There is no better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than hoisting a beautiful, dark, rich and creamy pint of stout.  And why not enjoy a nice cigar, too, while celebrating this festive day!

Pairing cigars with stout is not an easy task.  The richness of the stout calls for a cigar with some strength and some sweetness to it so the stout does not overwhelm the flavor and aroma of the smoke.  Both cigar and stout need to complement—not fight with—each other.  Let’s start off with the classic stout for St. Patty’s Day…Guinness.

The bitterness of Guinness combined with the sweetness on the finish makes this a tough pairing.  Two cigars that fit the bill were the Perdomo Champagne Noir and the Brick House Robusto Maduro.  Both of these fine smokes are Nicaraguan and the peppery flavor typical of the region comes through in the background and doesn’t overwhelm the smoke.  Most stouts should be paired with a maduro wrapper—like both of these tasty smokes, as the maduro sweetness definitely complements the stout.  Both the Perdomo and the Brick House have some sweet and dark chocolate notes along with a bit of coffee, which are perfect with a stout.  You can’t go wrong with either of these cigars when trying to pair with the world famous Guinness!

Another classic stout from across the pond is Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout.  Much richer and creamier than Guinness, we don’t see the bitterness that is so obvious in Guinness.  Two perfect cigars to pair up with this very tasty stout are the Quesada Oktoberfest Bavaria and the EP Carillo Core Maduro Churchill.  The Oktoberfest is packed full of rich, full, sweet chocolate and fruit flavors to complement the oatmeal stout.  The Core Maduro has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper that imparts a great sweet taste to the rich Dominican filler. 

There are also many craft stouts out there to rival the European classics.  While sipping on a Left Hand Brewing Milk Stout, I found the same fine smokes that go with Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout to be great pairings.  The best rule of thumb with most stouts is to look for a maduro wrapper.  And look for Dominican filler.  That combination will give you the sweetness and the richness that a stout is asking for.  Along with the choices mentioned above, Arturo Fuente Maduros also go great with most all stouts.  And in the end… the best cigar is always going to be the one you enjoy the most!!

Smoke and enjoy,

Steve Mungeer, Gourmet Supervisor. Find me on Twitter @abccigarmungo