At the helm of Scotch Whisky for Bacardi is their Director of Blending, Mrs Stephanie Macleod. The iconic expert has been voted Master Blender of the Year by the International Whisky Competition (IWC) for a remarkable SIX consecutive years, and is the current holder of the prestigious honour as it stands in 2024. Nobody has won more than Stephanie, so it is clear the whisky being produced in Scotland for Bacardi is of the highest quality.

As we said previously, Bacardi are a lot more than just their iconic white rum. Vodka, Whisky (both Scotch and World), Tequila are all a part of their portfolio. Either side of the Lusitania & Craigellachie event we worked with two other Bacardi brands, Facundo Rum and Teeling Whisky. Guests would have been familiar with Teeling as it is one of the more recognisable Irish Whisky brands and we have paired with cigars in the past as we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day.

Facundo Rums are a more of an unknown, but an outstanding collection by Bacardi nonetheless. We enjoyed all four in the collection, Neo, Eximo, Exqusito and the luxurious Paraiso XA Rum. We also had time to include Venezuelan rum Santa Teresa to the showcase as we paired them with the hugely impressive Arturo Fuente Don Carlos No.2. Fuente cigars are highly rated by almost all cigar smokers – without doubt one of the top tier cigar brands – and the Don Carlos No.2 is one of their most popular and highly scored cigars, as seen in Cigar Aficionado magazine. The sweetness of the rum with notes of banana, toffee and baking spices enhanced the woody and savoury notes from the cigar. One of our most delectable pairings.

The Winter Warmer 2025

Winter might have been coming to an end in London, but after the freezing cold temperatures at the start of the year we felt a winter warmer was truly deserved. On Thursday 20th February we finally got our hands on the award-winning blend of My Father The Judge. It was the Corona Gorda and it lived up to expectations, medium-to-full strength and highly flavourful. A boldly vibrant blend combining three different fillers, all grown on the Garcia’s farms across different regions of Nicaragua. There are two binders in this cigar, using Nicaraguan Corojo and Criollo tobacco with the cigar is completed with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. A fantastic composition to create one of the best blends in the New World Cigar industry.

Fresh from the Tor Tour 2025, with one of their stops being the My Father factory in Nicaragua, was Tor Imports Alfonso Scherzi and the legendary Scott Vines. Alfonso gave a great introduction to the cigar as he indulged guests about the cigar, the legacy of My Father cigars and their patriarch Don Pepin.

The cigar was paired with four single malt whiskies by Aberfeldy, the 12, 16, 21 and a limited edition bottling of a 22 year old White Port Cask finish. This was the third whisky brand we’ve sampled from the Bacardi whisky with all three offering a very different flavour profile. Aberfeldy, located around 30 miles from Perth and is the home of Dewars Whisky, has a distinctly floral and mellow with sweet tendencies of honey, throughout its core profile. This more delicate characteristics paired supremely well with The Judge as it harmonised with the cigar’s core earth and wood notes to enhance the flavour of both through the contrast of flavours. While we generally pair whisky with medium-to-full bodied cigars and fuller, the core profile of Aberfeldy would pair as nicely with a milder Quai D’Orsay, H.Upmann, Perdomo or Fox House Blend.

While the event was an enjoyable two hours for guests, our marketing executive David decided to make it last a little longer as he took up the invitation to visit Aberfeldy a few days later, bringing the My Father cigar to the Aberfeldy distillery for a smoke in the Scottish Highlands. Not quite the Olympic torch but it was a journey that marked the event as Alfonso brought the cigar from Esteli, Nicaragua to London where it switched hands and David made the trip from London to Aberfeldy.

This Winter Warmer is exactly what was called for so a big thank you to Scott and Alfonso for joining us and to India Blanch for bringing us one of the 276 bottles of the exceptional 22 years White Port cask bottle. Also, a big thank you to Luke Coles at the Aberfeldy distillery for the welcome and a great insight and tour into the Dewar’s and Aberfeldy brand as well as the photo at The Pitilie Burn.

About My Father and The Judge

Since the introduction of the My Father brand in 2008, two additional blends have been created to amazing consumer and industry success. Eight years later, the time has come to unveil the next vision in the My Father line; inspired by a friend of the Garcia Family, we proudly present “My Father MF The Judge”. Cloaked in a gorgeous dark brown Sumatra Oscuro wrapper, who’s subtle sweetness hides an inner strength, this full bodied blend is rounded out by three different Nicaraguan fillers, all grown on the Garcia’s farms as well as Corojo and Criollo binders. Offered in 3 box pressed sizes; a 6×56 Toro, a 5×60 Grand Robusto and 6×52 Toro Fino, plus the 5 5/8" x 46 Corona Gorda that are packaged in elegant 23 count boxes, echoing the original My Father line with a unique and distinctive label recreated from an antique 1905 Victorian lithograph.<

Craigellachie 29 Cigar Pairing Lauch Evening

What. A. Night. On a perfect Mid-Summer Evening on 24th June we hosted one of our best Cigar Pairing Evenings at James J. Fox.

One of the best because the guests truly were on top form and in the mood for a highly entertaining evening. A variety of guests from newbies, aficionados, industry friends and even a real cricket legend.

One of the best because James J. Fox staff and guest speakers on the night brought the vibe and expertise for great discussions and fun.

One of the best because of the pairing for the evening: Davidoff The Late Hour Robusto alongside Four different drams from Craigellachie – 13 Bas Armagnac Cask, 17, 23 and the Limited Edition JPHA Exclusive 29-year-old.

One of the best because nearly all the attendees in the lounge took the conversations and the enjoyment to the Blue Post pub to continue the evening well after 11pm.

In fact, it could have been the best to date! Don’t take our word for it, ask those who joined us on the evening. It was a night for enthusiasts of cigars and whisky as we presented this exclusive evening.

We were delighted to be joined by Davidoff UK Manager, a real cigar connoisseur, Roy Sommer for the evening as guests enjoyed the unique Davidoff’s The Late Hour Robusto. A favourite for many enthusiasts from the Davidoff collections, the cigar goes through a maturation process which sees the tobacco rest in scotch whisky casks for 6 months adding further depth to the flavour. So along with the natural sugars coming through the maduro wrapper, there’s also the element of sweetness and flavour from the whisky coming through.

We had the award-winning 17 once again as well as the 23 again. For the price the 17 is one of the whisky industries best gems. So much so it is now one of the staples for James J Fox’s biggest whisky enthusiast, James Furlonger. This time no highball, instead we tried the 13 Bas Armagnac Cask finish neat. But the main protagonist whisky on show was the exclusively released 29, a whisky which, despite being 52.5% ABV, has detectable sweet base notes of pineapple, vanilla and baking spices – displaying the core flavours of Craigellachie. Working with JPHA the event offered whisky enthusiasts the opportunity to be amongst the first people to try the 29-year-old whisky, an exclusive addition to Craigellachie’s exceptional cask series, specially commissioned for JPHA. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t too long after this event that the entire batch had sold. With only around 200 bottles available, guests in attendance were able to try something which will now be considered rare.

We will be teaming with the Bacardi organisation soon again to try another one of their whisky brands. It could be their blended expressions of Dewar’s or another single malt in Aultmore.