Blade and Bow Bourbon with BLTC Super Deluxe

After a fun morning of shooting Saturday, I retired to the back deck for some long-awaited treats before dinner. I'd recently picked up a new cigar from Black Label Trading Company, and had an interesting bottle of bourbon waiting in the wings.

Blade and Bow Bourbon is one that, to my chagrin, I've never picked up before. Our state-controlled liquor stores offered it for 20% off in a one-day sale recently and that led me to look into it. Under Blade and Bow's Solera system of aging, older barrels are never emptied fully before refilling. Each barrel of Blade and Bow contains some portion of the last bourbon produced at the iconic Stitzel-Weller distillery before it closed in 1992.

The bourbon is very smooth, with notes of caramel, white fruit, crisp grains and a subtle oak char. There's a hint of spiciness, but it remains a cool, easy drinking bourbon. It will most certainly be a frequent resident of my whiskey cabinet.

Black Label Trading Company Super Deluxe is a new, and very limited, release from the boutique cigar maker. The box-pressed 5 ¼ x 52 Robusto features a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over an Ecuadorian habano binder. The filler tobaccos come from Nicaragua. The cigar was also released in Petite Corona (4 ½ x 48) and a Lancero (7 x 42) vitolas, all box-pressed. The cigar produces deep, earthy and spicy notes. It's a full bodied, bold smoke with copious smoke output.

Anyone following along will notice I've been mentioning Black Label Trading Company cigars frequently. I find their smokes hit my preferences for dark, full-bodied cigars. I'm not sure if Super Deluxe will replace the BLTC Last Rites or Bishops Blend as my current favorites of their releases. However, I still have more Super Deluxe in my humidor to enjoy and confirm or reverse that thought. I enjoyed the Super Deluxe down to the hot nub. Of course, that gave me the time to pour more of the excellent bourbon.