Penelope Cigar Blend Chapter 1 | Strong Start or Flat Debut? | Review

Penelope just launched their first-ever Cigar Blend release, Chapter 1, and it’s already got people talking.

In this Arsenic Culture review, Matt and Jason sit down with Penelope’s newest limited release to see if the hype is justified. From the aroma to the finish, we break down how Chapter 1 compares to Penelope’s core lineup, what makes it stand out, and whether this debut blend hints at a new powerhouse series in the making.
A promising first step… or just a cigar-themed gimmick?


#PenelopeBourbon #CigarBlend #BourbonReview #ArsenicCulture

https://www.youtube.com/@arsenicculture
https://instagram.com/arsenicculture
https://tiktok.com/@arsenicculture
https://www.facebook.com/arsenicculture/
https://x.com/arsenicculture

Transcript

0:00

I feel like the guys that maybe came in and gave their notes, somebody probably should have held their hand a little bit. Does that Maybe it's their first day on the job. Yeah, Okay. We know cigars, so this is how you should make your whiskey, and they're like, welcome back to Arsenic culture. I'm Jason, and I'm not Jason. and he's also Matt too. But we are back today for another bourbon review today. Matt. We have Penelope. American Whiskey, cigar Sessions, chapter 1 and that is the coolest Penelope logo or uh, label I've ever cool. Uh, all the other ones honestly, are kind of garbage. That is They look the same. They look the They look the same. They look the same, and they're kind of like boring, but that is badass. Go the store for Penelope, you'll see 18 different labels. Yeah. With like one shade, different color. Yeah, yeah, all the But this looks like the little cigar thing label that goes on cigars. Yeah. That is awesome. I love We'll show it to the camera a little bit. So are you a cigar guy, Matt? I am. I am, uh, like a light cigar guy. Like I don't, I don't go as deep into cigars as we do with alcohol and bourbon and stuff like that, but I actually enjoy smoking cigars. Yeah, I do. There was a point in time though. I really did. We have a place here, a cigar shop or I guess tobacco store. Schwab's. Yeah, it used to be off or New Circle Road up there. Close to Richmond Road. I go out there sometimes, and, uh, they have like, guys come in, give you free cigars, let you try different ones. It was, it was a good time. So have you ever had any other cigar batch? Cigar blend? Bourbon whiskey. maybe, but it's not something that's like stuck outta my mind. So do you know what the theory behind it is? Like what they're, what they're going for in blendedness. What is it? Okay. So it's not to taste like a cigar, it's to actually enhance the flavor of a cigar. Of a cigar. Yeah. Okay. So this particular one was. looking for hints of tobacco and I I'm sure you are like still are. Yeah. but this particular one is made to compliment a medium bodied cigar. Okay? Before I get too much into that though, we're gonna tell you some details about it. Okay? So this one was first released in June of this year. Um, didn't see many of 'em around here. I actually got this one in Indiana when I was traveling for work. Okay? The distillery for Penelope. You know who it is? Who is it? it? They're outta Indiana. MG PG MGP Baby MGP. Proof on this one's 101. The age is not stated, but per their website, it's assumed to be six years old. Okay? MSRP 80 bucks. The top of secondary was 140, now it's about 110. So roughly this ball's $110. No matter where you get it, probably. Is it hard to get, did you happen on it or, okay. It's hard to get. I mean, I'm not seeing one here. I saw one Lexington like maybe twice on the shelf. Real Penelope's. Kind of a Penelope's Kind of a weird thing, like I hear some people saying it's amazing and I hear, see people, some people just be like, eh. You know what I mean? There's not a lot of in between people where they're just kind of like, well, I think it's also like Heaven Hill. So think of them. When I was growing up, I thought of Heaven Hill as like cheap vodka, right? That's what I thought Heaven Hill made. That's all I knew they made. they did make cheap They did. They did. And it's really cheap and really bad. yeah. they also make some really good bourbon. So they have different price points. I think with Penelope, they have some different ones that maybe people don't love, but then they have some nicer ones too. Again, if you go in there, they'll have all these different series. Um, I actually picked up a bottle for our friend Jordan the other day. It's the 17, I think, year old light whiskey. They did. Um, that's a pretty special one. May maybe, maybe for real nice to Jordan. He might do a. Show. We'll see, we'll see. But um, I think that's the reason why I think if you try one product from a distillery, some people might give up on the whole distillery. Don't, 'cause there's a whole lot of offerings, so, depending on the distillery, but Yeah, that's a good point's. Good point. So what about this is whiskey. So this is not bourbon and we'll talk about wine in a minute, but nose, are you getting anything on the nose? uh, it smells like alcohol. It does. It does. And I'm not being sarcastic. Yeah. Yeah. What's the proof on this one? Oh one. God. Okay. I mean, I feel like Turkey 1 0 1 doesn't smell like no, I think the color on, it's a little lighter, but again, it's whiskey, not bourbon. Sure, sure. So Yeah. I'm not getting a lot of depth out of the nose. I get a little bit of fruit, like on on the nose, like a little bit of those esters, and then just a little bit of just oak. I guess it'd be the only thing I'd getting a tiny bit of oak. Very small amount of oak. Yeah. So here's the, here's the nosy notes. Milk chocolate. I get none of that. Vanilla. I think everything has vanilla, Sure. candied apple. Yeah. I mean I get, I don't know that I'd call it apple, but I get like a fruit, so maybe, right. Okay. Alright, so taste. Let's go see I almost go more pithy than Apple, but yeah. Yeah. Okay. I can see that. A little, little bitter almost in the nose. Okay, so it, the, the kind of al notes on the nose were masking a lot for me. Um, it is a lot smoother on the palette. Um, it is light. It is light. It tastes as light as it looks. It is, yeah. yeah. It's not a viscous bourbon whiskey. Sorry. Um. Tasting notes for me. tastes, it tastes young. You said that indications are that this is six years old. Six. Six years old. Okay. This, I think, I feel like six years might be pushing it. I think for me, I could see why this is a cigar blend.'cause I think it'd have it hopefully get better with a cigar. Yeah. I got, I think it'd bring out more flavors or actually make the cigar have more flavor. Right. Yeah, that's what I would think it would do. But on that other tasty notes you get, um, gimme a second You're good. I, I definitely get a little bit of the fruit again, I don't know that I'd call it apple, but maybe orchard fruit. Like, it's kind of like fresh, you know what I mean? Um, it's almost like you scrape the top of apple or whatever fruit and you get that lot of little mist, you know, it's not an orange, but yeah. I'm still getting like, it's just a tiny bit bitter, you know? It's more of like the rind of a fruit than the actual meat of a fruit. That's kind of where I'm leaning. Well, think about if you scrape a lime or lemon, you get that Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's what, I'm sorry. That's what you were saying. I was trying to say Exactly. So we're on the same page I don't know that I could tell you what fruit it is though. I don't know if it's a lime or lemon. I, I don't, I don't think I I agree with you 100%. Yeah. I mean, it could borderline be a lemon even, but it's not sour. It, I mean, it's just, it's pithy. It's, it's like a little bit bitter. Um. It's very much, uh, you mentioned light whiskey, and I'm not saying that's in my brain, but it kind of is reminiscent of a light whiskey, which we have done before. So I mean, get a little, no, like cocoa, like cocoa powder, like it's dry It is just a little bit of like the, I wouldn't go so far as chocolate, but like raw coke, like, you know what I mean? Like that, that different kind of, it's not milk chocolate, it's not dark chocolate somewhere. Just like, I don't The, the drying effect is the same kind of effect I get when something is overly tannic. But I'm not getting all that oak. I'm not getting any of that oak like I want. I if, if that was there, it might be justifiable, but I'm not getting I might give it some depth. I agree. I agree. But it's, it's just not, here's some tasty notes. Chocolate again, whatever. Tobacco, I mean, I think that's on every one. Toffee. I don't know that I get toffee. I would say more fruity than I would toffee. That's kind of a weird one for me. It's this dried peach, which I don't know if I ever had dried peach, but maybe, no, I don't know. Caramel. I mean a little, yeah. Yeah. And then dark fruit. Okay. I mean, maybe I fruit's kind of like, yeah. So I feel like dark fruit's something they push when something is deeper and I, I think that might be a reach for this one. Yeah, I would agree. I don't think that's So let's talk a little bit about the blend on this one especially. So this is a blend of bourbon. American Single Malt Whiskey and American Light Whiskey. Okay. Okay. This was made in collaboration with renowned cigar blenders of dissident cigars, which I'd never heard of, and stolen throne cigars. So people from there, cigar places, came to Penelope and helped them blend based on taste to compliment cigars. I love that It's a great idea. I think it's fantastic that they're doing that. Um, I feel like the guys that maybe came in and gave their notes. Somebody probably should have held their hand a little bit. Does that Maybe it's their first day on the job. Yeah, it's our first day on the okay, we know cigars, so this is how you should make your bourbon or your whiskey. And they're like, instead of being like, oh yeah, whatever you want, guys. That sounds First off, have you had bourbon or whiskey before? That's number one. So like I could see somebody coming in with money and being like, this is what we want. And they're like, oh, if you're paying us, we'll just make, make whatever But you know what? At least they didn't give up. And you know what else didn't give up? say die. You know what? Don't ever say die, but never say die. Bourbon is stop taking the focus. It is always a worthy pour. You can find out a liquor store near you, uh, aged at sea. Partially, not temporarily. Partially, yeah. Uh, as it's, uh, sailed out to England and it comes back, uh, it actually goes well with any cigar that you have. Uh, and it probably has light tobacco notes because that is a very normal vanilla, we can guarantee both and maybe a little bit of We can guarantee it. really good. Uh, you should check those guys out when you can. Thank you. Never say die. So, have you ever had any other cigar blends besides this one before? I think you said no. I, well I said like, I probably have, but it's not, not, it's nothing that like sticks out in my mind that was memorable and was one we had, but it, I, I, I probably wouldn't have thought to, just looked, looked at my notes. Uh, good times. They did a cigar blend. Yeah. Yeah. And it was, it was pretty good. Yeah. Uh, it was bourbon. I don't think it had a lot whiskey. I think it was actually a bourbon versus a whiskey, so it maybe it was probably finished also. all these are finished. So, so the way this works, the first cigar blend actually, that I can find was created in 2016, so not that long ago. It was by Joseph, a magnusson company. You've seen the bottle in the store. If I could show you a picture, you would recognize it. It's kinda like a Woodford bottle, but, uh, Wilford master collection, but kind of bigger. Okay. Anyway, Nancy Frayler. Fraley, not Frayler. Nancy Fraley was the, I guess, master distiller. It blended that one. one. Okay. so what it was, it was a, a blend of 11 and 18-year-old bourbons, but they're finished. All these are always finished. So is that a staple of a se quote unquote cigar yep. And it's always, it's always in an order. So the order that they did it for Joseph May, Magnus, Sherry Cognac. An ARMC cask. So in that order. Okay. That's what they did. Took the liquid, put it in the sherry cask, then the cognac cask, then the armc cask. Yeah. Yeah. What is this one finished in? Dunno. Dunno Geez. Like I feel like that should be disclosed. I would No, no. I think it would be all of 'em are like that. I think all of 'em are like that. We're gonna say it is. Yeah, Of course. That's what it is. so, but yeah, I think, you think that would say like, that is something you would hang your hat on, I feel like, especially in this aspect because, I think I really do, and I'm sure somebody correct this, please do. But I think that's actually what you like to be a cigar blend is supposed to be in that order. Those three cask. Oh, I don't think there's like, I mean, I don't know that like it's a protected Well, not protected, but I think it's like assumed that's what it is. So, um, it's actually the first one they did was inspired by the French tradition of cigar blend cognacs. So the French were the first people to do it. Yes, they did cigar blend cognacs just to match that flavor. That's That's actually pretty cool. it is pretty cool. I would too, some of that. Joseph a Magnus, the first batches back in 2016. Go for big money. So yeah, big had any? I have not, I've had some maybe 20, 20 on. How old were those bottles though? Like how, how, how many 11 and 18-year-old bourbon in those. Okay. So I mean, that's, I would love to try an triple what this Right. I would love to try that and, and get a little more depth out of it. This one also a bourbon versus Yeah. As it stands, I feel like this one is a little, it came out a little premature, but again, maybe that's what the guys wanted. I don't know. Also, this is chapter one, and we're also not smoking a cigar with it. Yeah, True yet. But this is oh, we're gonna smoke. Do, did you bring some, have any. I just said, I just like to get a little, little don't tease me like too. Yeah. So this is chapter one. They're actually doing different chapters of this coming out. So again, this first one is to go with a medium body cigar. So the next one might be robust. The next one might be lot. You never know. So. should be a light body Oh, I honestly, I'd, I'd hate to see anything lighter than this to be compliment a I agree. I agree. So let's talk about, is, would you buy it, so $80 MSRP, $110, now secondary, let's just say 90 bucks. Would you pay that for this bottle pay that? If I had not had it, honestly, yeah, I would in a heartbeat. Um, I've said it before, I am a sucker for marketing and I love that bottle. Um, but knowing, you know, Penelope has some range and then seeing this new product by them and then seeing chapter one on there, oh fuck, I would've jumped on that in a heartbeat. Yeah. After trying it. I'd almost still be a buy. It's actually not that expensive, you know what I mean? Compared to everything else. No, exactly. Yeah. Um, I might still, honestly, um, but no, I'm gonna, I'm gonna say no. I'm gonna say no, In my mind, it's probably $25 overpriced. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is not a lot of money. But what you'll see when you read about these, if you do, is that when you add the extra tasks in there to finish things in, it makes your cost go up. So, so that's why even though it's a six year product overall, allegedly, it's not as stated. Yeah. You know, those finishing the triple barrel finishing essentially makes the Costco up. So would I buy another bottle? I might, if I'd never had it, I'd probably pay a hundred if I hadn't had Yeah, I that I've had it, I think, I think 75, 80, I might pay it once. Yeah. You After having it, honestly. Okay, so let's take that and talk a little bit about our ratings and our perception of it. Like after having it, in my mind, I hate saying this, but we're being real, right? I think this is a pretty poor part product. I don't think this is that good. Yeah. Um, this tastes like a light whiskey, like by definition, a light whiskey. Um, it doesn't have a lot of depth. I don't know how this, I don't see how this could hold up to a cigar. Again, we're not smoking cigars, so maybe I'm shooting myself in the foot and we need to, and maybe we will revisit it and we'll do it with a cigar. our bottle so we can revisit it how we do a fucking quick shot, you know, with a cigar and, and in this maybe this coming weekend. yeah, that'd be great. Um, but as it is, just as a whiskey, um, dude, this is like, this is a $45 bottle to me. I think also like it, having bourbon in the blend gives me higher hopes. I don't taste any bourbon. Like it's all, we, we both think single malt whiskey or light whiskey. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So let's rate it from zero to 5.25 increments. What do you think, um, the value is there. I love that they went with, you know, a modest price that makes it fair not I love that. Um, and I love the marketing, but it's just, I don't think it's that good. Like I'm somewhere between a 2, 7, 5 and a three. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if that sounds horrible, but like I'll go ahead and give 'em a three push. Um, just 'cause I wanna see what they could do with this in the future. I think if they gave that three more years, they may have something there. I don't really know. Also be probably triple the And then that's the unfortunate part of it. Yeah. But of it. Yeah. But I, I think, I think you're onto it. What we'll do is we'll rate it today and then we'll rate it in a quick shot in the future with a cigar. But for me, for now, I'm, I'm right between that three, three and a quarter. Yeah, so again, our radiance scale is a little bit different than most. If you wanna see the 10 point scale double what we say. But my cutoff's three and a half, three and a half support that I would buy. Again, most times this is a three and a quarter for me. Like I could see a situation where I'd buy it, but nine times outta 10, I wouldn't at a bar price or something like I would agree with that second part of the statement after having it. I don't think this specific one I would, I would ask for Yeah. So that's it. So thanks for tuning in. If you like this, uh, keep watching please. And if you didn't like it, keep watching and tell your friends, tell me. Liked it though. Just lie a little bit. please like, and subscribe on all of our social medias, especially on YouTube.