Almond Old Fashioned and Perdomo 20th Anniversary Connecticut

After the enjoyable Perdomo the previous day, I was reminded of the Perdomo 20th Anniversary Connecticut that's been in my humidor since August 2019. I decided it was high time to smoke it. To complete the pairing I mixed up a couple Almond Old Fashioned cocktails to enjoy for our "traditional" Sunday Cocktails on the Deck.

Almond Old Fashioned

• 2 oz. Bourbon
• 1 oz. Amaretto
• 3 dashes Angostura Bitters

Mix the ingredients over a large ice rock. 

Express an orange peel over the top and add as a garnish.

The cocktail is sweet but at the same time has a balanced bitterness. I used Laws Four Grain Bourbon which I think adds a touch of sweet citrus to the mix. 

The Perdomo 20th Anniversary Connecticut Epicure is a 6" x 56 Toro. It boasts an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper which was aged for eight years and then spent another eight months aging in bourbon barrels. The binder and fillers hail from Nicaragua.

Despite nearly five years of life in the humidor and jostling from adding and removing cigars, the Perdomo stick was in excellent shape. It was still quite pliable and undamaged. The medium-bodied smoke is buttery, with sweet honey and citrus notes. There's a mild cedar spice in the background throughout the smoke. The cigar burned evenly and without issue. When I came back to it after being inside to mix another round of cocktails the cigar was still fully lit and required no touchups at any point.

The Almond Old Fashioned and Perdomo 20th Anniversary Connecticut cigar each complicated the other quite well.

Cheers!