Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo des Dieux EEO CCUT

[jdbrown]

Nice review Dave. I have an 07 box that needs a some time for flavors to integrate. Woody notes dominate now so I have laid them down for another year.

[android]

Great review...nice looking beer as well! Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo des Dieux is a nice smoke...I have a few cabs from 03 that are smoking very well.

Thanks again

[Colt45]

Very nice

[anacostiakat]

Good review Dave!

I wish I had not screwed up the pics I took of my 98 review. :-(

Thanks!

[toasterhead]

Hoyo de Monterrey

Le Hoyo des Dieux

PCC Aged Release

EEO CCUT (1999)

July 5, 2008

The Colorado Rockies had the biggest come-from-behind victory in their history last night, overcoming a 9-run deficit to win in the bottom of the ninth, 18-17. A fitting metaphor for today’s cigar; this plain-Jane Le Hoyo des Dieux (Hoyo of the Gods, ha!) started off slowly but battled through and reigned victorious in the end. Final score 90.

This Le Hoyo had rested nearly 2 months at 65 degees/ 65% humidity and was dry boxed at around 50% humidity for 2 days. I decided to pair it on a hot summery day with a Dale’s Pale Ale, the delicious hoppy one from Oskar Blues that revolutionized the “good beer CAN come in cans” movement.

The wrapper wasn’t anything special and the fill was good; slightly spongy with no hard spots or underfill. The coronas grandes size (42 ring/6 1/8 inches) felt classy. The aroma was faintly sweet and leathery, and the cold draw had a hint of spice and sting on the lips. So far, so good.

Leo, as you can see, was not impressed. I have always enjoyed aged cigars for the “otherness” factor; there is something in the flavors and mouthfeel that is unique and quite pleasant. It is usually a “roundness” or “smoothness” that is hard to describe. This cigar did not have it at first. The opening draws and first 1/3 showed only light, sweet, pleasant tobacco flavors. It wasn’t bad, but it was sort of boring waiting for something to happen.

The middle 1/3 was the best with a slowly developing creamy texture, darker coffee and chocolate notes with some surprising, pleasant mushroom/vegetal flavors occasionally. There was little spice or pepper through the nose. Nearing the last 1/3 there were also some nice bread/yeasty flavors, and finally some of the exotic wood flavors MRN talks about. The final 1/3 was dominated by dark espresso and campfire.

I smoked this cigar slowly and went from, “oh, great, a boring dud” to “I really like this” over an hour. The body never got above medium and the strength was light-to-medium.

Cheers,

Dave