CHEERS

Smooth

Flavorful CHEERS BY MARK GILLILAND Relaxing

Ashton Aged Maduro received a well-deserved 92-rating from Cigar Aficionado, noting: “A dark and oily cigar with a good cap. The draw is a bit firm. The smoke is rich, leathery and cedary, with notes of semi-sweet chocolate. Very tasty.” 66 LAKE AUGUST 2022

A hard-to-find treat made by Fuente, the Ashton Aged Maduro is a dark, slightly sweet and almost-black cigar. Unlike other maduros on the market, Ashton remains at a comfortable mellow profile, making it perfect for dipping the toes into darker waters. A product of the long process of naturally-fermenting the Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, each Ashton Maduro features Dominican-grown leaf for the filler and binder. The result is a beautiful cigar with oily, silky Connecticut Shade wrappers, providing a complex and distinctive character with a chocolatey and spicy sweet flavor.

Out of all the acclaimed whisky that has rolled out of Old Forester in the last several years, there's little fanfare over Statesman. Maybe due to the Kingsman movie connection, many assume it has little to talk about in the bottle. But this isn’t another name grab.

Statesman has a very nice nose, like sweet cinnamon bread, baked tart apples and a touch of brown sugar with a strong crowd-pleasing dose of waffles and cherry syrup, honey butter biscuits, a little bit of light red fruits and oak. It finishes with maraschino cherries. There is some drying oak, but overall, it doesn’t get in the way because of a thick layer of syrup. Simply put: Delicious.

Mark Gilliland is the owner of Grain & Leaf located at 6068 state Route 63, Suite 1, in Alexander City.