Good Cigar/Beer Pairings

When I typically read about good cigar pairings I see a great deal of pairings with scotch, cognac, liquors, or red wine, etc. Also coffee, tea, Dr. Pepper, or your favorite nonalcoholic beverage.

My question is what cigars and what beers do you think pair together well. Even if you have an idea but havn't tried it out yet, post it!

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JohnnySlickster

Kudos man I've wanted to visit there brewery for a while...BUT I guess I can settle for living within walking distance of the Sierra Nevada Brewery up north here in Chico haha. They have a restuarant in the front of the brewery and you can actually order a sampler with like 20 different types of beers...heaven.

bigjohn125

dennisking:
bigjohn125:
I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer dos equis!
no one else picked up on this yet. awesome

i was suprised that no one had posted that yet, myself. I thought it was a no brainer for this topic. Besides, I can speak Russian in French.

bigjohn125

dennisking:
bigjohn125:
I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer dos equis!
no one else picked up on this yet. awesome

I actually do like dos equis with my cigars.

dennisking

i like mild beers with cigars like dos equis as well because it really doesn't interfere with the cigars flavor. I love IPA's but for my palate, the hoppiness tends to interfere with the cigar.

bacon.jay

kuzi16:
bacon.jay:
dennisking:
jsnake:
No such thing. All beer tastes like urine filtered through a dirty sock that was worn by Rosie ODonnel after she walked accross the desert to get a donut.
holy crap. I would never take you for a beer hater. insane.
Wow, me neither. I thought you did like beer Jake...

I really really liked the regular MOW with Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen.

jay... we need to get together sometime soon again. ill bring the cigars. you bring the beer.

Definitely, that sounds like a great idea. Just managed to get some Great Lakes Nosferatu and Bell's Special Double Cream Stout over the weekend, as well as a Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout. Damn good beers, but that Nosferatu will jump up and bite you if you're not careful. 8% ABV!!!

I'll have to get a good selection of brews picked out that pair well with some different stogies. Sounds like a good research project! When we get a date picked out you'll have to let me know what you're bringing so I can pick accordingly.

ThinBluLine06

I am a seasonal kind of guy....In the summer, my sticks go with leinenkugel summer shandy, or Boulevard Wheat...in the fall, they go with Sam Adams Octoberfest....and in the winter, they go with a dark porter or hot chocolate... Expierement with the Season!

ljl

newbiesmoker24:
I am a beer lover. I recently had the Nub habano with an Erie Brewery Misery Bay IPA and it paired VERY well. I think the bitterness and hoppiness of the IPA cleansed the palate with a medium bodied cigar. Also, I haven't tried it yet but I would bet that a stout or porter would pair well with a sweet (probably not spicy) maduro or heavy cigar. Although, I paired Oliva G maduro (very sweet) with Captain Morgan's private stock rum and it was an AWESOME pairing.

My hypothesis is that pairings work well when they are complete compliments or are complete opposites - not somewhere in between. Let me know if you find any other good beer/cigar pairings!!

See where he went into stout / porter with a sweet (maduro) cigar? For me that's a diesel with a Sam Smith taddy porter or oatmeal stout - great pairing for me. I think the lighter maduros go good with a coffee (5v gold maddy), some of the med. / heavy ones go great with a beer.

newbiesmoker24

bigjohn125:
dennisking:
bigjohn125:
I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer dos equis!
no one else picked up on this yet. awesome
i was suprised that no one had posted that yet, myself. I thought it was a no brainer for this topic. Besides, I can speak Russian in French.

"A man so interesting that when he punches you in the face... you have to resist the urge to thank him!!!"
Great commercials!!! Beer is just...... ok. :-)

Adcurium

I like a Sam with my smoke as well...

coachjamie

newbiesmoker24:
coachjamie:
I love beer, I love cigars. I think you guys are putting way too much thought into this!! lol I have smoked many different types of cigars with many different beers. It's all good to me. I am happy smoking a Diesel with a PBR or Miller High Life or a MOW with a Dos Equis or vice versa,lol. So long as the beer is cold and plenty of it and so long as I have plenty of sticks in my herf a dor.....it does not matter to me,lmao!! Good friends...cold beer...strong cigars....always equals good time!!

No offense coachjamie, but just as there are multiple qualities, blends, and origins that make premium cigars unique - there are equivalently as many yeasts, recipes, and fermentation styles of beer. So to compare a miller high life (pilsner style lager) to a Dos Equis (amber style lager) is like comparing a swisher sweet to a backwood in the cigar world. Both are lower quality products and do not even begin to touch the vast array of premium, high quality products within that market.
Suffices to say I think you are missing the point that alot of aficionados and beer snobs will find great ways to stimulate the palate with pairings... But I will agree with you non-the-less... I love beer, and I love cigars!!!!

No offense taken...but I think you missed my point I guess as well,lol. I was not comparing High Life and Dos Equis, I was just meaning to simply say, I enjoy a good cigar no matter what I drink with it. Especially if I have beer! I could care less personally what kind of beer it is, just as long as it is cold! I can enjoy a good micro beer on occasion. Anyway, enjoy your sticks with whatever beer you like!

newbiesmoker24

coachjamie:
newbiesmoker24:
coachjamie:
I love beer, I love cigars. I think you guys are putting way too much thought into this!! lol I have smoked many different types of cigars with many different beers. It's all good to me. I am happy smoking a Diesel with a PBR or Miller High Life or a MOW with a Dos Equis or vice versa,lol. So long as the beer is cold and plenty of it and so long as I have plenty of sticks in my herf a dor.....it does not matter to me,lmao!! Good friends...cold beer...strong cigars....always equals good time!!

No offense coachjamie, but just as there are multiple qualities, blends, and origins that make premium cigars unique - there are equivalently as many yeasts, recipes, and fermentation styles of beer. So to compare a miller high life (pilsner style lager) to a Dos Equis (amber style lager) is like comparing a swisher sweet to a backwood in the cigar world. Both are lower quality products and do not even begin to touch the vast array of premium, high quality products within that market.
Suffices to say I think you are missing the point that alot of aficionados and beer snobs will find great ways to stimulate the palate with pairings... But I will agree with you non-the-less... I love beer, and I love cigars!!!!
No offense taken...but I think you missed my point I guess as well,lol. I was not comparing High Life and Dos Equis, I was just meaning to simply say, I enjoy a good cigar no matter what I drink with it. Especially if I have beer! I could care less personally what kind of beer it is, just as long as it is cold! I can enjoy a good micro beer on occasion. Anyway, enjoy your sticks with whatever beer you like!

No problem. I understand what you are saying. And I agree as long as there is a good cigar involved; it is a good time. I was just pointing out that just like a lot of us here take good cigars seriously; there are just as many people that their beers as seriously!!

Squatchito

Beer is my life. It is how I make my living and I know a lot more about beer than I do cigars(most of my limited posts are in "the beer forum" post in the non-cigar related area) but it is rare that I don't enjoy and adult beverage when cigaring it up, and 99% of the time it is with a beer, in fact I am doing so right now(La Harencia Cubano Oscuro Fuente with first Three Flyods Robert the Bruce and now a Bell's Batch 9000. The first made a great pairing. The batch 9000 is too sweet and I should have known better).

In my opinion it is best to utilize the same principles you would use to pair a meal.

Spicy foods go very well with hop forward offerings. IPAs or APAs with spicy habanos. Hop bitterness contrasts nicely with spicy notes. I couldn't resist the Ruination with Ruination pairing many moons ago. That one will most likely blow your palette, but it is fun for the sake of doing it I must admit. The more assertive the spice/pepper nuances, the hoppier the beer. I wouldn't go too crazy with the hops though. Eventually the oils are going to dull your taste buds regardless of carbonation. Sweeter offerings work well with spicy as well. Hefes work well here as well, especially with milder spicy offerings. German hefe yeasts contribute banana and clove notes. Whilst the banana isn't going to do much for you in this area the clove works well with other spicy characteristics. Weizenbocks are great for this with the clovey spice and roasted character that goes well with smoke.

Stouts and Porters are my weapon of choice with chocolaty maduros. I'd look for beers vs. cigars of comparable body. For a medium bodied cigar reach for dry Irish style stouts and porters. For the heftier offerings reach for imperials and oatmeals. Most of these pick up chocolate and coffee nuances on there own, but if you have cigar that has a lot of these flavors as well, consider a beer that uses them as an ingredient. Coffee infused stouts are literally everywhere at this point. Chocolate can be a little tougher to find and is usually only available in seasonal offerings. Founders Breakfast Stout is a remarkable beer that offers both in one convienent package and is an outstanding beer in its own right. If you can get your hands on the elusive(and expensive) Kentucky Breakfast Stout which is aged in bourbon barrels all the better. There are a great many bourbon barrel aged stouts that are out there that work nicely, but a great many of them are overwhelmed by the bourbon flavors so make selections wisely. Baltic Porters, Milk and Cream Stouts are usually sweeter and if your cigar takes on sweeter tones they are worth considering. I often find them too sweet for this application, but there are imperials that can go that way too.

For Connys, I like brown ales. English style personally and lighter in body if possible and I think Nut Browns are ever better. Careful with the American offerings of the style in these situations. As with most beers we are crazy about our tasty, tasty hops and this can make its presence known in our brown ales. Smuttynose Old Brown Dog is my go to brown ale in most situations. Brooklyn makes a nice American style that is very hop conscience.

There are plethora of others of course(Rauchbier and other smoked offerings are a natural option), and like food, there is a beer for every cigar. The fun is in finding them. The most important thing when pairing anything with a drink is to drink something you like. Don't drink something that you are pretty sure you aren't going to dig just because I, a cicerone or sommelier, a magazine or anyone else said it would go good with your cigar, food or weather pattern.

AshMe

jsnake:
No such thing. All beer tastes like urine filtered through a dirty sock that was worn by Rosie ODonnel after she walked accross the desert to get a donut.

Thats amazing. You've actually had the balls to try sock filtered urine before? Give this man a cigar!