CAO & Flying Dog: Art of Craft, Part 1

This summer, General Cigar decided to do something a little different. They teamed up with Flying Dog Brewery to pair up 4 CAO blends with 4 of Flying Dogs beers, creating the “Art of Craft” series. I was surprised to get a sampler pack of both cigars and beers at my house last month, but if someone wanted to influence what material gets posted on this blog, sending free cigars and beer is one strong method. I did the pairings in the order they were shown in the CAO sampler box…

CAO Brazilia & Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter

Vitola: Gol!
Size: 5” x 56 ring gauge

First up on this experimental pairing series is a classic CAO blend, the Brazilia, along with a beer that should be right up my alley, the Gonzo Imperial Porter. Here’s what the press release had to say:

Both big and bold, the bitter coffee and chocolate flavors in the CAO Brazilia are mimicked by the same robust notes in Gonzo.

I tasted the beer first and found that, yes, in fact is was a bitter brew…dark, rich, and full of flavors of semi-sweet chocolate and even an essence of coffee. The Brazilia lit up with similar dark flavors, although more on the coffee side with the cigar, along with sweeter flavors of raisin and dried berries. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had a Brazilia, but so far it’s pretty much as I remembered it. The Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper lent plenty of sweetness and pepper to balance out the Porter’s more bitter notes, making for a truly excellent pairing.

It had been far too long since I had fired up a Brazilia. This is one blend that definitely hasn’t suffered under General Cigar’s watch over the CAO brand.

I don’t know how the other pairings will end up being, but this one was inspired.

CAO Gold & Flying Dog Raging Bitch Belgian-Style IPA

Vitola: Robusto
Size: 5” x 50 ring gauge

Next up in the box was the CAO Gold, which meant breaking open a bottle of Raging Bitch. First thing many men might think when they hear the name of this beer is “My Ex!” but there is a dog on the label so we’ll go with that:

The wildly complex hop bitterness and fruity sweet Belgian yeast notes in Raging Bitch are soothed by CAO Gold’s caramel creaminess.

This will end up being my first CAO Gold is probably 8 or 9 years (Gold Vintage doesn’t count). To me, it looks about the same as it always did: good looking Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, though not pristine…it had plenty of dark smudging and mottling on it that you wouldn’t see on more expensive Shade leaves. It smelled clean and grassy. The filler and binder on this are NIcaraguan, with a foot that smelled pungent and earthy.

I poured some of the beer into a glass so I could get a better picture of the look and consistency of it. It was a light amber color, darker than what you might expect from a mass-market Pilsner, but lighter than, say, a good bourbon. The aroma was an in-your-face grapefruit, but I sniffed some more and got more hoppiness in it.

I have to admit to not being a big fan of either the CAO Gold or grapefruit, but that’s what I got today. The Gold was light and grassy at the outset, with an increase in earthiness and some understated sweetness as it went, while the Raging Bitch had a very prominent grapefruit citrus taste at first that ended a little milder as the flavors of cigar and beer continued. While not my favorite pairing, I can see how these two would play well together if these flavors are more in your wheelhouse.

Part 2 of this series will be posted soon…