The Cigar
Rocky Patel Connecticut 6 x 52.
Honduran cigar featuring an Ecuadorian Connecticut Wrapper. Honduran Binder and Filler. MSRP $5.
This is a Mild cigar that was a nice even smoke throughout the stick. The wrapper a light tan color with a slight green tint to it. Something you don’t see that often. While it has a somewhat heavy smoke, this is a mild cigar that has no transitions in flavor.
The Liquor
Lone Elm Vodka – Leaded (https://www.lone-elm.com/)
This vodka is not sold in stores as much as we would really like to to be. You can only get it at the Distillery in Forney, Texas. This is a 100% wheat vodka that is not distilled into oblivion, but has a great flavor to it. It is not a flavor infused like a cucumber or blueberry, it is just not distilled over and over. There is an actual and nice taste to this. If you just want a vodka to put in a mix ok, but this is a vodka to enjoy without mixing. You know we like Lone Elm whiskey. This vodka is a top notch sipper. Go visit the Five Points Distillery and ask to try the “Leaded Vodka”. You will not regret it.
The More
CLM Give-Away:
Whiskey_globetrotter has won the CLM Give-Away for Jan 2020. Congratulations!
Trip to Belize:
We took a trip to San Padro, Ambergris Caye, Belize. We stayed at The Palms Oceanfront Suites (https://www.belizepalms.com/).
Ambergris Caye is all about the cart life. Most folks, both locals and tourists, got around in gas powered golf carts. During the day it is a bit like the Mario Cart video game. During the evening things calmed down a bit. There are bicycles, motor bikes, small cars, but the mass majority of what was on the road were golf carts. The roads in San Pedro were mostly cobblestone. There is some concrete and asphalt outside the city. From where we stayed we could get to just about everything from walking on the beach.
They used British currency which is called Dollars Belize. It seemed to be fixed at $1 USD to $2 BLZ. This was nice as almost everything was priced in Belize Dollars, so the conversion was pretty easy. Everything ran on island time, so no real rush for anything.
While we were there we did an After Show at a local cigar lounge. We recorded at Havana Cigars Belize. The owner, Carlos Utrera was kind enough to let us recode an After Show in in the lounge. Really nice and very knowledgeable gentleman who joined us for the show. (http://havanacigarsbelize.com/). When you go to Belize, you have stop in check out his shop and lounge. Show him some love.
The Cuban cigars there are ligit, you are going to like the atmosphere and looks of the lounge. There is a full bar with a great selection, an espresso machine that you have to give a try. The chairs and couches are very conformable with several tv’s going if you want. The air handling system kept up with 5 guys smoking in the back area we were in without any issues. There is even air conditioning. Yes, need to mention the air conditioning as this is an island in Central America and not everywhere has air conditioning. 🙂
Carlos had an interesting life. Born and raised in Cuba, moved to Florida in adulthood, then to Pennsylvania. He has been in Belize for about 11 years. Check out the After Show to hear more.
We thank Carlos for his hospitality, letting us record there and for joining in on the conversation. We had a blast and we know you will as well. So go visit Belize and put Havana Cigars Belize on you must list.
Another place you should visit in Belize is Secret Beach. We highly recommend Paco’s Bar at Secret Beach. Shout out to Alex (“the Boss Lady”) and Jonathan. This was a large covered area with a bar, food, and tables. Jonathan would walk out into the water to get your order and bring your order to you. There is music, chairs in the sand, and floats to use in the water. They were both great and fun folks to spend some time with. Your visit to Ambergris Caye, Belize will not be complete until you spend some time at Secret Beach and Paco’s Bar is the place the hang out.
Alex, thanks for having fun with us.
Passport Mistake:
The Belize trip was in the works for about 9 months. One minor (meaning big) mistake that Darrell made was to not check his passport expiration date. This was noticed by Darrell’s wife about 12 hours before the flight as she was checking in. There are several cities that have Passport locations that will make passports in a day. You are not guaranteed, but things worked out good for Darrell. There are several requirements. Have your paperwork done, picture done, old passport, show up in person and have an itinerary of travel. Unlike the DMV, the US State Department Passport Office was efficient and gave you information as you went along.
Darrell talks about his adventure in the Passport Office in Houston while the rest of us went to Belize. This presented another problem. Immigration will not let a one parent take children through without written permission from the other parent not traveling at the same time. Due to bad reception in both the Passport Office Darrell was at and the Immigration building we were in it took about two hours to get what Belize Immigration needed to allow the kids to enter the country.
Listen to the take aways Darrell had at the Passport Office, the lessons learned we had at the Belize Immigration office always check and recheck your passport expiration date.
Next Episode:
AJ Fernandez Man of War paired with the Johnnie Black Triple Cask.
