FBurgNews

https://fburgnews.com Fredericksburg's Community News Blog Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:05:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 The Overnighter: A Bold Cocktail and Cigar Pairing http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/2026/07/the-overnighter-bold-cocktail-and-cigar.html Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:05:05 +0000 http://fburgnews.com/?guid=eefde2844c331268d262d8060fbe6a87 The Overnighter cocktail is a four-ingredient drink that’s right up my alley as a fan of bitter and sweet combinations. It’s a flavorful, well-balanced cocktail that’s every bit as enjoyable as it is easy to make.

The Overnighter
1.5 oz Rye Whiskey
.75 oz 22.5 ml Campari
1 oz Dry Vermouth
.25 oz Bénédictine
Orange wheel for garnish
Combine the liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until well chilled. Strain over a large ice cube into a rocks glass and garnish with the orange wheel. Some recipes call for a smoked orange wheel, which would undoubtedly add another layer of complexity.

I used 90-proof Sazerac Rye for my drink. The Overnighter is moderately strong and meant to be sipped slowly, allowing its contrasting bitter and sweet notes to unfold with each taste.

I’ve seen some versions of the recipe call for ¾ ounce of Bénédictine. I tried one using ½ ounce and found the resulting drink a bit too sweet for my taste. The quarter-ounce measure keeps the herbal liqueur in balance, adding depth without overwhelming the other ingredients.

A bold cocktail like the Overnighter calls for an equally bold, well-balanced cigar. I reached for the El Pulpo by Artesano del Tobacco, a cigar I’ve enjoyed often and was one of my favorite cigars of 2025.

The cigar’s rich notes of dark chocolate, black coffee, and roasted nuts paired beautifully with the Overnighter. It had been a while since I’d smoked an El Pulpo, despite still having an unopened box resting in the humidor. This smoke served as a welcome reminder to crack open that box in the near future.

Cheers!

]]> Toasted Oak, a Cigar, and a Summer Evening http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/2026/07/toasted-oak-cigar-and-summer-evening.html Sat, 25 Jul 2026 14:56:10 +0000 http://fburgnews.com/?guid=0ade8db45b31cf6da2c5e8121dbac208 Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel Bourbon to me. Knowing we share a similar appreciation for well-crafted bourbons, it seemed like a recommendation worth following. During a recent it out of state road trip, I made a quick shopping stop and spotted a bottle on the shelf. Even though it’s readily available at home, I picked it up while the recommendation was still fresh in my mind.

I cracked open the bottle one evening last week and enjoyed a pour while relaxing indoors. After an evening with the bourbon on its own, the question became which cigar would best complement its rich toasted sweetness.

We’ve enjoyed a brief respite from the summer heat over the past few days, making time on the porch with a cigar and bourbon especially enjoyable. It also provided the perfect opportunity to pair the Elijah Craig with an E.P. Carrillo Pledge Purple.

Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel Bourbon uses the same mash bill as several of Heaven Hill’s other bourbons. The change occurs in the finishing process. After the usual maturation process, the bourbon spends additional time in a second, custom-toasted new oak barrel. The lighter toast is said to emphasize sweeter, dessert-like flavors rather than the deeper oak influence associated with a heavier char. The bourbon is bottled at 94 proof.

The aroma from the glass is quite rich, with delightful notes of caramel, vanilla, oak, and even some chocolate. The first sip brings baking spices. They soon give way to toffee and caramel, along with lightly toasted wood. The finish lingers with cocoa, oak, and a pleasing hint of smokiness. From the start, I was thinking not only of suitable companion cigars, but also that the toasted bourbon would make a great Old Fashioned.

The E.P. Carrillo Pledge Purple has been sitting in the humidor since I purchased a box in March. The Purple was created to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the highly regarded Pledge line. It uses the same Havana-seed Connecticut wrapper from that original crop which has now been aged an additional five years. Beneath that well-aged wrapper lies a Mexican binder and Nicaraguan fillers from Estelí, Condega, and Ometepe. The Toro vitola is sharply boxed and measures 6 x 54.

The Pledge Purple profile is complex yet refined and balanced. Throughout the smoke, a blend of cedar, roasted nuts, espresso, cocoa, and mild spice treat the taste buds. The overall impression is creamy and earthy, with a mild natural sweetness to balance the bitter notes.

Enjoyed together, the caramel and toasted notes of the bourbon seemed to accentuate the natural sweetness of the cigar’s aged wrapper. Each leaves a lingering finish that complements the other. Though the bourbon and cigar offered contrasting flavor profiles, they remained remarkably balanced. Neither dominated the pairing, allowing each to complement the other while retaining its own distinct character.

Throughout the 90-minute smoke, I also delighted in the welcome weather. A July evening with temperatures below 80° and humidity under 50 percent provided the perfect backdrop for the pairing. It proved to be one of those evenings where neither the cigar nor the bourbon demanded center stage. Instead, each quietly elevated the other, making for an exceptionally relaxing summer evening.

Cheers!

]]> A Pairing Rooted in Tradition http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/2026/07/a-pairing-rooted-in-tradition.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:53:38 +0000 http://fburgnews.com/?guid=34d59678d52027cbd71d12e8e28cfd59 Perhaps I’ve been feeling nostalgic about our visits to Italy, or perhaps the warm summer evenings have simply had me reaching for lighter, shorter cigar and beverage pairings. Whatever the reason, I’ve been enjoying sipping various amari and other digestif-style beverages after dinner. On one recent evening, I reached for a bottle of Amaro Nonino Quintessentia. Fittingly, I paired it with a Toscano Antico.

Amaro Nonino is an Italian herbal liqueur built on a base of grappa, the grape-pomace spirit for which the Nonino family is renowned. The grappa is infused with a wide assortment of herbs, flowers, bark, and roots before being refined with aged Nonino grape distillate.

The amaro offers a pleasing balance of sweetness and bitterness, with the sweeter notes holding a slight edge. Orange peel, honey, alpine herbs, and a gently bitter marmalade note lead the profile. Though most often served as a digestif, Amaro Nonino is also consumed as an aperitif, most often in a cocktail such as the Amaro Nonino Spritz or a Paper Plane.

Whenever we visit Italy, one of my first stops is a tabaccheria to pick up a few Toscano cigars. Inevitably, a handful make the trip home with me. The Toscano Antico featured here has been resting in my humidor since our Fall 2024 visit.

Toscano Antico is one of the bolder smokes in the Toscano lineup. The wrapper is made from select North American Kentucky, fire-cured for over 30 days using hickory and oak. The binder leaves are a blend of Italian Kentucky, primarily from Tuscany, and North American Kentucky grown in Kentucky and Tennessee. The North American wrapper and extended aging produce a more assertive smoke than classics such as the Toscano Classico.

A Toscano Antico enjoyed alongside Amaro Nonino Quintessentia makes for more than a harmonious pairing. It feels rooted in tradition. Sipping an Italian amaro while smoking Italy’s iconic fire-cured cigar evokes a shared heritage that extends well beyond flavor.

Neither is particularly sweet, nor aggressively bitter. Instead, each occupies the broad middle ground where wood, herbs, spice, and restrained sweetness overlap. Together, they create a pairing that feels unmistakably Italian.

The Toscano Antico opens with the unmistakable aroma of fire-cured Kentucky tobacco. Campfire smoke, toasted oak, black pepper, and dry earth establish a rustic foundation that is bold without becoming harsh. As the cigar settles, notes of leather, roasted walnuts, bitter cocoa, and espresso emerge, adding depth while retaining its characteristically savory profile.

The initial flavors of this particular cigar were softer than I remember from freshly purchased examples. That gentle rounding of the profile is exactly what I expected after two years of rest, as the flavors have had time to meld and mellow.

The first sip of the Amaro Nonino introduced orange peel, honey, alpine herbs, and warm baking spices to the mix. The honey lends just enough sweetness to soften the sharper edges of the Kentucky tobacco.

One of the more surprising aspects of the pairing is how it changes both components. The cigar becomes slightly rounder and more refined, while the amaro loses much of its perceived sweetness, revealing additional layers of herbs and spice.

As with my earlier pairing of Southern Draw Evening Primrose and Amaro Montenegro, I found that those moments are what make pairing cigars with amari so enjoyable. Neither simply accompanies the other; rather, each subtly reshapes the experience of the other. Discovering those changes is part of the pleasure.

Midway through the smoke, the cigar truly hits its stride. Deeper cocoa and espresso notes emerge. The interplay of bitter cocoa and espresso from the cigar complements the orange marmalade, toasted oak, vanilla, and herbal complexity of the amaro. Even in the finish, the flavors linger on the palate with lasting wood smoke, herbs, citrus, and sweet nuts.

As the cigar neared its end, nearly ninety minutes after lighting, roasted wood and black pepper reached their peak. The warm herbs and bright citrus of the Nonino refreshed the palate, keeping the final third from becoming heavy.

I found myself slowing down, allowing several minutes between draws and small sips. The Toscano Antico burned slowly and steadily, requiring little attention beyond simply savoring the flavors.

Toscano Antico and Amaro Nonino proved to be an exceptionally satisfying after-dinner combination. More than simply complementing one another, they captured something of the relaxed rhythm of evenings we’ve enjoyed in Italy.

As the sun slowly disappeared beyond the trees, I found myself thinking once again of the sunsets over the canals of Venice. While I may have been sitting on a screened porch in rural Virginia rather than beside an Italian canal, for an hour and a half, the pairing brought those memories pleasantly back to life.

Cheers!

]]>