Distinguished Ruffian

Swallowed by the Sea Monster

Ballast photoFolks, put on your sea legs! This week I am reviewing Sea Monster Imperial Stout by Ballast Point Brewing of San Diego.

While fishing around for a dark beer, I was lured in by the bright color of an anglerfish. At that moment, I wasn’t sure if I was hunter or the hunted. So I defaulted in confidence that I was the hunter, reeled in a bottle of this Sea Monster, and hurried home to give it a shot.

Upon opening the beer I got hit with pleasant scents of coffee and light chocolate. When I poured the beer into my glass, I wished I had my eyes shined like Riddick, because this monster poured pitch black. At the top of the glass, caramel brown foam formed, giving it a very attractive dual tone appearance.

When this beer first hit my lips, I was immediately taken aback. The scent definitely matched the flavor. Coffee and chocolate were the first things I recognized followed by a slight bitter finish. I relaxed and enjoyed it to the very last drop. That was until I noticed I was a little too relaxed. I ran back to the bottle and looked for the ABV. That’s when I knew, I was the hunted. At a healthy 10% ABV, this Sea Monster had me right where it wanted me. Yet, I had no regrets.

Overall this is a good beer for all of us dark beer lovers out there. Proceed with caution on this one. It will not be an all-night beer but, it is definitely a good beer to have 1-2 of without over doing it.

Ruffians I recommend you go pull this Sea Monster from the “drink”. Just don’t let it drink you. Cheers

 

Rating: 4 ½ / 5  Pints

ABV: 10%

Brewery: Ballast Point Brewery

Website: http://www.ballastpoint.com

Whiff Out Ashtray Deodorizer

IMG_5805A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Michael from Whiff Industries with the opportunity to test out their Whiff Out Ashtray Deodorizer. At this point the only thing I knew about them was the bit I had seen on Insatgram so I decided to do a little research before the samples arrived and headed over to their website.

I was surprised to find out that they started in Pennsylvania over 50 years ago with the idea of making affordable deodorizers using only natural ingredients. While spending time over the years creating home and industrial deodorizers in the 1990’s they were approached to create a private label carpet powder. Soon they began offering custom scented deodorizing powders, still using the purest natural ingredients followed by the creation of the Whiff Out Ashtray Deodorizer.

I smoke in my car and in enclosed spaces nearly everyday so when the Whiff Out arrived I was fairly anxious to try it out and see how it would work. To avoid overloading the car I sprinkled just a bit (maybe a teaspoon) of the fine powder on the floor of the drivers and passenger side figuring I could always add more if it wasn’t enough. About an hour later I had to go for a few errands and was surprised that the smell of smoke was no longer in my car. For once it didn’t smell like an ashtray but had a light clean smell to the air that was not just cigarette smell covered by perfume.

Next up was the small room environment. For this I used a little more Whiff Out was used in the ashtray mixed with a bit of sand. The ratio was about ¼ Whiff Out to ¾ sand. It was allowed to sit for a day before smoking in the room again. When I returned the next day there was the same pleasant odor as the car. After smoking a few cigars that evening and returning to the room the next morning I discovered that the smell was gone again.

In these two environments, Whiff Out is a great working product. It has a great smell, is reasonably priced, and doesn’t take up a lot of room for storage in your cabinet. Not to mention it’s made in America, they use recycled packaging on all of their products, use natural materials to produce eco friendly products, and all products are manufactured using 100% renewable wind energy for all electricity uses.

 

Website: http://whiffindustries.com

 

Where To Buy: Coming soon to CigarsInternational.com, Cigars.com, pipesandcigars.com, meierdutch.com

 

Cost: $7.50 – $30.00

 

Rating: 4.9 out of 5 pints.

Jericho Hill Willy Lee by Crowned Heads

20150127_150037The Jericho Hill was the Crowned Heads fourth regular production release as well as their second release out of the My Father’s factories in Estelí, Nicaragua, following the Las Calaveras.  The Jericho Hill line was inspired by “The Man in Black”, Johnny Cash’s song, “The Cocaine Blues”.

Pre Light Inspection

The Willy Lee is a beautiful box press with a deep dark maduro wrapper that has a decent amount of little veins, and some noticeable tooth to it.  The pre light draw was very smooth and had rich tobacco, cocoa, and a hint of spice to it.

1st third

Upon lighting, I was immediately impressed with the draw and classic My Father’s spice and pepper.  There was leather, wood, and a sweet molasses notes that I really enjoyed.  The pepper and spice remained on my palate between draws.  The leather and wood really took center stage for the first third of the cigar.  The strength was medium, and the burn and ash were on point as well.

2nd third

The strength has now begun to pick up.  The flavors really started to evolve.  I have noticed that the pepper and molasses slowed down and cocoa and leather have taken center stage.  I’ve also noticed a slight citrus note.  Still a nice amount of pepper on the retrohale.  The ash has fallen off and the burn needed a minor touch up about halfway.

Final third20150127_155304

The strength has jumped into full gear, changing from medium to full flavor.  I started to notice some tar bubbling out of the punch cut opening with about 3 inches of the cigar left.  The cigar has now taken on a bitter tar taste.  I tried my best to smoke through it, but had to put it down about a half inch away from the band.  This is very unfortunate.  The other vitolas I have smoked in this line smoked perfect from start to finish.  While this will not change my attitude toward Crowned Heads cigars, this particular one ended early for me.

Overview

The whole cigar has amazing transitions in flavor and strength.  However, this one wasn’t what I am used to when I smoke a Jericho Hill.  It was an explosion of great flavors that I enjoy.  I have yet to smoke anything from Crowned Heads that didn’t leave me wanting more in my humidor.  I recommend the 4 pack sampler with all the vitolas of the Jericho Hill line.

20150127_155614

This cigar would go well with a stout beer or a good scotch.  I of course paired it with a local craft root beer.

 

Jericho Hill Willy is a 2 out of 5 pints for this cigar in particular.  The tar issue made a serious impact on the 2 pints score.  Still going to smoke more of these, just maybe not the Willy Lee.

 

 

Website: Crownheads.com

Size: 6”

Ring Gauge: 54

Wrapper: Mexican San Andres

Binder: Nicaragua

Filler: Nicaragua

Vitola: Toro Box Press

Rating 2 out of 5 pints.