Unbelievable! Amazing! Wow! Best Event Ever! Hollywood, FL October 30, 2021 was the first ever Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest and it was well worth it! We met some awesome cigar and whisky enthusiasts just like us.
A big shout out to all the amazing people we met from Cigar Aficionado, cigar manufacturers, distilleries, and all the attendees. I sure hope Cigar Aficionado and Whisky Advocate do this again next year.
In 2020, I turned 50 but due to COVID my wife had to cancel a celebration she was planning. Early in 2021, she surprised me (and my brother Talkin' Cigars co-founder Chuck) with a VIP All Access pass to the first ever Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest. I am so glad we had the all access pass because listening to cigar icons such as Rocky Patel, Jorge Padron, Carlos Fuente Jr. and Master Distiller Connor O'Driscoll talk about their stories was so worth it! The morning started at 9am with four one hour seminars led by each listed above. They told stories about how they have grown their businesses, the ups and downs, were very candid and funny at times. Each seminar gave out one of their finest or rare cigars. So awesome!
At 5:30pm the doors opened to the ballroom filled with about 25 cigar vendors and each booth handed out another great cigar selection (you'll see the picture above). The 5:30-6:30 hour was only for all access VIP ticket holders. I'm so glad we did this because at 6:30 about 1500 people came into the ballroom. It got crazy! We hit all the cigar booths in the hour and then started going to the whisky booths. We tried some amazing whisky and cognac. Some of the highlights were D'Usse, Heaven Hills & Aberfeldy to name a few.
Thanks to Alec Rubin for giving us the picture above!
Also a big thanks to Chris Esposito & David Savona of Cigar Aficionado for the great conversations during the event, plus thank you to Connor O'Driscoll from Heaven Hill Distillery for giving us some time talking whisky after the Whisky & Cigar of the Year seminar.
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