Eldondo´s Blog

01/29 - These boots are made for walking...

2012-02-02T06:29:00.000+01:00

I bought some new walking boots last week so I took the chance at the weekend to make a little tour. I planned to walk from Hundwil to the so called Hundwiler Höhe, making it a round trip of app. 3 to 4 hours. On my way I´d to change my plans because there was too much snow to go ahead... definitely no chance without snow shoes... the snow was hip-deep. So I turned around, fought my way back and walked another way. Finally I also ended up with a trip which was very close to 4 hours...

Unfortunately it was very cloudy so I couldn´t make some impressing shots as last time but I hope you enjoy it anyhow...

These boots are made for walking - my new Meindl walking boots

That´s where I wanna go

Bolivar Petit Corona, 1998

Pre-tasting 184 years of Whisky

2012-01-30T07:12:00.000+01:00

Due to our upcoming Glen Grant Masterclass Tasting with following line-up I did another pre-tasting to take some notes:

Glen Grant 19 yo., 1991 - 2011, 54.9 %, bottled by The Whisky Chamber
Glen Grant 36 yo., 1973 -2010, 53.6 %, bottled by The Whisky Agency
Glen Grant 37 yo, 1973 - 2010, 46.0 %, bottled by THOSOP Belgium
Glen Grant 38 yo., 1972 -2010, 44.7 %, bottled by Duncan Taylor
Glen Grant, 54 yo., 1957 - 2011, 40.0 %, bottled by Gordon & McPhail

Definetely an interesting line-up... let´s start this pre-tasting with the youngest, a 19 yo. from The Whisky Chamber.

Nose: Vanilla, refreshing fruitiness, almond

Taste: Bourbon sweetness, vanilla, Crème brûlée, charred oak, hints of smoke

Aftertaste: Long and creamy, fruits

Now it´s getting older, we jump to the year 1973... oh, my year of birth. 2 bottles from this year: a 36 yo. and a 37 yo.

First of them will be the 36 yo. bottled by The Whisky Agency.

Nose: Honey, rum raisins, liquorice

Taste: Dried fruits, a mix of herbs and spices, hints of cinnamon, some liquorice, oak, some fruitiness (after a while in the glass) of overripe apples

Aftertaste: Medium long, seems a bit "rough" (even though it´s 36 yo.), spices

The second one, 37 yo. bottled by THOSOP, Belgium.

Nose: Overripe fruits, wax, honey, liquorice

Taste: Dried fruits, creamy, almond, nutmeg, mix of spices, polished wood

Aftertaste: Long with some spices, oak

The next one, 38 yo. and bottled by Duncan Taylor... let´s pour it in the glass.

Nose: Dried fruits, decent oak notes, bloomy

Taste: White pepper, oak, nutmeg, rum raisins, spices, plum, dark chocolate

Aftertaste: Perfect balance between spices and sweetness, very, very long....

And now... the highlight of the tasting range: a 54 yo, bottled in 2011 by Gordon & McPhail.

Nose: Dried fruits, fresh ground black pepper, buckeye

Taste: Interaction of sweet- and bitterness, oak, rum raisins and plum in the background, very decent smoky aromas, spices?

Aftertaste: Long and warming, wood, hints of smoke

A very interesting range of 5 fantastic whiskys, I´m really looking forward how the participants of this event will like them.

01/25 - Turning older again

2012-01-26T06:38:00.000+01:00

Another year passed by... time´s running faster and faster... so I decided to take this day off from work and slow down a bit... to enjoy this day.

I thought a while about what to smoke today and I decided to take a special cigar that my friend Koen from Belgium gifted me a few months back. It´s a Partagas Palmas Grandes from the late 60s or early 70s... the really great thing is that I still have a partial box of the same cigar from the early 80s, so I can do a vertical tasting and compare those two. That´s my plan and that´s what I did.

front: late 60s or early 70s ; back: early 80s

front: 60s or late 70s ; back: early 80s

I started with the older one, the cigar which´s older than I am... it´s always a big joy to find or get those kinda treasures.

A fantastic smoke

The smell... you don´t believe it, but the smell of this app. 40 yo. cigar is simply amazing. Close your eyes and take a sniff... and see yourself standing again in the old library... it reminds of my visit in the world-famous Monastery Library in St. Gallen. The smell of the old and polished wood, the old papers... Opening the eyes brings me back to my office and made me firing it up.

The first puffs... AMAZING... again: I don´t have the right words to describe this incredible flavor... it´s vintage flavor. People who know that taste and like it as I do know what I´m talking about. It´s joined by some light aromas of wood, some beany flavors... what a creamy smoke... it´s wheedling the palate...

I thought of opening a bottle of Champagne to combine it with this cigar but I decided to have it just with water. I don´t wanna influence the taste, I can have the bubbly later. It would be a sin to destroy those fine flavors.

Still in the first third... the vintage flavor is in the background, some kinda basic aroma... herbs are coming up, sautéed mushrooms....

The second third... it´s getting more Partagas style now... some earthiness... old vintage leather... a bit more wood.... black, fresh-milled pepper... it´s a very complex profile, no aroma is dominating, all is well balanced...

It was a good choice to smoke it today

The last third is showing now the true character of a Partagas... an old school Partagas. No more fine flavors.. now it´s getting powerful. Leather, wood, earth. A fist in the face. Hints of white pepper while nose-exhaling, but still definitely not unpleasent. It´s pure power until the very end, really hard to put this cigar away to the ashtray for its final rest.

The smoking time was 125 minutes with an always perfect draw, I enjoyed every single minute of it. I´m sure this´ll be one of the best smokes of this year... it´ll be hard to outgun that great stick. Thx again, Koen...

Partagas Palmas Grandes, late 60s or early 70s

The second smoke of the day was the same cigar, but from the 80s. Here are my impressions...

The cigar itself is colorado colored and seems to be hard rolled, the wrapper is matt, no oil. The smell reminds me of a visit in the zoo and standing in front of the lion cage.... it´s something like the smell of a wild animal, very decent, but that´s what came to my mind...

I roasted it over the soft flame of my Dupont and when I had the glowing ring I clipped of the head and took the first puff...

Wood - not hard and straight but very creamy and soft, covering the whole palate. Joined by a very intensive herbal aroma. No slow starter... it enters the stage and it´s directly in the spotlight. The first third is a very nice interaction between those two dominating flavors... sometimes there are some other impressions... moss and mushrooms....

The second third still has the herbal (vintage) flavor in the background, the basis on which all other flavor build on.... it´s gettin rougher... leather, some peaty notes, strong tobacco and milled black pepper.... a complex mixture of flavors.... Wow!

During the last third the herbs become more intensive again... tar and char coal, also hints of dry oak wood and sawdust.... all very well balanced and still creamy on the palate. The cigar gets strong... I´d say it can still rest for a few years period... but I guess I cannot resist to smoke it before....

The draw was perfect, even if I´d some doubts in the beginning, over the smoking time of 90 minutes.

Partagas Palmas Grandes, early 80s

Ok, that's enough about reviews... only one more info about cigars: after those two great sticks I finished the day in the evening with an awesome Partagas Series D No. 4 Reserva... during the day I smoked another Ramon Allones EL 2011 which´s a great cigar too in my opinion.

The rest of the day was really relaxed... having some tasty Blackforest cake in the afternoon and excellent beef at an Argentinian restaurant in the evening... followed by some bubbly at home with a handful of friends...

Birthday cake

Fire-roasted BBQ sauce

2012-01-21T02:03:00.000+01:00

Many times people use BBQ sauce when having something grilled... but to be honest all of them that I had are all too sweet for my liking, I hate those red-colored liquid sugar! Due to this I decided to make some on my own, so I can have an influence on the taste...

So I took my cedar wood plankbox and filled it with the following ingredients which have been mixed before with some spices, balsamico vinegar and olive oil:

Tomatos
Red peppers
Green chilis
Onions
Garlic

Vegetable in the plankbox

Plankbox on the grill

I roasted it on the grill for about 3/4 of an hour to give some smoky aromas to the vegetables, the let it cool down and cut all in small pieces. Then I put all into a large cooking pot where I already had a mixture of

Tomato purée
Beer
Cider vinegar
Left-over marinade of the vegetables

brought it to a boil and let it simmer for another 45 minutes. Then I used a immersion blender to comminute the mixture and put it through a colander to remove the remaining tomato and pepper skin, cores etc. Adding some fresh ground salt and black pepper... that´s it.

In the cooking pot

A small part of it is flavored with some Laphroaig Quarter Cask, this´ll be my personal sauce... cuz I´m the one who likes the peaty whisky... and it gives a very special flavor to this sauce.

Laphroaig BBQ sauce

One part I left untouched without any more spices, the second of the big bottles got some extra smoky spices and some extra fresh ground dry chilli. Smoky´n´spicy....

The result: 2 liters of BBQ sauce - regular, smoky´n´spicy, Laphroaig-flavored

It´s some work to do but the taste of it shows me that it´s worth the effort. Less sweet than the stuff I know and it tastes great... and it´s homemade: fresh ingredients, no additives or stuff like that... maybe I´ll let it simmer a bit longer to make it a bit thicker.

P.S.: I added some liquid smoke today (01/24/2012)... oh man, now it´s really awesome!!

01/14 - Dogsledding event in Splügen

2012-01-16T07:19:00.000+01:00

Eventful days are behind me, due to this there's now another report. This time about the dogsledding event which took place at the weekend in Splügen, a bit more than one hour away from our home.

I found the infos about this event by chance a few days earlier while cruising through the worldwide web... and thought it should be interesting to watch it.

So I left for Splügen on Saturday morning and when I arrived there the whole village and the area around were not reached by the sun, which meant temperatures where about -15 °C / 5 F. About 1.5 hours later the sun warmed it up a little bit but it was still cold.

The race itself took place in several categories: 1 dog, 2, 4, 6 and 8 dogs, additional differences for the rating will be made due to the different races of the dogs...

The atmosphere was really great, you could hear the echoes of the barking and howling of the dogs in the air, you could feel that they´re eager for the race, to pull the sledge... and in the end: to have fun!

I really enjoyed watching this event, the first time for me and definetely interesting enough to come back next year.

I hope you like the pix I made, some of those action shots are not too bad I think...

01/13 - The good, the bad, the ugly

2012-01-13T19:19:00.000+01:00

January 13th is the traditional New Year acc. to the Julian Calender. It was replaced in the year 1582 by the so called Gregorian Calender, with the date for New Year´s Eve being December 31.

In a few villages of a part here in Switzerland where the people are protestants, there is still the tradition to start the New Year on January 13, villages like Urnäsch, Hundwil or Waldstatt. Another part of this tradition is that groups of masked guys wander through the village, ring their bells in front of the door of the houses to make the people come out and wish the people a happy new year.

They ring their bells which makes a sounds you can hear from far away and perform a typical kind of song, a special kind of yodel.

There are three different types of those dresses: the nice ones, the ugly ones (unfortunately I didn´t see those) and the ones which look like forest and nature.

It´s great that a few villages in this area still keep to this old tradition....

First there are some pix of the natur guys.... as you can see there are all ages, from kids to adults...

The youngest...

The teenagers...

The adults...

Artistical masks

Artistically masks

The second group that I can show you, are the nice ones... they´re wearing masks which look like a real face... all hand-made stuff... they have different kinds of bells and a big headdress which often shows typical scenes from everdays life...

After the good wishes for the new year to the house owner the guys get something to drink, in many cases something with alcohol for the adults, and then they move on to the next house...

Moving to the next house

The so called "Rollenweib" (one at the top and one at the end of the group)

Schellenchlaus

Ringing the bells

Let´s make some noise

Yodeling

Something to drink

Everydayscenes on the hats

01/12 - Above the clouds and the fog

2012-01-12T13:24:00.000+01:00

Today I took a day off from work... the forecast said that there´ll be another crappy day with fog in the valleys... but perfect weather above a level of app. 800 m / 2600 ft. So I took my car for a 15 minutes ride to reach the small village of Oberegg (maybe you remember the report about the cattle menagerie, which was in the same village) and started a roundtrip of app. 3.5 hours from there.

The village itself was still within the fog but after a few more minutes of walking the sun broke through it.

Sunrise

The fog is lifting

I was the only taking this way... I like it to enjoy the silence of the nature, the only thing you hear is the crunching sound of the snow you walk on...

The view was amazing, all the valleys are filled with fog and clouds... the mountains were totally clear, breathtaking...

Fantastic view

Fog in the valleys, sunshine above

Wintersun

I like that blue sky

Smoking a Short Hoyo Corona from the late 80s

Nice natural scultpure

Take a seat and enjoy the sun

White stripe in the blue sky

A lonely cross-country skier

The market halls of Vinaros

2012-01-09T07:06:00.000+01:00

Around Xmas we made a short trip to Spain, as we did the years before... I don´t wanna bother you with boring pix but I wanna share some impressions of the market halls with you... I like to go there and see all the fresh products...

Glen Grant 1957 - 2011

2012-01-04T06:56:00.000+01:00

Before I introduce one new and exciting bottle in my collection I wanna tell you a view words about this traditional distillery (information taken from www.glengrant.com).

In 1840, brothers John and James Grant apply for a distilling license. With the sea and port of Garmouth nearby, the River Spey at its feet and barley-growing plains nearby, all the basic ingredients of malt whisky were close at hand.

By 1872, the founders of Glen Grant Distillery had passed away. Young James 'The Major' Grant, born in 1847, had always taken a keen interest in the distillery and having inherited the business and the title 'Glen Grant' from his uncle John Grant, he was to prove himself a worthy successor.

Stories about ‘The Major' abound. A legendary innovator, socialiser and traveller, he lived by his own rules and set his own standards. New ideas fascinated him and he wasn't afraid to explore them. He was the first man in the Highlands to own a car. Glen Grant was the first distillery to have electric light. And he introduced the tall slender stills and purifiers which created the fresh malty flavour and clear colour that defines Glen Grant whisky to this day.

In 1931, Major Grant, the last Glen Grant, died, survived by his three daughters and a distillery that had become one of the most famous in the world. Douglas MacKessack, his grandson, was to become his successor.

In 1972, the Glenlivet and Glen Grant Distilleries Ltd amalgamated with the blending concerns of Hill, Thomson and Co.Ltd and Longmorn Distilleries Ltd to become The Glenlivet Distillers Ltd. The original family interest in the distilleries was maintained, with two substantial outside shareholders: Courage Ltd, the brewing concern and Suntory Ltd, the Japanese distilling company.

In 2006, Campari acquired Glen Grant, its only whisky, when Allied Domecq were acquired by Pernod Ricard. To this day, Glen Grant continues to be one of the biggest selling single malts worldwide.

And so the Glen Grant story will continue, as long as there are people in Speyside with the skill and determination to maintain the standards and traditions of the Grant family and their descendents.

On my way back from a business trip in 2011 to the UK I spotted this bottle at Stansted Airport Duty Free... I wasn´t really on the look-out for Single Malts, cuz normally they´re more expensive than here due to the taxing system... but.... sometimes you get special bottlings at really good prices... so did I in this case. Much cheaper than in any German or Swiss shop... so I took the chance and bought the bottle...

Glen Grant 1957 - 2011, bottled by Gordon & McPhail

This Whisky´ll be part of another tasting that we´ll have at the Griffins Business Lounge in March with the following line-up:

Glen Grant 19 yo., 1991 - 2011, 54.9 %, bottled by The Whisky Chamber
Glen Grant 36 yo., 1973 -2010, 53.6 %, bottled by the Whisky Agency
Glen Grant 37 yo, 1973 - 2010, 46.0 %, bottled by THOSOP Belgium
Glen Grant 38 yo., 1972 -2011, 44.7 %, bottled by Duncan Taylor
Glen Grant, 54 yo., 1957 - 2011, 40.0 %, bottled by Gordon & McPhail

This should be an awesome event, the youngest Whisky is 19 yo., the oldest 54. This calls for an old vintage cigar to be smoked...

Happy New Year 2012

2011-12-31T08:41:00.000+01:00

I wish you and your families a Happy New Year 2012!

2011 in pictures

2011-12-30T09:31:00.000+01:00

It's time to sum up another year with some nice pictures of the past 12 months... many good memories are connected to those. It's really hard to reduce all the pix of one month down to one....

January

First big Herf of 2011 in Dusseldorf

February

Pharmacy smoke - have some fun

March

One of three special smokes

April

Relaxin in the Sunshine State - Seaworld, Shamu show

10th wedding anniversary

June

My first Bacon Explosion

July

Smoky summit conference, altitude: 2502 m / 8209 ft

August

Sonnenbraeu Brewery Festival

September

2 weeks in paradise

October

Noche Cubana in Gottlieben

November

Whiskytasting "In the year 1973"

December

Sixday Nights, Zurich

Winter impressions

2011-12-27T09:35:00.000+01:00

Winter arrived with some snow... I´m not sure how long it´ll stay like this, so I took some pix.

Merry X-mas

2011-12-24T08:52:00.000+01:00

Another year's comin to its end...

I wish you and your families a Merry X-mas...

Planksmoked bacon

2011-12-20T08:45:00.000+01:00

A friend of mine posted some pix on FB of tons of smoked bacon that he did this summer. I have a recipe for planksmoked bacon in one of my cooking books and so I tried it out.

This first try was done with a small piece... just a test to see how it comes out. I prepared it with Bone Dust Seasoning and let it rest for about two days in the cooler before I put it on a cedar wood plank to smoke it on the grill.

The smell during the smoking process was really awesome and I´m looking forward to try the first slices of it...

Bacon on the cedar wood plank

After it cooled down I made the first cut and it really came out delicious. Positive result, I´ll do it again with bigger pieces for sure.

The first cut - fantastic taste

12/14 - Swiss Musketeer Herf

2011-12-16T09:10:00.000+01:00

One year ago we made our smoke at the end of the year as a threesome smoke... this time D'Artagnan aka Ralf joined the Swiss Musketeers... so it's a foursome smoke.

Due to the fact that the Runway was totally booked out, we´d to find another place for our smoke. We met at the QN lounge where we spent a great evening app. 2 years ago with two friends from the States... it´s one of the first reports here on my blog.

QN World

We took our seats in the lounge and fired up the sticks. For me the first cigar of this evening was a Vegas Robaina Maestros ER Spain 2008. A great cigar, they developed well and they´re very promising for the future... we´ll see...

Starting with a Vegas Robaina Maestros ER Spain 2008

After the first cigar we took a short break and changed the location within the smoking area to have some dinner. The food´s really good there and after we finished we moved back to the convenient seats in the lounge to continue our smoking with an Upmann No. 2 from 1996.

Dinner

Do you really need some words on a 15 yo. Upmann cigar? What can I say about it than: intensive in taste, great aroma, strong. Fan-fucking-tastic! I still have some left of those... luckily... a real highlight! My last cigar of that evening was a Montecristo Edmundo from 2006. Being some kinda tasteless and boring when they came out, it developed into an interesting cigar full of flavor. A really positive surprise.

It was a very nice evening, guys... I´m happy that we met to celebrate our last smoke of 2011 with this constellation.

Upmann No. 2 from 1996

A light in the dark

4 caps of 4 great cigars

Jean Nicot Tabaksbier

2011-12-13T20:18:00.000+01:00

At the end of the last month I met with a few friends in Lommel during a business trip which led me to the Netherland and the northern part of Germany.

I heard about this beer before and Frank was kind enough to help me to get a crate of it. It's hard to get also in Belgium, but it's always good to know who to ask.

This beer has been developed with the help of the cigar club "Aroma de Cuba" and the brewery De Graal, with their brew master Dr. W. Saeyens, a small high-quality brewery in Brakel, a village in the Flamish Ardennes. The recipe of this beer contains a mixture of premium tobacco leafes from Java, Brasilia and Havanna.

The name of the beer was inspired by Jean Nicot, who lived from 1530 to 1604, the guy who introduced tobacco in France.

The beer itself is a so called Tripel with an ABV of 8.5 % and as for many Belgian beers there'll be a second fermentation in the bottle... another beer that can be stored for a while, hopefully I can leave my hands of it to do so.

I tried it and here are my impressions...

It´s fruity in the nose with some hints of decent bitterness of hops and tobacco. The foam is very fine and stable. The first sip proof the nose. Fruit and tobacco, hops and yeast... a very nice combination, a good balance. According to the bottle it´s 8.5 % of alcohol, but I heard through the grapevine that it could be a little bit more... A really good beer.. well done, guys...

12/07 - Torcedor in Vaduz

2011-12-09T08:52:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday a Torcedor from Davidoff was at Marc´s shop, later in the evening it´s planned to move to the Salon Davidoff in the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz.

I joined Marc in the shop in the late afternoon and got a fresh rolled Puro d´Oro. Honestly: they didn´t convince me last year when I tried one at the official introduction event and they didn´t convince me fresh from the table. Hot air, that´s it.

So I stuck to the stuff I like... a PSD4 and two Custom Rolled Cubans, one from Cueto, one from Mons... the much better choice.

I took some nice shots in the shop...

Montecristo Especial - different colors of the wood

Hoyo de Monterrey Double Epicure

Upmann Noellas

Upmann Half Coronas, a great little smoke

Torcedor at work

Rolling some Puro d´Oros

After the shop closed we took our cars to drive to Bad Ragaz where the Salon Davidoff is located as a part of the Grand Resort.

It´s a really nice place, I enjoy it everytime when I´m there... some really tasty fingerfood was served and we continued smoking... with custum rolled cigars... not from the DR but Cuba... it´s much more my liking.

Great evening... thx to Marc and Davidoff.

Marc, the host of the evening

Let´s smoke

Nice atmosphere in the Salon Davidoff

Tasty fingerfood

12/03 - Sixday Nights Zurich, Final night

2011-12-04T11:10:00.000+01:00

It's still named Sixdays.... but in the end it's not 6 but just 4 nights of cycling action...

Anyhow... my first visit to such kinda event after many years of absence... and it's worth to go there...

It's a long evening, starting at 6.30 pm and ended up at 2.30 am on Sunday morning.

I took some pix from the place where we sat...

Welcome the Hallenstadion Zurich

Marvulli / Keisse during the introduction

Let´s start

Jörg Peter

Motor-paced racer

Preparing for the sprint

Derny race

Hester / Morkov

Aeschbach / Stucki

Lamparter / Grasmann

Getting a massage

Hondo / Bartko

Final lap

The winner - Marvulli

11/28 - Cigars and Belgian beer

2011-12-01T07:22:00.000+01:00

As every year I´ve to visit some customers in The Netherlands at this time of the year. Luckily I talked to Frank before, a guy whom I met at the pharmacy smoke in August and he suggested to meet in Lommel. Good idea: not far away from my first customer, nice hotel, good possibilities to smoke, good food and beer... His friend Koen, who´s been at the pharmacy too, came also and Thierry from the area of Liege, with whom I´m in contact through different social networks since a while.

The Tuinhotel - Nino stayed there a while back - is a really nice hotel in the center of Lommel, prices are good and there´s enough space for parking the car.

Tuincafe / Tuinhotel

Nice room

After my arriveal I occupied a table at the terrace, because smoking is not allowed inside in Belgium. But luckily they installed heaters and even though the outside temperatures were low it felt very comfortable to sit there.

Tuinhotel terrace

A first cigar - Flying Pig from Hamlet - and a nice and cold Belgian beer - Grimbergen Blond - felt good and relaxing after the trip with some really bad traffic jams due to some accidents.

Grimbergen Blond

When I finished my cigar Frank arrived and handed me out a fantastic smoking Partagas Seleccion Privada No. 1 from 2000. Interesting... it seemed to be Partagas evening. I had some original release Partagas Salomones with me (from the 25 ct box), also a Partagas Palmas Grandes from the early 80s.

Koen handed me out another Palmas Grandes, but this one´s from the 60s or 70s, I´ll enjoy it vertical with one of mine and a ´97 LGC MdO No. 2. Thx a lot for that.

Thierry handed me out a bottle of a beer which is brewed in his region and also gave me a special CAO to try... I´ll report about it later when I smoked it.

Thx to Frank for the bottles of the Jean Nicot beer, I´m really looking forward to try it... but why waiting... lemme open a bottle of it, while I´m writing this report here. I hope you´ll enjoy the Swiss Highlander Whisky...

It´s really fantastic that those guys made their trip to Lommel, because they´d to drive home between 1 and 2 hours... I really enjoyed the evening with you and I´m looking forward to meet you again... either here in Belgium, at the pharmacy, in Switzerland or wherever on this planet...

Westmalle Tripel

Frank

Thierry

Koen

Steak for dinner

11/27 - Xmas market in Balgach

2011-11-27T19:34:00.000+01:00

It's the first Sunday in Advent, the traditional date of the Xmas market in our little village...

Temperatures around the freezing point are good conditions to make you look for a mulled wine and other specialties... STOP!! It´s just dreaming. Sunny weather and some kinda mild temperatures (around 6 °C / 43 F) made me more thirsty for a cold Sonnenbraeu beer but it was nice anyhow...

Nothing else to say... so just enjoy the pictures...

The cups are ready for the mulled wine

Pouring it in

Marianne from the farm where we shop on Saturdays

You want some hot cheese fondue? Step in.

Grilled bratwurst

Bread on a stick, grilled on the open fire

Vegas Robaina Clasicos, 5th Anniversary Humidor

2011-11-25T07:25:00.000+01:00

I was in the mood for something special... so why not smokin one of those Robainas...

Toastin it carefully, clippin the head and takin the first puffs... wow... wonderful sweetness with hints of cinnamon... well balanced combination. Strong aroma of tobacco and some decents hints of cedar and honey in the background. Very smooth and creamy durin the first third...

The strong note of tobacco is still there in the second third. Cedar is more in the foreground now, still sweetness of honey in the background, being more intensive from time to time and fading away again... Hints of white pepper every now and then...

In the last third the sweetness is gone completely: cedar, tobacco and some tary notes. A mix of exotical spices is comin up. Gettin strong now, but still smooth enough to nose exhale it... fantastic cigar.

Perfect draw and burn durin the whole smokin time of app. 100 minutes.

11/18 - Another pharmacy smoke

2011-11-21T07:23:00.000+01:00

Another Friday... another pharmacy smoke... luckily I was able the fourth time to make a trip to Woerrstadt to meet with the guys in the old laboratory during Andreas´ emergency service.

I drove with two-times-Ralf and we already had some good smokes during the ride... I´d another Ramon Allones Allones Extra, the Edicion Limitada of 2011. It´s definitely a cigar with a great aging potential.

We arrived around 5 pm and due to the fact that there´s still some time until the event officially starts and that we´d nothing else then a small breakfast, we decided to have something for dinner in the Cafe Fritz.

Some of the other guys who also stayed there over night joined us and so we moved over to Andreas with a bunch of 10 buys later.

Happy Alex

The table was filled with different stuff to drink and to eat... a special thank to Vitaliy for bringing that bacon from the Ukraine with him... I love that stuff...

We´d a lot of spirits to try, 2 of them I kept in mind... the first was the Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix. I´m no big Glenfiddich fan but this one is really good... I like it.

The second drink is something that I won´t have another time... it´s a so called Single Malt from the German distillery Ziegler. I´m sorry to say, but this spirit has NOTHING to do with a Single Malt, it simply tasted like a average fruit schnaps. Not more, not less. Not worth the buck imho. Those guys should leave it to Scotland to make Single Malt.

Some of the spirits

Among the cigars I smoked there was also a ´99 Montecristo "A". I said this several times, before maybe I´m repeating myself, but I definitely cannot understand why people always complain about cigars between ´99 and ´01. Maybe they´d draw issues in the beginning when they came out but nowadays those are really awesome cigars. This "A" had a touch of this beloved vintage flavor... a very good smoke which lasted for nearly 3 hours.

Smoking in the lab

Any questions?

Woerrstadt Emergency Team

What the hell are they doing here?

Red and white

Smirking Ralf

Long after midnight somebody opened the drawer with different (sun) glasses... not much words needed, simply enjoy the pix.

Porn Michael

Hey Yo!

Can I help you?

My last visit in 2011, I´d a really good time... I´ll be back in 2012!

Vegas Robaina 5th Anniversary Special Humidor

2011-11-16T06:40:00.000+01:00

Sometimes you need some luck and so had I back in last year´s March when I picked up this wonderful humidor.

It´s openend and they already sold some single cigars, but I´d some of those at home and due to this I was able to fill it more or less completly...

That´s one of the humidors I really like most... its wonderful carvings...

I made some pix of it to share it with you guys... this time black´n´white pix... I liked them more than the colored ones...

Vegas Robaina 5th Anniversary Special Humidor

Wonderful piece of wood

I like the carving

Cool no.: 345 of 500

4 of the 5 sizes (left to right): Unicos, Clasicos, Famosos, Maestros

La Méthode de Jacques Puisais

2011-11-12T06:00:00.000+01:00

Some years ago there was an article at a German board which described a method of lighting up a cigar (which was published before in the "Havanoscope" in '99):

La Méthode de Jacques Puisais

It describes that Mr. J. Puisais, director of the french institute for taste, thinks that due to the heat of the flame and the difference of temperature between foot and head of the cigar while lighting up a cutted cigar there will be a suction caused by the stack effect and the accruing fumes will be partly sucked into the cigar. In his opinion this will influence the taste of the cigar strongly negative. His recommendation is to cut the cigar AFTER lighting up and to blow through the cigar before you take the first draw, to remove all "impurities" from it.

My experience with it was as follows (first experiment was done a few months ago):

I tested this theorie with two Bolivar Petit Corona.

My sense of taste connoted me that the cigar that has been cutted before lighting up had some biting tastes in the beginning... ok, it tasted as I know it from the experience. I really recognized it after I lighted up the second one uncutted and blew through it before the first draw. The taste was much more "smooth"... and in this context you saw that the other one was more biting....

I lighted both cigars with a soft lighter flame (no jet flame) and took a long time to set it on fire....

For me it has a positive effect on the cigar, that's the reason why I light them up in the described way.

What do you think about it? Do you have any experience with this method?

11/06 - Spring day in November

2011-11-09T10:56:00.000+01:00

Last Sunday was another nice spring day... in November... mild temperatures and sunny weather made it easy to decide for a lil walk... a took some pix of the fall atmosphere which I really like... enjoy the pix...

11/04 - Whiskytasting "In the year 1973"

2011-11-06T15:31:00.000+01:00

Last Friday evening we, this means a group of 10 people (3 cancelled their participation), met in the Griffins Business Lounge in Kreuzlingen for our 6th whisky tasting event... topic of the evening was "In the year 1973".

My special thanks go to Max for taking the longest ride from Austria to join us, but also to Gabriel and Ralf coming from Germany and all the other guys coming here from Switzerland.

We´d an interesting and varied selection even though three of the four came from the same region, the Speyside... but all were different.

The tasting range was (in order of drinking):

Glenrothes 1973
Cragganmore 1973
Glen Moray 1973
Highland Park 1973

Left to right: Cragganmore, Glenrothes, Glen Moray, Highland Park - all 1973

The whisky was one special part of this evening, as those are not everyday whiskys... but Urs surprised us with the cigar which we should have during the tasting: Cohiba 1966 EL 2011. Nothing more to add than a BIG BIG THANK YOU, URS!!!

New smoking technique?

Urs offering the Cohiba 1966

Nosing

The biggest surprise was the Cragganmore... also for me... I knew that this bottling has some peppery notes but maybe they were much stronger in combination with the cigar... that was the situation the next pic was made... Dani was kinda overwhelmed by this taste... he didn´t really like it.

That´s a real "I like that taste" face... LOL

The group - nosing, drinking, smoking, discussing

Shoptalk

Enjoying it...

In the end the situation was clear: for most of us the Glen Moray and the Highland Park were the winner of the evening, both had their supporters... it´s measuring on a high level, because all whiskys are excellent!

The cigar was a fantastic smoke and went along absolutely great with all whiskys. Very intensive flavors and really strong. Definitely a great choice by Urs to take exactly this cigar...

Again it was a pleasure for me to spend this evening with you guys and I´m looking forward to tasting no. 7, which´ll be a Glen Grant Masterclass Tasting with some really special bottlings.

Cohiba Robusto 2004

2011-11-03T06:54:00.000+01:00

Colorado colored, matt and fine wrapper.... looks like perfect quality..... The smell comes along with a touch of grassiness, nutmeg and tobacco.....

First third: woody, some sweetness and from time to time hints of tar.

Second third: the impressions of the first third hold on and are joined by some upcoming nutty flavors.

Last third: the cigar is getting stronger and the flavors do so too.... leather, wood and tar are the dominating elements...

General impression: the cigar had a very good draw and burn with a firm ash. The smoking time was 110 minutes. I'm not a Cohiba fanatic.... but to be honest: it's a good smoke and I liked it....

10/26 - 10/29 - Palma de Mallorca

2011-10-31T09:20:00.000+01:00

I escaped the cold weather in Switzerland to Palma de Mallorca where the Eurodrying 2011 takes places this year. It's a conference where I also will do a presentation to show the latest product of our company, a microwave tunnel oven which can used for drying, cooking, pasteurizing etc.

After my arrival on Wednesday evening I'd some time left to walk around and make some pix of the area which's close to the hotel before it got dark...

Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca

View on the Parc de la Mar

After this extended walk I wasn't in the mood to watch out for a location for dinner and due to this I found my way to the steakhouse which's next door to the hotel. Dry-aged Ribeye steak wasn't a bad choice to be honest. The Por Larranaga Petit Corona was a good apetizer and the Upmann Royal Corona was the perfect after-dinner-cigar.

Por Larranaga Petit Corona and Mahou beer

Dessert including some Espresso and Upmann Royal Robusto

Thursday was filled with presentations at the conference... some were really good, some strange and some... oh well... let's forget them. It's really scary if somebody just reads all the lines he's written on his slides and says nothing else. I just missed that he started every sentence with the word "bullet"... but he was soooo close to it.

I'd to do my presentation as well during the afternoon session and I've say that it went not too bad...

In the evening we'd a dinner at the Bahia Mediterráneo, a nice restaurant with a great view over the harbor area and the Cathedral of Palma...

It's a non-smoking place so I'd a cigar when I came back to the hotel....

Cava y puro

Harbor and Cathedral

Friday started with rain... luckily the temperature didn't drop, so you can still sit outside if the terrace is roofed.

The day started again with presentations about drying and ended with a lil sightseeing tour through the city of Palma. The most impressing part of it was the visit to the Cathedral, here are a view impressions.

Main entrance of the Cathedral

Impressing rosette window with an area of 97 qm / 116 square yards

Modern chapel inside the Cathedral designed by Miquel Barceló

Fantastic play of colors inside the Cathedral

Chapel of the Last Supper

One of the oldest Altar pieces

All that walkin made me hungry and luckily I made a reservation at the Tasca de Blanquerna before, not far away from my hotel. There I'd some tasty tapas, beer and a cigar.

Tapas bar

Beer and cigar

Lamb meat balls (left), different vegetable in Sherry and oil (right)

Fresh octopus

After dinner I made another walk to the area of the Cathedral to take some nice shots at night... maybe the typical tourist pix, but it looks really nice.

The Cathedral of Palma at night

I'd a nice time here and on Saturday I flew back to Zurich...

Adéu, Mallorca...

Partagas cedar wrapped chicken

2011-10-30T11:05:00.002+01:00

I like cigars... and I like good food... why not combining those two?

One variation of the plank grilling is to wrap the stuff into cedar wood... and I have a lot of those cedar wrappings because they´re in every cigar box.

The inside of this wrap consisted of: boneless chicken leg filled with a mixture of crumbled corn bread, red pepper, onions and shredded mozzarella. For seasoning the filling I used some Woodford Masters Reserve. I also put some bacon slices around the chicken roll before I wrapped it with the cedar wood.

An definitely interesting way of cooking, I'll do it again.

The journey through Belgium goes on...

2011-10-27T07:23:00.000+02:00

I was in Belgium due to a business trip in summer and I took the chance to grab some bottles at a local shop with a fantastic range of different beers...

Rodenbach Grand Cru - a beer like a great wine

Completely different to the beers I´d before... you get some balsamic vinegar in the smell... yes, you´re reading right.. it´s vinegar. Takin a sip... crazy stuff... sour and fruity at the same time... vinegar at first (but not unpleasant), hints of malt, very complex and individual.... gettin mild and fruity with aromas of plum and pepper, some yeast... very long lastin at the palate... no beer for newbees...

Gulden Draak - the Golden Dragon

Bottled with 10.5 %... it´s one of the stronger beers... very malty in the beginnin but also some decent sweetness of grapes/raisins... pronounced bitterness of malt in the aftertaste... a nice beer after a good meal...

Augustijn Grand Cru - a blond Strong Beer

Blond and a lil somber in the glass... sweet smell like marzipan... takin a sip and realizin the high grade of carbonation... like a champagne... malty aromas... very fat in the mouth... very refreshing even though it has 9 % of alcohol.... a really good beer!

St. Bernardus Prior 8 - a dark Abbey Ale

Malty-fruity smell, very intensive... intensive malt aroma at the first sip, getting a bit fruity then... dried plums, raisins... caramell.... decent bitterness of the malt in the aftertaste... the alcohol level of 8 % is embedded well.... very complex Dubbel.

Affligem Dubbel - Dark and fruity

Fruity smell, fruity taste: apple, grapes... very refreshing with some hins of caramell and malt. Decent citrus note paired with some bitterness of malt in the aftertaste... good and straight... not too complex.

Pre-tasting some Nectar

2011-10-22T07:59:00.000+02:00

In 2009 I held the first Whisky tasting in the Griffins Business Lounge in Kreuzlingen, a private tasting for a handful of invited people. 6 guys came and we'd a really good time... Now we're comin closer to the 6th event, this time I'd to stop the registration at a no. of 13 people.

The topic of this tasting in November will be: 1973, which means we'll have 4 whiskys being distilled in this year. The range is as follows:

Cragganmore 1973, OB
Glenrothes 1973, OB
Glen Moray 1973, Duncan Taylor
Highland Park 1973, Mackillop´s Choice

As all the times before I also pre-tasted the whiskys this time to take some notes that I can tell the guys durin our event.

Ok, let's go with the first in the row, the Cragganmore 1973.

Nose: Overwhelming fruitiness and very bloomy

Taste: White pepper, melon, vanilla, cinnamon, oak.

Aftertaste: Very long, still fruits and some pepper

Second one is the Glenrothes 1973.

Nose: Almond, walnut, fruits, hints of eucalyptus, malt

Taste: Full and rich, citrus fruits like orange and lemon, notes of Sherry makin it very smooth and creamy, honey, caramel fudge, hints of spice

Aftertaste: Fruity and spicy, long and very complex

No. 3, Glen Moray from 1973.

Nose: Stewed fruit, exotical fruits, decent note of vanilla, hints of oak

Taste: Spices, pleasant earthiness, burnt wood, vanilla, oak, fruits, liquorice, decent bitterness

Aftertaste: Really long with pleasant notes of wood and orange

And last but not least the Highland Park from 1973.

Nose: Peanuts?, mint, herbs, like walkin through a forest

Taste: herbs and mint, dried fruits, hints of salt

Aftertaste: Not too long, decent vanilla and wood

Upmann Royal Robusto

2011-10-19T08:25:00.001+02:00

Those cigars are made exclusively for the LCdH's... Edmundo sized, packed in 10ct boxes... let's see, how it smokes.

The slightly shiny wrapper is colorado colored, the rollin is really tight (as for all the new releases I smoked recently)... a smell of tobacco, leather and spices is comin to my nose.

The first third start with intensive notes of leather and a very impressin spiciness... there are aromas of nuts (walnut? hazelnut?). This cigar is on the spot from the first draw...

Durin the second third some tannin is comin up, not very much, but you feel it... there is still leather, added by wood and some decent sweetness, which faints away quickly.

The last third's gettin rougher... more tannins, intensive tary aromas, burnt wood... it's obvious that this is a young cigar... but with a good potential imho.

The smokin time was app. 110 minutes, the ash was very firm, it burnt down ruler-straight and had a perfect draw all the time.

Ramon Allones Allones Extra EL 2011

2011-10-17T10:50:00.000+02:00

The second of this year's Edicion Limitada that I smoked... I have one single cigar of the Cohiba which I'll smoke soon...

The Ramon Allones also has a dark colorado colored wrapper... a lil bit oily with a slight shine... tight rolled with a smell of tobacco, espresso and wood...

Let's light it up... oh WOW!! This cigar is a real powerhouse... the first puffs are really impressin!! Intensive aromas of wood, leather and tobacco dominate the first third... decent sweetness and a pronounced earthiness...

Durin the second third some white pepper's comin up... I can feel it bitin while nose-exhalin... not unpleasent, but present. Wood and strong notes of tobacco are still there, added by dark roasted espresso, the sweetness fades slowly away...

In the last third the sweetness is gone completely... it's pure power now: leather, tar, some kinda peat, intensive earthiness miced with some ammonia...

The cigar lasted for 85 minutes, it had an always perfect draw but the ash was not as firm as it was for the Hoyo I smoked the other day.

In my humble opinion this cigar is real big-time with a great agin potential. I'm sure you'll regret it in a few years when didn't buy some for storage.

Hoyo de Monterrey Short Hoyo Pyramide EL 2011

2011-10-16T07:28:00.000+02:00

Another new release in 2011... one of the three Limitadas... here ya go...

As for all Limitadas the wrapper is dark, some kinda dark colorado, maybe a bit too light to call it maduro... the surface is fine and matt, the rollin is tight. A smell of tobacco, dark chocolate and wood hits the nose... let's fire it up and see how it tastes.

The first third starts with some very pleasant aromas of milk coffee and chocolate, some decent notes of wood and sweetness which reminds me of honey...

During the second third you can fell the youth of this cigar... on one hand it's still very creamy but also a lil bit harsh... aromas of espresso, dark roasted cacao, some kinda tary...

The last third... dominated by woodyness, hints of leather and tar.... it's young, but with a lot of potential imho. I'd no high expectations to this cigar but it really surprised me in a positive way...

The draw was perfect over the smokin time of 80 minutes (not too bad for a cigar of that size), the ash was very stable.

10/13 - Limitada Smoke

2011-10-14T06:27:00.000+02:00

We didn't meet very often within the last few months so it was nice that it happened yesterday evening to meet Marcel, Ralf and John joined us later also... I did some experiments with b/w photos, I hope you like it.

Before we settled over to the lounge we took a seat at Urs´shop... havin a coffee and a first cigar... and some good conversation about the latest news and gossip.

Coffee and Hoyo Short Pyramide EL 2011

Ramon Allones Especiales, ER Suiza 2011

Hoyo Short Pyramide EL 2011

After startin the evenin with the Hoyo I continued with the Ramon Allones... and for both cigars I got a confirmation of my first impression: both of those cigars are really good, both with a good agin potential... even though I´m not the biggest Hoyo fan I definitely like this cigar.... ok, I prefer the Ramon Allones... but anyhow, the Hoyo´s good too.

Ramon Allones Allones Extra EL 2011

While sittin in the lounge Urs and Marc also came in to sit together with us and smoke a bit... we´d interestin discussions and funny anecdotes... good times as always...

I´m lookin forward for our next get-together... beginnin of November... the 6th Whisky tastin event... gettin a tradition now...

Reviews of those two Limitadas will follow here within the next days...

Planked venison

2011-10-10T06:40:00.000+02:00

Another recipe from my new beloved cookin book... one half of this dinner... the other half - Roesti - is a traditional Swiss thing, but I was sure it would go well with the venison.

The venison itself we bought on Saturday at the farmer´s shop, her brother shot it a few days ago, so it was as fresh as it could be.

I marinated it for app. 24 hours with a marinade consisting of a special (seafood) rub, mustard and redwine. Additionally I prepared a raspberry marple syrup glaze. To be honest I´m no big fan of fruit and meat but in this case it really surprised me in a positive way... it´s a perfect match!

While the potato was roastin in the pan I fired up the grill and put the venison with a plank on it. From time to time I glazed it and cooked to a core temperature of 60 °C / 140 F... it came out exactly like we wanted it: medium rare.

A Chateauneuf de Pape was the perfect beverage for that really tasty dinner... I thought the grillin season is over but it seems to start just now...

Roesti in the pan

Glazed venison on the grill

Tasty dinner

The grillin goes on...

2011-10-07T07:43:00.000+02:00

Two days ago I made a postin with some of the stuff I grilled durin that summer and I tought the grillin season is over more or less...

But yesterday evenin I tried something that was too good to keep it secret.

The Laphroaig Live event which was held in Sidney gave me some inspiration... they'd some recipes on the homepage where they worked with the help of Laproaig Single Malt Whisky...

At home I took me new cookin book and found a suitable recipe... instead of marinatin the onions with Jack Daniels, I used a Laphroaig 7 yo, Douglas Laing´s Premier Barrel Selection for the marinade.

Whisky and steak - good combo

For the first try I took only one piece of entrecote, put it on the grill and seared it from each side. After that I put it on a water-soaked piece of cedar wood, covered it with the onions and put it back into the grill on medium heat to finish it to a core temperature of 58 °C / 136 F.

The smell which hit my face was incredible when I opened the lid of the grill....

It was the first time that I used some Single Malt for cookin but it'll definitely not the last...

A glass of Laphroaig was a good company for that dinner...

The smell's awesome

Ready to eat, looks perfect

Let´s grill - a culinary review

2011-10-05T20:01:00.000+02:00

I like to grill and sometimes it´s a pity that we can only use a gas grill on the balcony of our appartment... but I try to make the best outta it and in the end the result is not too bad at all....

Here is some of the stuff we had during this year's grill season... which is not really over, but it´s gettin less now...

Sheep cheese (in foil), chicken breast, kangaroo rump

Chicken drumsticks

Marinated goat gigot (used thyme, rosmarine, sage, olive oil, fresh milled herb salt and black pepper)

Goat gigot - ready to serve

Ćevapčići and steak on the grill

Let´s have dinner

Beef Entrecote on the grill

Entrecote and potatos - ready to eat

Marinated pork fillet

Should be ready soon

Yummy.... asparagus...

Lamb filet (left: marinated with fresh herbs, right: marinated with bear´s garlic pesto)

Grilled pork hock... it was delicious...

Here I started with the new grill... the Outdoorchef Ascona 570 MX... thx for the recommendation, Camillo!

Spareribs and grilled vegetable

Pulled Pork after 9 hours

Ready to eat

Salads and homemade grilled Cevapcici

Bacon Explosion

Butterfly chicken

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Startin with the 3-2-1 ribs

After three hours of heatin

After 2 hours in the aluminium foil

After 1 add. hour and glaced with BBQ sauce

Sometimes I need nothin more than a steak

Preparations for another Pulled Pork, 8.16 lbs

1 more hour

Pullin it into pieces

YUMMY!!

Preparin the first Pulled Beef

After 11 hours

Pulled Beef

Rabbit

37 oz beef steak

Marinated chicken breast fillet grilled on a cedar wood plank

Pizza on the grill

Planked pork tenderloin with smoky mashed potatos

Grilled chicken nachos

At the end of this year's season I heard the first time about the plank grillin. I tried it and the result really convinced me. In the meantime a received an interestin book with many plank grillin recipes which I'll try out definintely next year.... stay tuned!

Also thx to Camillo who gave me a good consultin before I bought the new grill and gave me useful informations for the grillin itself, you should check out his blog... unfortunately (for many of my readers) it's only German: http://doncaruso.wordpress.com/

10/01 - Noche Cubana in Gottlieben

2011-10-02T10:33:00.000+02:00

Yesterday evenin another Cuban cigar dinner organized by the Portmann family took place... again the location was the Waaghuus in Gottlieben, close to the River Rhine... nice terrace for the summer time and a big hall for us to smoke...

Cuban cigar dinner by Portmann

After a welcome drink outside and some small cigars we went inside to our table. The roller sat next to us and Tom, the only one of us speakin Spanish tried to let him participate at the fun we had...

Some nibblets

The band... their 3rd guy is missin on this pic

Urs opened the event which was sold out a few days after the invitations´ve been sent to the people... the room was filled with 120 people... all lookin forward for good cigars, food and conversations...

Openin speech

A bit later his son Thomas, who´s runnin the shop in St. Gallen introduced the cigars of the evenin to the guests:

First cigar´s the Partagas Series D No. 5 which´s released before as an Edicion Limitada.
The second one´s the Partagas Series E No. 2, a new cigar. Another stovepipe with a RG of 54!

Introducin the cigars of the evenin

Partagas Serie D No. 5 (later the E No. 2)

The feedback of many people on these cigars was really positive... for me... to be honest... they´re some kinda disappointment: if I would´ve smoked ´em blind I wouldn´t have guessed that those were Partagas cigars... light flavors.... no earthy aromas.... really flat in comparison with the classical D4 or the newer P2. I cannot understand all the chorus of praise I heard about the new Series E No. 2 before.

The band was great

The four course dinner was good as it´s at all the other events before...

Duck liver mousse with figs

Oxtail soup

Veal steak with Tagliatelle

Dessert variation with apples

We smoked a lot, had a lot of fun at our table and left the place around 1.30 am in the mornin, cuz we´d another hour of drivin to get home... through the fog which made it a bit harder to drive...

Thx to all the Portmann´s for organizin another great event... it´s a pleasure to spend this evenin with you and good friends...

09/30 - Smoke á la Le Chef

2011-10-01T14:12:00.003+02:00

Yesterday evenin I met sponaneously with Tom to smoke a cigar... Tanja and a friend went to a show called Ballet Revolucion, some Cuban dancers...

We went to a restaurant in Zurich called Le Chef... the area around is... ok... there are a lot of red lights... *lol* but the restaurant itself is really great. A big smokin area, tables inside where you can sit and eat... nice chairs to hang around and chill´n´smoke...

The food was good and we´d some excellent conversation after we´d not seen for a while... we smoked two great cigars... an El Rey del Mundo Petit Corona from ´01 and a Partagas Corona from ´05.

A nice place with good service and a free parkin service... we´ll be there again...

A choice of Whisky

Deer medaillons

Wild hog entrecote

A dark ERdM PC from ´01

Very tasty Partagas Corona from ´05

09/28 - Fresh cigars in the Einstein Lounge

2011-09-29T19:12:00.000+02:00

I missed the Cuban torcedor when he was at Thomas Portmann's shop in St. Gallen due to our vacation but luckily he'd an event in the new lounge of the Hotel Einstein on Wednesday evening.

The event was organized together with Manuel Froehlich from premium-cigars.ch.

Thomas and Manuel

It was a good occasion to get another fresh rolled Laguito No. 1 (it was a bit shorter due to the available wrappers he had), but it had a good portion of ligero in it... not too strong and nice to smoke.

Eduardo Diaz Gonzalez

At work

Fresh custom rolled

Some fingerfood

Exploring Moyenne Island

2011-09-28T08:42:00.000+02:00

I found some information on Wikipedia which I wanna share here with you, it´s more or less the same that you get told when you arrive at the island and talk to Brendon.

Moyenne Island is a small island (0.089 km²) in the St. Anne Marine National Park. Since the 1970s it´s been a flora and fauna reserve. From 1915 until the 1970s, the island was abandoned until its purchase by Brendon Grimshaw, an English newspaper editor. Presently he is the only permanent resident of Moyenne and is responsible for returning the island to its former natural state.

Brendon Grimshaw purchased the island for GBP 10,000 in the 1960s and set about making the island habitable. He did this with the help of only one other man, Rene Antoine Lafortune. They operate the island as a nature reserve, charging visitors to come ashore, roam the island, dine at the "Jolly Roger" restaurant and relax on the beach. Apart from a wide variety of plant and bird life, the island is home to app. 120 land tortoises. The eldest, "Desmond", being 76 years old according to Grimshaw. He named the tortoise after his godson.

Grimshaw is happy to talk about the island's potential as a hiding place of pirate treasure. There are rumours that several pirate treasures are buried there. He has made two major digs and found some evidence of man-made hiding places, but no gold or other treasure found as yet. There are three graves on the island. Two which have been said to be those of pirates, although this cannot be confirmed, the third one´s his father´s grave.

After 20 years of persistence, Brendon Grimshaw and his assistant Rene achieved their goal of making Moyenne Island a National Park in its own right, separate to that of the St. Anne marine park. Now known as the Moyenne Island National Park, it is the smallest National park in the world, harbouring one of the most species per square foot than any other part of the world.

Arrivin at the beach of Moyenne Island

Giant tortoise

Brendon Grimshaw

Giant tortoise

Ruins of the dog´s house

Pettin one of the giant tortoises

Little chapel

Three graves

St. Anne in the background

Pettin one of the giant tortoises

Mahé

Good-bye, Moyenne...

09/24 - Blinde Kuh, Zurich

2011-09-26T07:05:00.000+02:00

A dinner in a restaurant where it´s totally dark? Sounds interestin and excitin... and believe me: it was!

Due to the fact that it's totally dark inside I couldn't take any pix... and of course it's also not allowed to try to do so... hahaha

Anyhow: it was definitely an interestin experience, sittin together with friends that you know well, talkin to them without seein them... concentratin on your other senses beside the seein... the smell of the food was much more intensive than if you'd have seen it... if you've the chance to try it in a restaurant in your area, you should do so...

Blinde Kuh, Zurich

09/24 - Cattle menagerie in Oberegg

2011-09-24T12:24:00.002+02:00

Today´s the traditional cattle menagerie in Oberegg, a village in Cantone Appenzell which is about 10 minutes away from our home by car.

The decorated cattle was led through the streets, accompanied by the guys wearing their traditional costume.

Really interestin to see... I hope you enjoy the pix I made...

09/03 - 09/18 - Two weeks in paradise... St. Anne, Seychelles

2011-09-21T07:02:00.000+02:00

On Friday, Sept. 2nd, we left home for our summer vacation with the destination Seychelles. We flew with Emirates, so we'd a stop in Dubai... not too bad to do some shoppin... a box of RyJ Cazadores and VR Famosos, both from 2010, but smokin really good.

Dubai Airport, Terminal 3

Two hours between the two flights gave us enough time for our shoppin and seekin the gate for the departure of our connectin flight.

4.5 hours later we arrived in the early mornin hours at Seychelles International Airport... sunshine welcomed us. We took a taxi to the Jetty station and then the boat to the island where we'd stay for the next 15 days: St. Anne. 220 ha and only one small resort on it... a lot of pure nature...

200 years ago pirates lived on this island to recover from their forays... It seemed that they knew the really good places...

After the arrival we'd the chance to get some breakfast and a while later we're brought to our wonderful pool villa. Due to the perfect time schedule we could use the arrival and departure day completely...

Bed room

Bathroom

Pavillon

Garden with deck and pool

View from the bed

The island itself has a fantastic flora and fauna... geckos at he patio, lizards on the deck, a bird vistin us every day around noon time...

Noon-time bird

Gecko

Dragonfly

Lizard

Lickin lizard

Spider

One mornin we took the chance for a botanical walk, leadin to some palm trees which can only be found on the Seychelles... the famous Coco de Mer.

The tree grows to up to 25 to 34 m / 82 to 112 ft tall. The mature fruit is 40 to 50 cm / 1.3 to 1.7 ft in diameter and weighs 15 to 30 kg / 33 to 66 lbs, and contains the largest seed in the plant kingdom. The fruit requires 6 to 7 years to mature and a further two years to germinate.

Coco de Mer

The way through the jungle

There are several restaurants spread over the island... a buffet restaurant with daily changin food... really good stuff there... also an a la carte restaurant ((Mont Fleuri), a beach restaurant (Le Robinson) with lobster dinner and hot stone and a seafood restaurant (L'Oceane).

Villa 500... that´s our one

L´Oceane Seafood restaurant

The Le Robinson was directly located at the beach... just a few tables... a nice romantic atmosphere for havin dinner... at this place we enjoyed the lobster dinner and the hot stone menu... I took some pix at daytime to give you an impression of that place.

Le Robinson

Lobster Dinner

Hot Stone

Let´s go ahead with some of the pix I made at the buffet restaurant L´Abondance... changin themes every night...

Afternoon sandwich

Fresh tuna

This island and also our villa was the perfect place for relaxin... havin some good drinks, cigars... playin cards... and sometimes doin just nothin.

SeyBrew, a local beer

Redwine and a RyJ Cazadores

Cocktail and RyJ Cazadores

Planter´s Punch and VR Famosos

Sandy feet...

Sundown

The two weeks went by very quick, but it was a very relaxin time that we both really enjoyed... the weather was good, just a few rain showers... the only thing which sucked a lil bit were those damn mosquitos.... I don´t need´em.

09/18 - Landed safe and sound

2011-09-18T16:07:00.000+02:00

Back from the Seychelles... two weeks in paradise... we´d a wonderful time.... a report and some nice pix´ll follow soon...

Good-bye, Seychelles

In the year 1973...

2011-09-15T06:08:00.000+02:00

...I was born... and some interesting Whiskys have been distilled.

I showed some of those that I own some time ago. Now there are three more bottles which are worth to be presented.

The first is a Glen Moray 36 yo, 1973 -2010, 53.1 %, bottled by Duncan Taylor, it´s also the first bottle of Glen Moray that I have here.

I found some tasting notes about it at www.whiskyfun.com:

Color: dark gold.

Nose: starts just a tad acetic but that goes away, leaving room for stewed fruits and several tropical fruits that are usually more to be found in old Lochsides, Clynelishes or even Bowmores. Intriguing! Other than that, we have some cappuccino and vanilla, café latte, hints of marshmallows and whiffs of cut vegetables (asparagus? French beans?) Anyway, this is a very nice surprise.

With water: more oak. Sawdust, a little coconut, also sangria, more cinnamon…

Mouth (neat): we’re well in the same family as the 1986’s but this is rather less vanilled and pretty fruitier, also with more ‘bitter’ oak in the background (radish and green tea). Pineapples, pears, kiwis, cherries…

With water: more or less the same but with an added earthiness, which I like a lot. Roots, liquorice wood…

Finish: rather long, with a perfect oakiness. Oranges and a little ginger.

Comments: excellent!

On the website of Duncan Taylor they write about their bottling:

Nose: Lots of sweet toffee, raisins, rum like notes, milk chocolate, nougat and bourbon biscuits.

Taste: Warming, rich toffee, cherries, quite creamy, melted chocolate, tangerines and a touch nutty.

Finish: Thick and lingering, lots of treacle toffee and some spiced fruits.

Comment: A big Glen Moray – An excellent example of how good this whisky can be!

The second one is from a distillery I never heard of before... Glenury Royal.

I did some research in the internet and then I found out why I never heard of this before: the distillery was mothballed in 1985 and in 1992 the license was cancelled and the place sold.

The Whisky itself is very rare and hard to find... especially for this older vintages because this Whisky was used a lot for some blends, like King William IV and Ye Auld Toun.

The bottling that I got is Glenury Royal 37 yo, 1973 - 2010, 42.1 %, bottled by "The Whisky Agency". It's part of their 8th series which is called "Sill Lifes I". 187 bottles only... so the chance is low to find this one for a long time available on the market.

Last but not least: Glen Grant 37 yo, 1973 - 2010, 46.0 %, bottled for THOSOP Belgium.

Glen Grant with some age is simply awesome... this one has been stored in an ex-Sherry cask and the result is a malt with an intensive Sherry note, very complex and nutty, coffee and smoke and some fruity aromas. There are only 120 bottles available, I guess it'll be sold out fast.

The Alligator arrived

2011-09-12T06:11:00.000+02:00

Ardbeg Alligator... the lastest release of the well-known Islay distillery. Strange name you may say... but it has its background.

This means "ARDBEG" (Source: www.ardbeg.com)

For the Alligator they used heavily charred cask... the charrin of the casks defines several stages and the heaviest charrin gives the inside of the cask the look of an Alligator skin. For this reason this stage is called Alligator and that's the name of this new Whisky.

Those first bottles which are exclusively for the Commitee members (you can see the "FOR DISCUSSION" on the label) have been released in a very limited no. in beginning of June this year. The regular bottlin hit the shelves in the beginnin of September... Those commitee bottles are collector's items in many cases, but I'll open them fo sho... I don't buyem to make cash outta them.

Ardbeg Alligator, Commitee Bottling

It's for discussion....

Here's the promo video that Ardbeg released on youtube...

Cuban Torcedor on tour in Switzerland

2011-09-08T08:37:00.000+02:00

Eduardo Diaz Gonzalez, a Cuban torcedor who's workin at the Cohiba factory in Havana, will be on tour through Switzerland.

Eduardo Diaz Gonzalez (Source: www.portmanntabak.ch)

He'll be in the shops of Portmann at the followin dates:

Vaduz: 09/14/2011 - 09/15/2011
St. Gallen: 09/16/2011 - 09/17/2011
Kreuzlingen: 09/30/2011 - 10/01/2011

Highlight'll be the event at the Hotel Waaghuus in Gottlieben on 10/01/2011... good food, drinks, cigars, music... and a lot of friends... I'm lookin forward to it....

Wine village Balgach

2011-09-05T10:50:00.000+02:00

Livin now more than 3 years in the beautiful wine village Balgach in the Rhine valley...

I took some pix while walkin through the village on a sunny Sunday mornin... enjoy it.

Wine village Balgach

Old gas pump

Hotel Bad Balgach

Old winepress

Fountain "Traubendieb"

Catholic Church

Restaurant Rössli

Old traditional house

Fountain "Schmittenbrunnen"

Protestant Church

Restaurant Linde

Group of stone figurines

Fountain "Paerkli"

Mansion Gruenenstein

Catholic Church in the background

View over the Rhine Valley

Vineyards

Pure nature

Davidoff Chateau Latour from 1985 - a sublime smoke

2011-09-01T07:08:00.000+02:00

Cuban Davidoffs...one of the brands the people hunt for... especially the ones who like vintage cigars

I was lucky enough to pick up three of those about two years back for a really decent price... I paid much less for three than the actual market price is for one nowadays. Of course I wasn't sure about storage conditions etc. but in this case it was not the time for any doubts. It was just takem and don't ask. So I stored them in my humidor for the last two years and took the chance to smoke one of them a few days back.

It was a mild summer evenin... I sat outside on the balcony and was in the mood to smoke something special...

Davidoff Chateau Latour from 1985

From the first puff I got a really impressin taste... it started with a big bang.... intensive flavors... cedar, intensive earthy notes and a strong tobacco taste... those are the best attributes to describe the first third of this cigar.

The earthy notes are also present during the second third.... added by some spicy aromas... fresh grinded black pepper... a mix of exotical spices... but very creamy and smooth on the other hand...

The last third... the grand final... cedar, earth, tobacco, spices, leather.... a great mix of aromas which gives a very unique and fantastic taste...

The smokin time was app. 100 minutes with an always perfect draw... not too bad for a Corona sized cigar...

08/26 - 08/28 - Beer needs a home

2011-08-28T18:30:00.002+02:00

Beer needs a home / Bier braucht Heimat - that's the slogan of the Sonnenbraeu brewery in Rebstein, just a few minutes away from our home. This brewery is the only of app. 120 breweries that is still existing in our region... all others are gone...

Sonnenbraeu Lager Hell, a pale ale

Being founded in 1891 they've their 120th anniversary this year. Even though they have about 30 employees and an annual output of app. 3 millions litres of beer, it's still a small privat brewery.

It's an important part of this region and the people here are also proud of it... They're very innovative and try to bring new and tasty beer on the markets... on of the latest creations is the so-called "1891", a dark beer, nearly black in color and with a very intensive malty aroma.

Sonnenbraeu 1891 Dunkel

The last weekend in August was the weekend of the festival, which takes place every 5 years. Three days of fun, brewery tours, party and - of course - beer...

We started on Friday afternoon around 5 pm when the first keg was tapped... it´s done by Noeldi Forrer... on of the well-known haymakers of our region, maybe you remember his name from the report about the Haymaker's festival here in Balgach back in end of May.

Noeldi Forrer tappin the first keg

So... the fun started at 5 pm and ended up in the early hours of Saturday mornin... the weather was awesome. Sunshine and maximum temperatures of app. 35 °C / 95 F made us sweat and feelin thirsty...

Hops for decoration

Before the festival was opened officially by the tappin of the keg there were several speeches of different people... from the brewery, the fanclub etc.

4th generation of the founder's family

5th generation of the founder's family

MC Black Thunder Switzerland

120th annyversary of the brewery

Peter and Roger havin some beer

Noeldi sat at our table later at the evenin... maybe a nobody for most of my readers but he´s quite popular here in the country... and hey... he sat next to me... that made some guys really feel envious... hahaha

Then he gave the guys some autographs... I´m afraid that they cannot wash there shirts now anymore...

Noeldi signin Roger´s shirt

We´d a place in one of the big party tents, a stage inside where different bands played durin the evening... good rock music...

Clever rocked da house

Yeah, we´re havin fun...

Day 2... let's start with a visit to the brewery and have a look how the guys make the beer. After the heavy thunderstorms of Saturday mornin the temperatures dropped down to a maximum of less the 15 °C / 59 F... damn cold in comparison to the day before.

The way through the brewery was very interestin and informative... one of there employees at every station, explainin what´s done there...

Copper vessels

Bottle fillin machine

The latest product: Diva

They also store some Swiss Whisky

In the party tent they played music durin the afternoon... we´d fun there... there was also some traditional Swiss stuff... like Alpenhorn or the big jingles... very impressin sound... you have to hear it live...

Alpenhorn

Empty tankards...

Traditional jingles

Nice decoration of the jingles

Later in the afternoon the stone lifting contest startet... lift it up as much as you can... enjoy the faces of the participants...

The stone for the stone lifting.... 207 kg / 456 lb

88 cm / 34.6 inches

Day 3.. morning pint at 10 am... sun´s shinin again... nice Sunday mornin....

Inside the big tent at first a church service before the party went on... in the meantime we sat outside for our mornin pint...

Playin the Alpenhorn

Alpine ibex which is also in the brewery's logo

Beer's flowin again

A nice weekend with perfect weather most of the time... a lot of fun... we all enjoyed it...

Lazy cats in da house

2011-08-25T07:09:00.000+02:00

It's fun to take pix of our "tigers" when they just wake up and start to yawn... you take the pic and they look like: WTF are you doin here?!?!?

At this time of the year they are really lazy... too hot to do monkey business....

I'm f****n tired...

Yeah! I'm awake now!

No pix please

Whassup?