Last week we were invited to an intimate cigar event hosted at Hotel Xenia as part of their ‘Smokes and Tipples’ monthly cigar event.
Hotel Xenia is located on the Cromwell Road and is a boutique hotel of 99 individually appointed guest rooms with 2 stylish bars, and most important of all, 2 terraces.
The event saw us pairing a Montecristo number 2 with some carefully selected whiskeys chosen by The Whisky shop.
Mark from Hunters & Frankau was on hand to introduce us to the cigar we were smoking as well as a brief history on Hunter s& Frankau. We were also introduced to Lucy from Whisky Shop who was on hand to talk us through a selection of Whisky’s chosen to pair for the evening.
The Montecristo No. 2 is by one of the greatest regular production cigars and is loved by novices and experts alike. The cigar is a torpedo cigar and measures in at 6 1/8 inches with a 52 ring gauge meaning it’s a decent 1.5 hour smoke.
The whisky’s on hand for the evening started off with a Douglas distilled at Dailuaine 9 year which was a very refreshing whisky to pair with the light first third of the cigar. As the cigar began to open up we moved onto the Loch Fyne The Living Cask 1745 which packed more a punch than the first whisky, however worked well with the stronger cigar notes of vanilla and cedar.
Coming into the last third and this is when the cigar really opened up to reveal its full flavour. We moved onto the Bowmore 15 year which was by far the favourite of the night. The sherry woody notes complemented the cigars flavour of leather, cedar and vanilla making it a great pairing. The Bowmore was by far our favourite of the three (so much we forgot to even take a picture of it).
The evening was a great success and Hotel Xenia is a great location for any cigar smoker any time of the year. What is great about Hotel Xenia is that the cigar terrace is located below street level which is great because it blocks the British wind which can sometimes ruin your cigar smoking. The other great factor is not many people know about it (aware we are probably ruining that by talking about it) which means there is always a good chance to find a space.
Their built in humidor offers a large selection of Cuban cigars you can enjoy alongside premium spirits from their bar.
Hotel Xenia is open 7 days a week and can be found at 160 Cromwell Rd, London SW5 0TL
Follow Hotel Xenia on Facebook and Twitter for more info on their next event.