L’Atelier Cote d’Or 2017

By Tony Casas | July 5, 2017

Happy Fourth of July people! Well, its the fifth while you’re reading this. Anyways. I decided to brave the 108 heat with a L’Atelier Cote d’Or and a Boulevard 2014 Bourbon Barrel Quad.

The Good Stuff:

The L’Atelier Cote d’Or was originally released in 2015, with a new size in 2016. In 2017 L’Atelier is bringing back the same size they originally released in 2015, a single format 7 x 47 soft box press. While the 2016 was a robusto format, it featured a lower priming of the Ecuador Sancti Spiritus wrapper that L’Atelier has become famous for, the 2017 features a higher priming of the wrapper leaf along with a Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan fillers featuring the infamous Pelo de Oro tobacco grown by the Garcia family in Nicaragua. The 2017 L’Atlelier Cote d’Or comes packaged in boxes of 10 running a $16 a stick. Only 1,000 boxes of this cigar are being produced and they are selling out in a very quick rate. I picked mine up from our good friends at Ford on Fifth.

Size: 7 x 47
Wrapper: Ecuador Sancti Spiritus
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $16
Pairing: Boulevard 2014 Bourbon Barrel Quad (Quad 11.8% ABV)

Prelight:

The L’Atlelier Cote d’Or starts out with an absolutely gorgeous, perfectly consistent dark brown wrapper. Its hard to find any discoloration in this thing. The wrapper’s texture is very toothy and grainy with a good amount of oils. The wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself while there are only a few minor veins scattered throughout the cigar’s soft box pressed body leading up to the round double cap. The cigar is very, very heavy, and tightly packed while the wrapper is very dense creating an incredibly firm cigar that I hope doesn’t create draw issues down the line. The cigar is polished off with a gold and manilla band with the L’Atelier crest, “Cote d’Or” and “L’Atelier” embossed in the front as well as “Edition Limitee” and “2017” printed around the sides and back.

The wrapper on The L’Atlelier Cote d’Or gives off some nice cocoa and espresso aromas while the foot carries some pepper, spice, and natural tobacco aromas. The cap cut like butter using my Xikar XO cutter. The cold draw is really unique. It starts off really meaty and peaty with some heavy molasses, dark chocolate, and sweetness over some natural tobacco flavors.

First Third:

The L’Atlelier Cote d’Or starts out with a smaller black pepper punch than I was expecting, backed by a ton of sweetness, bold raisin, oak, spice, musk, and some soft caramel notes on the aftertaste. The cigar starts out well in the full-flavored category. The draw is slightly tight but its already starting to open up as I type this releases a decent amount of smoke which quickly dissipates as the cigar gives off little to no stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is a bit wavy, but razor thin, leaving behind a trail of solid white ash which held on for about and inch and a half before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of The L’Atlelier Cote d’Or and some really pleasant floral flavors started to peak their way through the spice, oak, musk, raisin, vanilla, brown sugar sweetness and earthiness. I am really liking this flavor profile. The retrohale brings out more of the spice and oak and I find myself doing it quite often. The burn line is still slightly wavy, but not concerning as I close out the second third with nothing in terms of a nicotine kick.

Finish:

Now into the final third of The L’Atlelier Cote d’Or and the cigar is burning like a dream. I am enjoying it more and more with each little puff. The flavors are holding solid with bold oak, raisin, and brown sugar leading the charge backed by spice, musk, floral, caramel and vanilla. There was a slight resurgence of pepper as well. It took me 2 hours to take this cigar down to the nub and I experience no harshness, nor any extended heat. I even used my redemeer nubbing tool to really get everything I could out of this cigar. I closed out with only a slight nicotine hit.

Overview:

I’ve had a run of great cigars as of late and The L’Atlelier Cote d’Or only adds to that list. The cigar is bold, complex, well balanced, and just all around fantastic. I love it when you can find such a complex, full-bodied cigar that doesn’t kick your ass with strength. It burned flawlessly, and slow, with a larger format which was great. It’s a bit pricey, but considering some of the tobaccos needed to create this blend I feel it’s justified and can easily drop the coin on it, and will. Since its so limited I would easily say this is a box-worthy cigar, while they are still available.

Pairing:

I forgot I even had this beer buried in my cellar. The 2014 Bourbon Barrel Quad from Boulevard is one of my go to beers. Brewed by Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City, this beer comes in at a whopping 11.8% ABV. The beer starts out with a burst of apple, caramel, spice, booze, and slight hop with a good amount of bourbon and vanilla and a heavy mouthfeel before finishing with more booze and bourbon, spice, caramel, brown sugar, and vanilla. Its a clean beer which becomes heavier as it warms. The pairing was easy. Spice, brown sugar, bourbon, caramel? They all went perfectly with the bold flavors in The L’Atlelier Cote d’Or. Both are full-bodied specimens and neither of them overpowered each other. I could easily see this beer outbalancing most cigars, as I can also see The L’Atlelier Cote d’Or taking out some milder brews.