Montecristo No. 4 ATP SEP 19 (MRDRW)

saltbox · December 8, 2020

I've been pulling from another box of these with great success, but wanted to give this box a shot as they were a bit older (just over a year based on box date). They've been sitting at 62RH for just under 3 months now since receiving them.

First third: Opens with nice sweet cream and a touch of milk chocolate on the finish. The twang isn't as pronounced and the cocoa notes are bit more muted than I hoped.

Middle third: More cream and light sweetness, with some nice light milk chocolate and vanilla notes. Towards the second half, the creaminess fades a bit and the milk chocolate takes on darker notes.

Last third: Nice light milk and dark chocolate and a bit of milk coffee, but some spice and harshness on the tongue starts to appear and there are a couple random bitter notes in the last half inch.

Overall: All the flavor notes I was hoping for were there, but they were a bit muted. That, combined with the harshness in the last third, brought this down a few points vs. the others I've had. My guess is this box was shipped a bit wet (I love that FOH uses 65% Boveda packs as opposed to the 69% every other vendor seems to use) and needs a few more months (or some dry boxing) to further acclimate despite having a year of age. 87/100