1. Cigar in the Bottle
2. Casa Fuente

Of course, readers know that Calvados is a distilled apple cider made in Normandy, off the northwestern coast of France. It can be an apéritif with tonic or ice, or enjoyed as a digestif in a snifter. This unique fruit distillation has been documented as far back as the 16th century, but it wasn’t until 1942 that Calvados became an “Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée.”

There are three different appellations given to the growing, harvesting, and distillation of apples used in calvados: Calvados, Calvados Domfrontais, and Calvados Pays d'Auge. Calvados from the first two areas uses a single continuous column distillation, and are, therefore, apple brandies. It is only Pays d'Auge that mandates double distillation in copper pot stills. Thus, this is truly an apple cognac. Typically, VSOP, XO and occasionally 20 Year Old Calvados is made. However, only one producer - Père Magloire Calvados Distillery in Pont L'Eveque, the oldest and largest Calvados distillery in Normandy - makes an older and rarer award-winning 40-year-old Calvados, Grand Pommier XS. The special XS designation was approved by the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée especially for Grand Pommier (which means “great apple tree”). Indeed, it is a fitting designation, for although there are four different families of apples used in calvados, with 900 different sub-varieties, only the top 100 species are selected for Grand Pommier XS. Before distillation, each apple is washed with Evian water. Although the distillery dates from 1821 and utilizes traditional 19th century distillation methods, the facilities are state-of-the art.

Tres Amigos (l. to. r.) Trumpet virtuoso Arturo Sandoval, author Richard Carleton Hacker, and Carlos Fuente, Jr. at the star-studded grand opening of Casa Fuente at Caesar’s Palace Forum in Las Vegas.

“The distillation of Grand Pommier XS is really an art for them, and their head cellar master, Michel, has more experience than any other
cellar master in the area,” says Matthew Bogosian, who, together with his partner Johnny Soyak, is responsible for bringing Grand Pommier XS to the United States. “To him, the Calvados is a bouquet of flowers that he arranges in harmony.”

All of the time and care that it took to create Grand Pommier XS has been worth it. At the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, where I was one of the judges, this exquisite apple spirit took top honors, winning a Double Gold Medal as well as overall Best of Show in the Calvados category. Its exceptional characteristics were apparent from my very first sip during the judging. I immediately singled it out and identified it, much to the chagrin of my fellow judges. I was one of the few who had tasted it a year earlier, and its uniqueness is not something one forgets.

“This is Grand Pommier,” I said, after only a cursory nosing of the numbered glasses. A sip confirmed it.

“You’re not supposed to tell us that,” I was reprimanded by one of my fellow judges. “This is supposed to be a blind tasting.”

Still, there was no mistaking the distinctive flavors of burnt caramel, roasted apples, and sweet cherries, with dark honey and oak in the finish.

My long-time friend Carlos Fuente, Jr., who, with his father Don Carlos, heads up the largest family-owned cigar company in the world, had the same reaction when sipping his first snifter of Grand Pommier XS. “This is fantastic,” he said. “I’ve got to create a cigar that we can smoke with it.”

The cigar born of this inspiration was the Forbidden X, which is even rarer than the Fuente Fuente OpusX, the world’s first all-Dominican puro, in which wrapper, binder, and filler are all grown in the Dominican Republic.

“Originally, creating an all-Dominican cigar was a forbidden project,” said Fuente. “Combining the Forbidden X with a brandy made from apples, the forbidden fruit, is a perfect pairing.”

“What we’ve built here is a dream, Hermano,” Carlito Fuente (c.) tells Richard Carleton Hacker (r.), as Don Carlos Fuente (l.) looks on.   Photos Marc Blake - Sword of Creation

Forbidden Johnny” Soyak, Carlos Fuente, Jr., and Richard Carleton Hacker enjoy a trio of rare Opus X “A” cigars at the Casa Fuente grand opening. Note the Cigar In The Bottle display in the background.

In spite of its name and ornate red, black and gold band, there is nothing forbidding about the Forbidden X. To complement the XS Calvados, it is slightly milder than the OpusX, using more filler from the sweeter middle priming of the plant. All seven tobaccos in the Forbidden X come from the soil-rich Chateau de la Fuente. Some of these tobaccos have been aged as long as ten years. Before rolling, the leaves are “finished” up to 45 days in French oak calvados barrels, which gives them a delicate apple and butter spiciness. They are then rolled into a unique 6 3/8 X 49 shape by two of the Fuente’s top cigar rollers. Afterwards, the finished cigars are aged in cedar for over a year, and are not released until Carlito feels they are perfect. The result of all this aging is evident from the very first puff, for the smooth spice of the smoke is laced with gentle apple and oak nuances. Small wonder I helped select it for this year’s Best of the Best in Robb Report.

A cigar such as the Forbidden X deserves equally spectacular packaging, and what could be better than to pair it with Grand Pommier XS, the calvados that inspired its creation. Special Grand Pommier XS bottles were hand-blown in France, featuring a patented glass chamber that encapsulates one cedar-warped Forbidden X cigar. The opening at the base of this internal glass tube is covered with a customized Humidipak, which keeps the cigar fresh, and a rubber seal capped with a hologram of the Forbidden X logo alternating with a portrait of Don Carlos and Carlos Fuente, Jr. The Grand Pommier XS and its companion Forbidden X cigar have been christened Cigar In The Bottle, and are housed in an elegant, French-fitted velvet-lined jewelry grade gift box.

Priced at $250 each, a portion of the proceeds from every Cigar-In-The-Bottle will be donated to the Disabled American Veterans Fund and the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation, founded by Fuente Jr. to assist needy children in the Dominican Republic. Initial release will be on the West Coast, Las Vegas, Chicago and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Not only is it a perfect spirit and cigar pairing, but according to Johnny Soyak, "It’s the perfect gift for the man who has almost everything."

# # #

Lights, Camera, Smoke! - (l. to r.) Trumpet virtuoso Arturo
Sandoval, actor Andy Garcia, and Carlos Fuente, Jr. in front of the
Casa Fuente bar during the star-studded grand opening. The
painted legend on the wall says, “Fuente —- an inexhaustible
source of quality, aroma, and pleasure.”
Photo credit: Marc Blake - Sword of Creation

# # #