Quick Draw Episode 6 – Arturo Fuent Anejo No. 77 “The Shark”

So my crazy life continues, even though we had both Canada Day and the US had Independence day this week, I haven’t stopped! If I can offer one piece of advice for all future married couples, have a destination wedding or keep it super simple! That’s all I gotta say! lol
All the work has been fun though and I’m sure it will all pay off. Right now though, I’m just looking forward to parking my rear-end on a beach in the Caribbean! It is officially 8 days and counting today! I’m not sure if I’ll be able to squeeze together a review next week or not but if I don’t, I’ll see you all in August when I get back home and hopefully back to a normal schedule! haha. But without further adieu, let’s check out this Quick Draw I managed to dig out of my archives!

In case you forgot what a Quick Draw is, take a read over the description from our first episode a little while back, link here.

Now the Shark is a pretty popular cigar and I’m pretty sure a lot of you have heard about it before, or likely enjoyed one yourself. If not, here’s a bit of background. The Anejo line by Arturo Fuente is special limited release that occurs every year around only Christmas and Fathers Day. If you are seeking these, make sure to keep a keen eye out around that time because they seem to fly off the shelves. This particular vitola is called the No. 77 but has been dubbed the “The Shark” due to the box pressed torpedo top, which looks sorta like a shark fin. Pretty cool name if you ask me.

I managed to score one of these in a trade around Christmas time and it’s actually from the 2010 crop so it had about a year of age when I took these notes down on it. Tony also reviewed one awhile back that you can find linked here.

Right off the bat when you light this cigar up you know you are in for an interesting experience. You pick out some chocolate, coffee and nutty notes served with a slight side-dish of spices that all balance together amazingly. The body starts off in the low end of medium and the retrohale gives you a nice little bite with a smooth coffee or espresso flavored finish that just rounds up the whole experience nicely. As you burn through this cigar you get all kinds of interesting flavors that include cedar, baking spices, chocolate and espresso. They all seem to take turns being the dominant force and always balance out perfectly.

In addition to the awesome flavors you can also expect an equally awesome burn on these sticks. This is a total cigar experience that you definitely need to have. The price on these is a bit high but I personally think they are definitely worth it and only get better with a bit of time in the humidor. I did have a chance to smoke a couple other vitolas but none of them seem to hold a candle to The Shark and I’m not the only one who seems to think so.

I’m not a huge Arturo Fuente fan, I’ll smoke them every now and then but it’s not a brand I actively seek out. More so because a lot of their cigars seem to taste very similar apart from the Opus X line and the Anejo line. But here we have something that I will continue to seek out over the years and if they keep up the awesome flavors and great construction then you will not be disappointed if you do the same!

The brew here was the Samuel Smith Winter Welcome Ale. It is a winter seasonal produced by Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery based out of England. You can expect to be ‘welcomed’ by an interesting orangey-amber ale that is super bubbly and flowing with sweet and floral flavors and a touch of spices common in winter seasonals. A tasty pairing indeed if you manage to find it around Christmas time.

A. Fuente Anejo #77