} It took a lot of explaining for them to get the whole concept. It has such an insanely rich and delicious caramel, dark spiced fruits, dried citrus, and vanilla. The Bourbon and old vintage Armagnac notes are in complete harmony on this dram. Having rested during a long, cold winter, Cigar Blend batch #36 is reminiscent of aromatic images of attending a local county fair during the hot summer months. After Magnus' great-grandson rediscovered an old bottle of his ancestor's whiskey amongst family heirlooms, the idea was hatched to revive the art of finished bourbon. The historic producer started in Cincinnati and later reestablished in D.C prior to moving to Holland in 2020. Interestingly, the finish turns into pear after three or so minutes, coming out of nowhere and surprising me. A. Magnus & Co. 'Murray Hill Club' Bourbon Blended Whiskey, Jos. font-display: swap; Cigar Blend Batch #53: "Rock the Cabash" 64.26% ABV. unicode-range: U+0000-00FF, U+0131, U+0152-0153, U+02BB-02BC, U+02C6, U+02DA, U+02DC, U+2000-206F, U+2074, U+20AC, U+2122, U+2191, U+2193, U+2212, U+2215, U+FEFF, U+FFFD; There are occasional bursts of fresh citrus, cherry, and mint that add to the depth and provide interesting contrast to dark oak from the old bourbon. This expression has won a Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2018 and 2019. Cigar Blend batch #38 travels to a different region of the world and initiates a higher proof version of the Caribbean rum-like qualities of Magnus cult classic batch #25, also known as The Pirate Cask. With the aromatic equivalent of the urgency of Bob Marley and the Wailers song Exodus: Power to the People, the high alcohol strength and intensity of batch #28 delivers lots of power with its seasoning herbs and spices of allspice, ginger, nutmeg, lime blossom, ground black pepper, Scotch bonnet pepper, and dark brown sugar. Drop-in your email address and we'll send you Drinkhacker's best reviews, most insightful features, and great extras like exclusive contests and giveaways, once a week. (10) $169.99. The Armagnac cask finish lends fruity notes of fig, prune, and dried apricot. font-display: swap; Past releases were already a mature blend of 11- and 18-year-old bourbons (plus a bit of the standard Joseph Magnus Bourbon), but the latest batches reportedly comprise stocks between 12 and a whopping 20 years old. font-stretch: 100%; If you're not old enough to drink, then you're not old enough to read Breaking Bourbon. font-style: normal; Ive drank a lot of bourbon over the years, and this is one of the best. Each batch is selected from that mother blend and then mixed with regular Joseph Magnus Bourbon, which was finished in sherry (two types) and Cognac casks. 2021 Null Media LLC All Rights Reserved. Six years ago, Fraley wasnt thinking about an easy sell like Underwood, she was simply trying to pay homage to her mentor. This dram is meant to inspire the creativity of poets, artists, and musicians world-wide! Cigar Blend starts with a base of high aged whiskeys ranging in age from about 11 to 18 years old. Nose: Rich, luxurious and almost syrupy. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. A. Magnus & Co. - Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend Straight Bourbon Whiskey (750ml) Liquorland - Waldwick, NJ USA: (NJ) Waldwick Standard delivery 1-2 weeks More shipping info Go to shop $ 299.00 $ 398.67 / 1000ml ex. It's an exceedingly pleasurable pour with incredible deep notes and the absolute perfect pour to enjoy with a quality cigar. font-family: 'Open Sans'; They were thinking I was wanting to do a bourbon-infused cigar, recalls Fraley. A. Magnus & Co. is the second iteration of the Magnus brand. The palate continues with dark molasses, old saddle leather, black cherry Cola, and a whiff of sweet barrel char smoke. Editors Note: This whiskey was provided to us as a review sample by Jos A. Magnus. A. Magnus & Co. - Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend Straight Bourbon Whiskey (750ml), USA: (NJ) Artfully blended to enjoy with a fine cigar. If you couldnt tell by now, the nose is fantastic and keeps evolving, making me want to keep searching for more luscious treasures. font-stretch: 100%; - 91/100, Whisky Advocate, No shipping available Joseph Magnus Bourbon is comprised of 12-year-old bourbon from MGP in Indiana and triple-cask finished over several months in Oloroso sherry, Pedro Ximenez sherry, and cognac casks at the Jos. There is some heat though, so its still bourbon, but the first sip just doesnt do this bourbon justice. The Japanese specialty has burst free of its traditional market and is getting consumers very thirsty indeed. It rapidly developed distribution in much of the United States, and cemented a reputation as a high-end blender and finisher. Paired with a cigar, this became a sweet, mellow and easy-going bourbon that was ideal for the occasion. These cigar blends sell no matter who makes them, how old the liquid is, or how expensive they are even regardless of what barrels they are aged in. font-display: swap; The information Ive provided isminimal at best, but thats pretty much all the information there is about batch 13. Theres a long tradition going back to Cognac and the category needs to be respected., 2014 - 2023 VinePair Inc. Made In NYC, Bartenders: Now's Your Chance To Experience Barbados, How the Cigar Batch Became a Bourbon Industry Sensation | VinePair, https://vinepair.com/articles/bourbon-cigar-batch/, wbs_cat Spirit, wbs_type Bourbon, wbs_type Whiskey, bourbon collecting, cigar, industry trends, whiskey, Ask a Beer Pro: Why Is It Important to Have Foam on Beer? More shipping infoShipping info, Shipping From $15 Batch #35, aka The Nutcracker, is arguably the nuttiest expression in the Cigar Blend series of batches to date, offering notes of the much prized nutty rancio from the Armagnac casks, as well as Marzipan, Nutella, light brown baking spice, and baklava with toasted walnuts and orange blossom honey on the nose. unicode-range: U+0000-00FF, U+0131, U+0152-0153, U+02BB-02BC, U+02C6, U+02DA, U+02DC, U+2000-206F, U+2074, U+20AC, U+2122, U+2191, U+2193, U+2212, U+2215, U+FEFF, U+FFFD; This batch has a host of 1960s technicolor aromas on the nose such as ochre dried apricot, burgundy cherry pie, magenta green mint, and cream-colored ginger snap cookie dough with powdered cinnamon. Cigar Blend Batch #47 is to date the darkest of the dark and also the highest proof batch to date. /* cyrillic */ More shipping infoShipping info, Spirits shipped in California only Dried stone fruit, dark berries, and a table full of rich English desserts add a silky, elegant sweetness. A combination of award-winning Joseph Magnus Bourbon and 11 and 18-year-old whiskeys to assume bold, rich aromas of tobacco, spice, leather, vanilla, blanched almonds, and toffee. ), In addition to the age of the eaux-de-vie, brandies that are also distilled on the lees often have a tendency to develop a very elusive yet prized aroma called rancio, explains Fraley, noting how the word designates an aroma that develops from the oxidized esters of fatty acids and gallic tannins found in the oak. A. Magnus & Co. | A Brand | Designed & Developed by Kynda, Joseph Magnus Bourbon and Gin Score Big at International Spirits Competitions, Reconnecting Our Brand to the Legacy of Jos. Our pick of the litter was Batch 27, dubbed Sweet One by Nancy and finished in Armagnac cask #8 (for what thats worth). 142, Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend, Joseph A. Magnus, USA: (CA) Ali Anderson, general manager at Joseph Magnus, said all of the Cigar Blend batches are part of a mother blend of 16 bourbon barrels ranging in age from 12 to 20 years old. The age really shines through with abundant, but not overdone, oak and spice presence with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, coffee, and a lot of dark chocolate. What came off as aggressive in an initial pour, in other words, meant that it had the fortitude to hold its own next to the tobacco. Less predictably, we had a day we will remember fondly the rest of our lives. Notes of golden raisins, vanilla custard, rum cake, and chocolate-covered toffee add ample sweetness which is tempered with tobacco, black tea, and a bit of licorice. porttitor lobortis. /* vietnamese */ I immediately thought of a moist pound cake soaked in amaretto, which explodes with flavor after you pop it into your mouth. font-family: 'Open Sans'; This is the inaugural batch of our special Michigan state-only edition of Jos. The bottle we opened that December day on the side of the river is batch no. The flavor profile varies from batch to batch, but the companys ultimate goal is to create a blend that pairs well with a cigar.Batch 24 succeeds in reaching that goal, with a savory, almost tobacco-inspired sip. Thanks for subscribing and watch for your first newsletter soon! Overall its rich and intriguing, inviting you in for more. font-family: 'Open Sans'; Our Move to Michigan | Reconnecting Our Brand to the Legacy of Jos. } unicode-range: U+0370-03FF; Please check your entries and try again. Joseph Magnus Bourbon has received numerous accolades at the highest levels of competition: Double Gold in 2016 and 2017 in both San Francisco World Spirits Competition and New York World Wine & Spirits Competition and Gold Medal, Best in Class Whiskey 2016 at ADI, to name a few. Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend Bourbon is a high end finished blend that achieves what it sets out to, but comes in at a steep price and significant variation from batch to batch. /* greek-ext */ font-style: normal; It should also be noted that by clicking the buylink towards the bottom of this review our site receives a small referral payment whichhelps to support, but not influence, our editorial and other costs. As the creator of it, I can assure you that it was not made up to be a gimmick in the least, Nancy Fraley, master blender at Joseph A. Magnus & Co., told r/bourbon earlier this year. Much of the same savory herb notes as batch #25 The Pirate Cask are found on the palate here, but this time with Jamaican Blue Mountain roasted coffee beans, more bouquet garni (think an herb mixture of thyme, parsley, basil, rosemary, black peppercorn, lemon balm, and tarragon), and with even more high ester rum funk, overripe tropical fruit, and thick molasses notes. Every batch is a blend of various aged bourbons (I believe sourced from MGP) and finishes, leading to variation across batches. (Though, as Fraley admitted to me, she doesnt use the secondary barrels equally, instead utilizing Armagnac for 95 percent of the finishing profile.). His distillerys release offers notes of spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. A Magnus announced the autumn series of its Cigar Blend Bourbons, Batches #53-58, which are part of a "coupe mere" or "mother blend" of 16 bourbon barrels ranging from 14 to 20 years old. To that end, the price is steep for a bourbon you dont quite know what you are going to get, though the effort is there and the flavor profile is going to be unabashedly unique. First released the late summer of 2016, Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend Bourbon would be composed of 11-year-old bourbon and 18-year-old high-rye bourbon finished in sherry, Cognac, and especially Armagnac casks, the older the better, and preferably ones that had formerly held eaux-de-vie made from Baco 22A grapes. Batch #47 aka Beatnik Breakfast will make you howl for more! src: url(/fonts.gstatic.com/s/opensans/v34/memvYaGs126MiZpBA-UvWbX2vVnXBbObj2OVTSKmu0SC55K5gw.woff2) format('woff2'); If youre a cigar smoker, especially, you could do worse than to find yourself a bottle. A. Magnus, 6 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails Joseph Magnus Would Have Loved, 7 Last Minute Gift Ideas for Whiskey Enthusiasts. Maybe its because Ive been drinking pear brandy lately? Manage Cookies Accept & Continue. According to Master Blender Nancy Fraley, the new Cigar Blends have the greatest range of proofs and aroma profiles yet in the series. A. Magnus & Co. distillery was re-established in 2015, but the legacy of Joseph Magnus Bourbon dates back to the 1890s. As the second highest proof Cigar Blend Bourbon released to date, Batch #44 is sure to soothe the aromatic dark side of any Bourbon fan! Batch 13, my first experience with Cigar Blend and the focus of this review, is a blend of 13 and 20-year bourbon finished in Sherry, Armangac, and Cognac casks, a very unique set of finishes in bourbon today. My fear is that I dont want to see these cigar blends become gimmicky, she says. font-weight: 400; You might think that the website would offer a great opportunity to market the product, but I guess not. font-style: normal; } src: url(/fonts.gstatic.com/s/opensans/v34/memvYaGs126MiZpBA-UvWbX2vVnXBbObj2OVTSGmu0SC55K5gw.woff2) format('woff2'); Classification: Straight Bourbon Finished in Armagnac, Sherry, and Cognac Casks, Distillery: Sourced (from undisclosed distillery[ies] in Indiana), Age: NAS (Website states a blend of Joseph Magnus Bourbon and an 18 year old bourbon, which is then finished in Armagnac casks). Today its made of 14.5- and 20-year-old Kentucky and Indiana-sourced bourbon. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. A. Magnus & Co. distillery in Washington, D.C. font-style: normal; Joseph A. Magnus Cigar Blend Batch 124 750ml. That gentle char, smoke, and chocolate finish just keeps going and going. Theres a light tingle for sure, but its so gentle and warming. After 25 minutes of sitting, the nose is virtually absent of any heat. Released earlier this year, an entirely new type of barrel was created for the whiskey, with Buzzards Roost working with Independent Stave Company to cold-smoke American oak barrels with aged cigar tobacco leaves.