Photo by Zack Wittman
Tendrils of smoke bobbed and weaved through the air, and Glencairn glasses clinked with abandon at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa, Florida over the weekend, as avid cigar fans joined forces with whisky lovers at the annual Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest, now in its fourth year.
The night kicked off at 5:30 p.m. with a VIP hour, during which ticket holders were among the first to access the evening’s 30-plus cigars—hailing from Arturo Fuente, La Flor Dominicana, J.C. Newman, and more—and rarefied pours from the likes of Johnnie Walker, Lagavulin, Bardstown Bourbon Co., Penelope Bourbon, Redemption, and Crown Royal. Among those wandering the VIP floor was Eddie Coronado, a longtime Big Smoke attendee (this year marked his 15th), and a regular at the Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest crossover, having attended all four. Coronado was stopped over at the Redwood Empire booth, pairing a Brick House Churchill (Cigar Aficionado’s No.-10 cigar of 2024) with the California distillery’s Screaming Titan wheated bourbon (a VIP exclusive pour). “The cigar doesn’t overpower the bourbon and vice versa; there’s really great balance, and the two mesh together perfectly,” he said.
Coronado added that a lot of whiskies on the floor were new to him that night; that was partially by design, with a few fresher faces joining the WhiskyFest fray. Among them was Stonestreet Bourbon, a Kentucky brand that launched in May 2024. “This is our second WhiskyFest event, and we’re excited to meet more people and introduce them to our bourbon, and steer them in the direction of a bottle once they leave,” said brand ambassador Rickey Wethington. Throughout the night, Wethington was pouring Stonestreet’s sole whiskey, Founders Edition, a Kentucky straight bourbon made from a high-wheat mashbill.
Another newer name in the crowd was Holladay, a Missouri-based distillery rooted in the 1860s that released its first new whiskey in 2022. “There’s a lot of intrigue surrounding us, given that we’re from [just outside] Kansas City—it’s safe to say this isn’t a typical Kentucky bourbon,” said Holladay brand engagement specialist Kelly Cassell. Indeed, ticket holder Adam Hurley had never heard of Holladay, but quickly found pleasure in the distillery’s Rickhouse Proof bourbon, especially when paired with a Nicaraguan cigar, of which a few were available that night. “If I’m smoking a cigar, I want a high-proof whiskey with it,” he said.
Once the clock struck 6:30 p.m., the doors opened for general admission ticket holders, who flooded the ballroom in search of cigars and whisky. At the Penelope Bourbon booth, where seven different whiskeys were being poured, Shane Padden and Jody Wiemholt were celebrating their very first Big Smoke event in style, wearing patterned black-and-metallic red smoking jackets. The pair was angling for a pour of Havana—bourbon finished in Caribbean rum barrels—which was hard to find back home in Chicago, and mused about their favorite pairings of the evening thus far. “We’re sampling everything; the Green River rye has just the right amount of grassiness, and the Stonestreet was phenomenal with an Arturo Fuente cigar,” said Padden.
Also at Penelope was vice president of brand strategy Matt Ward, who was happy to meet the ardent cigar-and-whisky fans in attendance. “We love marrying the experience of whiskey with cigars, and we’re always actively engaged with the bourbon community and the cigar community,” he explained. “Trust that we’re always able to pair the two together.” New to Penelope that night was a Peach Old Fashioned, a ready-to-drink cocktail that the brand launched late last year.
As the evening wound down, a group of four attendees—all part of the U.S. Military Veterans Motorcycle Club—was taking stock of their favorite pairings. “The Crux Epicure was fabulously done, and I love it with the Oban,” said Phillip “Sonic” Byalecki. “The Crux went with just about every one of the spirits we had, but there were so many variations of cigars and whiskies, there was no shortage of things to enjoy.”
Dates for future WhiskyFest events will be announced soon…stay tuned!
