Bourbon Tasting At Havana Jack’s Cigar Factory

The other day, Rosemary and I were invited by Matt and Becca to attend a Bourbon tasting at Havana Jack’s Cigar Factory on Main Street, Louisville. Havana Jack’s is a bar and cigar rolling business founded by Becca’s friend, Jack Cowley. Jack has hired a cigar roller of Cuban descent who started as an apprentice cigar roller at the age of 17. They are rolling a very good line of cigars and have their shop and bar on Main Street. Kentucky law has recently changed to allow for a bar that sells cigars to have smoking in the building as long as they are also a bar selling alcohol. Jack invited Bernie Lubbers to come and do a Bourbon tasting at the bar and we happily accepted the invitation to attend. The cost of the tasting was free with the purchase of a cigar.

Bernie Lubbers created an excellent Bourbon tasting for the occasion. He picked four Heaven Hill bonded Bourbons. Three of the Bourbons were the same mash bill with the only difference being the age of the Bourbons. The fourth Bourbon was a wheat recipe Bourbon. The Bourbons were J.W. Dant four year old, Heaven Hill seven year old, Henry McKenna ten year old and Old Fitzgerald seven year old.

Bernie started the tasting by having everyone pick up the J.W. Dant in their left hand and the Heaven Hill in their right hand. He then invited everyone to nose each Bourbon and notice the difference and then taste each Bourbon and note the difference. He chose these Bourbons because they were the same mash bill and proof. His point was to teach the people about the difference age made in the Bourbon. He asked everyone to pick up the Heaven Hill and the Henry McKenna and nose and taste them. Each Bourbon was different and it was a very good lesson about age and the effects of the barrel on whiskey. Bernie then asked everyone to pick up the Heaven Hill and the Old Fitzgerald. Both are seven years old and 100 proof, but the Old Fitzgerald was made using wheat instead of rye in the mash bill. We then looked at the difference in the nose and taste of the Bourbons.

It was a great tasting experience. I liked the fact that he had the same proof for all of the whiskeys for the comparison, something that very few other distilleries other than Heaven Hill could do in their line-up of brands. Bernie did not discuss the pairing each whiskey made with the cigar during the tasting because he was speaking without a microphone and had to project his voice to make himself heard by everybody in the room, but I don’t think that hurt the program. It kept the focus on the age difference in the whiskeys. With that said, I did look at the difference each whiskey made with the cigar.

The cigar I was smoking was a Jack of Spades cigar rolled at the factory. I found the smoke to be a pleasant mixture of tobacco, vanilla and dried fruit. I thought the Henry McKenna was the best pairing because it brought out caramel and dried fruit in the smoke. My second choice was the Old Fitzgerald because it brought out an interesting cedar spice and apple in the smoke. It was a very good tasting and was enjoyed by all. I look forward to attending other Bourbon tastings at Havana Jack’s in the future.