Cigar Review: Keg by Quesada Cigars

• Vitola: Lonsdale
• 6” x 44 ring gauge
• MSRP $5.95
• Purchased at Silo Cigars

Background

Cigar and beer pairing has been around seemingly forever…at least since the advent of “craft beer” and the cigar boom, both of which seemed to really get going in the early ‘90s. Quesada made their most notable foray into the “cigars and beer” segment when they started making the Oktoberfest line several years ago. It was blended specifically to go with the marzen style beer that is typically consumed during the German holiday period. It has been a very well-received line of cigars and probably much of the inspiration for other companies to do the same type of thing (I’m looking at you and your “Craft Beer” series, Perdomo…and at you and your Dragon’s Milk thing, Asylum!). I guess Quesada thought it might be okay to hit this tap again, too.

Quesada Keg was produced for the first time in 2015, specifically to coincide with St. Patrick’s Day and to pair with Guinness-style Stouts. To that end it has a much fuller body than the typical Quesada, being mainly Nicaraguan tobacco, instead of the company’s oft-used Dominican leaf. Quesada teamed up with the Plascencia family in Nicaragua and the cigar uses Nica filler and binder, along with a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper.

For 2016, three sizes were produced…Gordo and Toro sizes, as well as the Lonsdale I’m smoking today. Also, the packaging and banding was upgraded significantly. I bought my single sample of Quesada Keg at Silo Cigars in the Knoxville, Tennessee, area and this is my first time smoking this blend. (Some background for this article was taken from the halfwheel.com news story.) Also, in a complete coincidence…totally unplanned…Jon Siddle reviewed the Keg last week. Depending on what else I had ready to review, I might put my review of the same off a little bit, but…reviewable cigars seem to be a little tight for me right now, so…

Prelight

The Keg comes in…well, a box/jar shaped like a beer keg. It’s not too unlike the Tatuaje Black Label jar packaging in some ways. The banding of the cigars is meant to evoke the Guinness stout label…and by “evoke,” what I really mean to say is…it’s pretty much a direct copy of that Guiness label. This label says “Quesada” and “Keg” on two lines with “Premium Cigar” arched along the top and “Estelí, Nicaragua” along the bottom, but the placement and information conveyed is pretty much the same as the beer label. The Quesada leaf logo is in place of the Guinness harp and “19” and “74” appear on either side of the logo instead of “17” and “59.” Homage or rip-off will entirely depend on who is looking…good artists copy, great artists steal…or however that quote goes.

The tobacco leaf under the band is just about as dark as the beer that comes from the keg, though…I’ve always said Guinness has the look and consistency of used motor oil (but in a good way) and this cigar shares the look, at least. It was a dark chocolate brown with some darker mottling, a couple larger veins and a very oily feel. Giving it a good sniff, I picked up mostly earth on the wrapper, but also touches of wood and coffee. The foot had a richer earthiness with a touch of sweetness to it. The cold draw was very good and I picked up flavors of earth, coffee, leather, and cocoa powder.

It’s as good a time as any to remind everyone of one of my reviewing rules: the only thing I pair with a reviewed cigar is water. This is to allow the flavor of the cigar to rule on my palate for the duration of the smoke. I love a good Bourbon, tea, cola or coffee with a cigar, but all of them bring their own flavor components to the party…in my reviews I like to focus on how the cigar stands on its own. So, I will not be pairing this with Guinness or any other Stout today…the blend either stands or falls on its own.

Flavor

I got the Quesada Keg burning and was greeted by a solid coffee flavor component up front. There was a touch of sweetness to it and a good amount of earth and leather backing it all up. I got a peppery finish and even more pepper on the retrohale.

As I headed into the second third, I noted that the body of the Quesada Keg was in the lower end of the full range. I got continued coffee flavors leading the way, though the sweetness increased as the burn went along, with a pleasant semi-sweet chocolate note. Pepper continued to be a low burn.

The pepper increased a bit in the final third, as did the dark chocolate flavors. The coffee notes stayed pretty level throughout, letting the other flavors dance around, diving in and out of my attention.

Construction

I saw excellent construction with a very even burn line, excellent draw and solid ash in quite windy weather.

Value

The price of this Lonsdale is one step short of “value priced” and the Toro and Gordo are definitely not out of line. Very good pricing for a very tasty cigar.

Conclusions

This was a very good cigar that just got better the further it went. When I started smoking it, I felt like it was the same old experience with Pennsylvania Broadleaf…good, but not nearly as good as the Connecticut-grown version. Whether it was the blend or increased fermentation for the wrapper, though, by the end I was thoroughly enjoying the cigar and ready to declare it my all-time favorite Pennsylvania-wrapped stick. The blend was also more complex than I thought it would be with a steady progression of flavors changing moderately throughout. As an added note, I would guess this would pair very well with a Stout. Seek this one out if you’re a fan of Nicaraguan-based Maduros or dark beer.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10