Rodrigo vs. Yeti
August 3, 2014
Courtesy of Rodrigo Cigars
From Our Amigo George Rodriguez….Rodrigo Cigars!!!!
Hey amigo…
Yes you read that right – Rodrigo has taken on Yeti.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, sitting there reading this shaking your head…
“George, wasn’t the skateboard fiasco enough? You’re chasing bigfoot’s high altitude cousin now?? This can’t end well…”
But fear not amigo because it turned out oh-so splendidly!
You see there’s this place, an oasis if you will, in a town situated in between Pittsburgh and Cleveland known as Youngstown Ohio.
You may know of Youngstown as being the buckle of the American Rust Belt with its steel and auto industry legacy, large influential labor unions, great Italian restaurants and a few storied wise guys with a knack for a very effective method of
coercion known as the “Youngstown Tune-Up”.
But because of Tony Bellato’s Havana House,Youngstown has become to mean something new to me and to many others, especially when it comes to obtaining the finest craft wine, craft beer and boutique cigars…
With all this splendor available under one roof, Havana House in Youngstown has become…“Tastemaker Central”.
In order to share this experience with the world, Tony created “Vice Picks”, which is a monthly show starring Tony and co-founder of the boutique cigar brand, La Barba Cigars. It is directed by up-and-comer Brandon Noel who has a great eye for putting together broadcast quality video focused on the cigar industry.
I first discovered Vice Picks a few months ago and immediately thought to myself:
“Who are these guys??? And why are their videos so damn good?!”
So I reached out to Tony to tell him how much I enjoyed the quality of the videos he and Brandon were producing and next thing I know I’m on a plane to Youngstown to guest star in a few episodes!
We had a real blast and all I can say really is that Vice Picks is a true exercise in the mantra “Form Follows Passion”. These guys simply love what they do and they want to share it with the world.
Back to the Yeti…
In this episode we paired the “Yeti” Chocolate Oak Aged stout followed up with a “Yeti” Espresso Oak Aged stout and paired both with a Rodrigo La Fortaleza Absoluto.
My mouth is watering again just thinking about it.
In addition to introducing me to two of the best stout beers I have ever had the pleasure of tasting, Tony and Craig invited me to also pair Rodrigo with one of my favorites, Brugal Anejo rum as well as something completely unexpected – a white wine blend called Mannequin 2012 by Orin Swift.
I never thought all of these flavors could play so well with one another, but as you’ll see from the video the results were awesome and we had a ton of fun sampling our “Vice Picks” for the month of August.
And subscribe to their youtube channel.
Your amigo,
-George
Founder, Rodrigo Cigars
