moki
el Presidente
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,418
Last night I had the dubious pleasure of driving my girlfriend's sister to a Josh Grobin concert... thankfully, I didn't have to go inside to hear him bleating away; instead I hung outside, and decided to treat myself to an Original Release Añejo No.48.
What's an Original Release (OR) Añejo? Well, back in 1998, a hurricane savaged the Fuente farm in the Dominican Republic. Carlito Fuente was concerned that the damage to their crop and stores would result in the inability to deliver Opus X cigars in quantity. Hardest hit was the wrapper, because it's produced in such limited quantities to begin with.
So they decided to make a one-time special release cigar in late 2000, the Añejo, which would use Opus X filler and binder, but Connecticut shade maduro wrapper that had been aged in cognac barrels for 7 years. The cigars ended up being such a hit that Fuente decided to keep producing them, generally releasing them twice a year, around Father's Day and Christmas.
Original Release Añejos were different, though. Subsequent releases of the Añejos, while still absolutely wonderful cigars, had Connecticut broadleaf wrapper that was aged only for 3 years in cognac barrels, and it is also rumoured that the blend is slightly different.
The only way to tell the difference visually is that OR Añejos have no cedar on them (except for the Shark, which has no cedar for any release). So I decided to spark up an OR Añejo No.48 (Churchill size, 7" x 48) and see what all the fuss was about. I'll admit to being a bit skeptical that it'd taste much different from a regular release Añejo, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The OR Añejo does have a similar taste profile to subsequent releases, but it is more intense by an order of magnitude. The wrapper is delicious in flavor, like a fine bittersweet dark chocolate, and the cigar was just absolutely wonderful.
Despite having Opus X filler and binder, all of the Añejos bear only passing resemblance to Opus X cigars in terms of taste profile. This is a good example of how much the wrapper influences the taste of a cigar, because the overwhelming flavor is more of a deep rich chocolate, with hints of spice and muted cherry sweetness.
The hints of cognac are more intense than in regular Añejos, as well as the blend overall tasting much more robust, despite the cigar being almost 4 years old at this point. If you like Añejos, join the hunt for an Original Release... I think you'll be in for a wonderful smoking experience.
Sorta reminds me a of "classical" New Kids On the Block 
