Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend Bourbon

Batch 42 - The first rule of cigar blend - you don't talk about what you did to the store clerk to get it! OK jokes aside this wasn't an easy find. This is a neck pour review so please….don’t come at me if my notes are limited here. I’ll try and get a review of this on the channel with mike and I next time we get together. Nose - The nose is safe to say, pleasant. At 61.88 the alcohol has a presence but it's still letting the whisky creep out and say hi. A combination of light tobacco, sweet figs and perhaps raisins. Deeper in I'm getting honey with brown sugar (really heavy brown sugar going on), and chocolates along with light oak elements. This batch 42 marries together a touch of oak smoke, sweet bourbons, along with a healthy dose of those "fall" notes we've become so used to with these Cigar Blends (I need to remember where they're sourcing the barrels and get a bottle, I'm armagnac collection is limited but it's slowly growing thanks to "The Nose" and these releases. Sweet forward with brown sugar and some fruits and I dunno, it’s got a vegetal (not green!) savory thing going on too. Taste - The flavor on this one takes a bit of a turn from the nose. The alcohol here has no filter, it's big, spicy, bold, and a bit hot. You get what I'm reference as a very nice and very beam like arrival where you get big oak and what I'll also call "beam leather". Think old sun dried and almost falling apart leather vs a nice new soft as a baby's bottom leather that you might get more with a buffalo trace product. The second taste now acclimated to that fire and the sweet fruity notes of the armagnac and now some what I assume is MGP rye spice is coming into play. Now I'm getting more and more leather (I guess I left that out of my nosing marks) and getting I dunno, I'm bad with butter scotch and toffee when combined with other things but I think toffee. I also almost get a grape like note...I know maybe just armagnac but it's a bit more vibrant than I expect in this combination and I love it. Water impacts - so the first thing is just the nose really gets more rye forward bourbon, I"m not sure the mash bill on the bourbons used but that's what I'm detecting here. Mostly no real change however. On the taste my question about butter scotch and toffee is over, it's big old toffee dessert. That's now the dominate opening sweetness for me. Questionable notes – A new one but with this abv and body I had to. I can’t tell if I’m getting some citrus elements or if it’s alcohol. If it’s citrus this is one of the more tame alcohol forward cigar blends in terms of the nose, if not then I like the alcohol element here. Either way a plus. Overall, the long linger smoky and spicy finish is just awesome. My mouth feels just blow and away by now almost an oz of whisky. I'll be going back for a few more pours of this tonight. This isn't a bourbon to share with your friends getting into bourbon. This is for those who really like big bold and complex flavors who can spend hours with a glass. Oh goodness, I’m thinking some orange notes are in here too. Where did that come from? Anyway looking forward to researching this one. I know Nancy has notes on each batch. Hoping she gives me her take on butter scotch vs toffee and hoping she clarifies that citrus vs alcohol. And I certainly hope she got her some brown sugar on the nose, cause that’s lovely. Scoring - so back even just the couple of years ago I started doing this, I was a versed whisky drinker but I'd not had nearly as much as I have had now. Then these bottles were these mind blowing and life altering moments of wow. Today, I'm picking apart the elements of the bourbon and the play on the oak...it's all become a bit "simple" in way that's more and more making me look for dusty bottles of scotch (not even just high end scotch). I say this not to take away from this bottle but to set the stage for my score. This is a 4.25.

This is the one that will knockout even people who complain about finished whiskeys. I don’t love every Magnus I’ve tasted. But the Cigar Blend will make a cynic come to Jesus. I’m just sad I didn’t make my bottle last longer—always on the hunt to replace it.

very unique Extremely flavorful with a mild hint of coconut medium finish

Batch 13, 51.8% abv. Phonemenal masterpiece showing Japanese style blending in bourbon. So many layers of flavor coming from a blend of 13 and 20 year old bourbons finished in Sherry, armagnac, and cognac casks. Nose: Caramel, Cherries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Plums, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Candied Apples, Almonds, Twizzlers, Rum Raisins, Tobacco Palate: Cherries, Raisins, Dark Chocolate, Almonds, Pecan Pie, Brown Sugar, Marshmallows, Oranges, Prunes, Blood Oranges, Espresso, Mocha, Nutmeg, Cola Finish: Raisins, Dark Chocolate, Espresso, Cherries, Brown Sugar, Pecans, Prunes, Blood Oranges, Walnuts, Hazlenuts, Cola, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Maple Syrup

Neat. Opened two weeks. Batch 33. Full disclosure, Batch 28 is one of my favorite pours of all time. This didn’t hit me the same way head-to-head but I haven’t given it the spotlight in its own sitting yet. On the nose, the MGP shines through. Butterscotch, graham cracker, honey. Also getting somewhere between a grape soda and a root beer. I sway root beer because the vanilla is emerging but I also can’t escape that grape. Getting this beautiful hint of chocolate and tobacco. This really darkened the more I sat with it, which is atypical for me. Usually I get the dark first and it lightens as I acclimate. Fantastically creamy and immediately leaps with flavor. Honey and maple up front on the tongue, so sweet. That grape soda is coming through too. So good. Root beer and the vanilla transitions to a beautiful chocolate. Oh it’s spicy too. Geez what is that. It’s like a Mediterranean spice. All spice? All spice and tobacco? Lots of fig there too. The chocolate, tobacco and spice are really hanging. Damn that is good. It’s so dynamic and each sip tickled my soul. I need to find more batches....