven years, it has sat in Spain in a very old dry Oloroso cask.
Now, the Gin.
It had four years in a single cask which had previously been used for ageing a Fino from Jerez. Then a further ten months to round it out. Jesus has noted (that would be Jesus Barquin from Navazos) that there is nothing quite like it, except for another barrel they made which is similar but different. By the way, Jesus’s day job is Professor of Criminology at the University of Grenada. He has also written the leading guide to sherry, ever published.
It had a pale sunset colour – I would say very un-Ginlike but these days, with gins made from everything from motorcycle parts to elephant dung, who knows. It was surely the most complex gin I have ever seen. An orange rind character. Herbs but a real spongecake note. Really intriguing. Think a freshly baked lemon sponge cake. Complex sure, but also fresh. Good bright acidity and fine balance. I am so excited by this. Wonderful. 97? It has become hard to compare gins, given that they have become so utterly different, but this was as good as I have ever seen. But it is a one-off which will be near impossible to find. So, what is its place? Perhaps best to leave that for another day.
As a match, it was fine, though not in the class of the Whisky.
All up, black hole avoided.
KBG
