Whisky and Cigar Challenge 2004 Results

[Kate]

Havana, Cuba, played host to the finals of the second Whisky & Cigar Challenge the week of 23rd February. Monday 23rd witnessed eight of Scotland’s finest whiskies and two of Cuba’s finest cigars tasted by judges from Cuba, the UK, Ireland, Israel, Spain, Hong Kong, South Africa and France. The assembled retailers, cigar aficionados, whisky and cigar producers and international press selected their two finest combinations for tasting in the finals on Thursday 26th February.

The short listed whiskies tasted on Monday 23rd February were;

Aberlour a’bunadh
Auchentoshan Three Wood
Chieftain’s Cigar Malt Aged 13 Years
Cutty Sark Aged 25 Years
The Dalmore Special Cask Strength Aged 30 Years
Hart Brothers Glen Grant Distillery Aged 29 Years
The Macallan Cask Strength
Whyte & Mackay Masters Reserve 21 Year Old

Tasted with Montecristo No. 2 and Partagas Piramides

250 judges from across the world then tasted the two final whiskies with the two leading Habanos cigars on Thursday 26th February. The tasting panel was led by;

Damian Riley-Smith, Whisky Magazine
Javier Torres, Habanos SA
Simon Chase, Hunters & Frankau
Ranald Macdonald, Boisdale
Rupert Patrick, Ian Macleod Distillers
Donald Hart, Hart Brothers
Antony Macallum, Ian Macleod Distillers

The Finest Combination of 2004 was;

The Macallan Cask Strength and Partagas Piramides

And the Highly Recommended Combination of 2004 was;

The Chieftain’s Cigar Malt and Partagas Piramides