New Beer Friday, Perdomo Edition (Jan 27)

Nick Perdomo

Preamble by Steve Siciliano

Last week my wife Barb and I were among a group of smoke shop retailers who traveled to Esteli, Nicaragua for a comprehensive four-day tour of Tabacalera Perdomo’s cigar manufacturing facilities.

Company owner Nick Perdomo walked us through every facet of his premium cigar making operation and the visit was both interesting and educational. I’ve been selling handmade cigars for close to twenty years but never knew how much time it takes to grow, dry, ferment and age tobacco, not to mention how much manual labor goes into the manufacturing process.

After daily tours of the company’s greenhouses, farms, drying barns, fermentation rooms, sorting rooms, rolling rooms, aging rooms, box factories and packaging facilities our group gathered each night for delicious meals. After dinner we relaxed and enjoyed quality Nicaraguan rum, refreshing Nicaraguan beer and, of course, excellent Perdomo cigars. It was a great experience and a truly wonderful trip.

New and Returning Beer

• Pike 51 Knights on Mastodons, $8.09/22oz - "Imperial brown with coffee" (source).
• Pike 51 Cran Cherry Sour, $5.79/12oz - "A balanced blend of fruited sour beers" (source).
• Pike 51 Cherry Sour, $5.79/12oz - "A red ale spontaneously fermented in oak casks with tart cherry" (source).
• Pike 51 Cranberry Sour, $5.79/12oz - "A mixed culture red ale fermented in oak casks with cranberries" (source).
• Short's Hopstache, $2.39/12oz - "Hopstache is an American IPA. Made with Amarillo, Citra, and Simcoe hops, this beer has aromas of dank citrus and pine. An initial sweetness is balanced with flavors of grapefruit and zest. The finish is intense and dank with little bitterness" (source).
• Epic Oak and Orchard Pinot, $13.59/500ml - "Sister beer to Syrah, Pinot inspired sour features blueberry, boysenberry, cranberry, strawberry, and plum. French oak and Brettanomyces" (source).
• Epic Oak and Orchard Syrah, $13.59/500ml - "Foeder then aged in red wine casks with blueberry, boysenberry, and black currants. Bright floral aroma with a flavor explosion of fruit complexity, jam, and puckering sourness finished with Brettanomyces funk" (source).
• Epic Sour Pineapple, $13.59/500ml - "Sour ale aged in oak barrels with pineapple" (source).
• Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, $1.99/12oz - "The beer with a guarantee built right into the name, this one is destined to blast through the flavors from the night before. Massively dry-hopped for your aromatic pleasure" (source).
• Rogue Dead Guy Cans, $2.09/12oz - "German-style Maibock made with Rogue’s proprietary "PacMan" ale yeast. It is deep honey in color with a malty aroma, rich hearty flavor and a well balanced finish" (source).
• Rogue 6 Hop, $2.09/12oz - "The first in a fresh crop of Rogue Farms IPAs, crafted entirely from ingredients we grow ourselves in Oregon’s renowned Willamette Valley. The Rogue Farms Revolution, Independent, Alluvial, Rebel, Liberty and Freedom Hops in 6 Hop IPA create a well-balanced, drinkable IPA grown from Ground to Glass" (source).
• Odd Side Passion Juice, $2.29/12oz - "IPA with passion fruit" (source).
• Alaskan Smack of Grapefruit, $8.99/22oz - "The American IPA is a more flavorful, intense IPA. Hops are typically American, as in this case, with the Three-C combo of Citra, Centennial and Cascade exhibiting bright, juicy citrus flavors" (source).
• Grand Armory Nutter Your Business Peanut Butter Stout, $5.09/16oz (2 per) - "Peanut butter stout" (source).
• Elysian Split Shot, $1.99/12oz - "Beer and coffee are Seattle siblings, jealously dividing the day. Split Shot combines the talents of Elysian’s brewers with a pound per barrel of cold-infused, Seattle-produced Lighthouse coffee. It’ll open your eyes to a delicious new beer. Split Shot is the official beer of 2012 Seattle Beer Week" (source).
• Elysian Immortal IPA, $1.99/12oz - "A Northwest interpretation of a classic English style, golden copper in color and loaded with New World hop flavor and aroma. Extremely drinkable" (source).

More Pics from Nicaragua

Cigar rollers

Aging tobacco in bourbon barrels

Cheers!