Caramel | Green apple | Raspberry trifle | Pear | Oak

Sugar cookie | White grape | Light cinnamon roll | Nutmeg

Dry oak | Prune | Wafer | Graham cracker | Light cinnamon | Quick drop-off of flavor followed by heat

The term “cigar blend” is undefined, and as a result, has different meanings to different drinkers and companies. As the name suggests, it is typically meant to be paired with a cigar, but it has become more than that over the years. Penelope Cigar Sessions: Chapter 01 is a prime example of this.

Penelope is clearly trying to appeal to the cigar crowd with a label that emulates a cigar band, which features a color palette of red, maroon, cream, and gold foil. But breaking away from the cigar batch norm of a multi-finished whiskey, Penelope Cigar Sessions isn’t finished at all and instead is trying to stand out with its blending. Consisting of a mingling of bourbon, American single malt, and American light whiskey, it’s a new direction for the unbounded concept of what it means to be a “cigar blend,” and an adventurous combination of blending components relative to American whiskey at large.

Penelope is always looking to innovate, and the multi-finished cigar batch has been done by Joseph Magnus, Starlight, and Wheel Horse, to name only a few. So instead of relying on big finishing notes to cut through a cigar’s bold flavors, they’re relying on the sweetness of the bourbon and American light whiskey and the American single malt’s fruitiness and maltiness. It’s a great idea, but the end result doesn’t execute in the way you’d expect.

Coming off an expressive aroma rich in fruit, caramel, and oak, the palate and finish surprisingly don’t have the same desired impact. The palate is light overall with appealing notes of sugar cookie, white grape, cinnamon roll, and a dash of nutmeg. Though it sounds sweet, it doesn’t quite get as sweet as you’d expect it to. The finish immediately ramps up its dry oak notes, accompanied by dark fruits, wafer, graham cracker, and cinnamon. The flavors drop off relatively quickly, but a welcome nose-filling warmth emerges afterward.

As a sipper on its own, it’s light overall with a quick moment of heat during its finish. As a companion to a cigar, it doesn’t quite have enough oomph to stand out. Though it leans sweet, its American light whiskey component isn’t quite up to the task as, say, the much higher in proof Penelope’s American Light Whiskeys releases do. Between its strikingly different blended components, a notable balance and well-roundedness are evident. It’s a valiant effort to push blending boundaries beyond where they currently stand, but in its inaugural release, the concept is sound; however, further adjustments (like a higher proof) are needed.

Penelope Cigar Sessions: Chapter 01 is approximately a 45,000 bottle release.