by Greg Mays

Who?

Cattle Baron Cigars has an interesting enough story to draw me in: a Montana cattleman, Bryan Mussard found that a favorite part of his day was driving cattle with a cigar in hand and a mixture of cranberry juice and iced tea to sip.

So Moussard worked with De Los Reyes in the Dominican Republic to develop Cattle Baron cigars from Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos that are (no surprise) earthy and barnyard-forward in both their scent and at first light. Available in sizes like “Trail Boss,” “Bull,” and “Cowboy,” Moussard’s taking the farmer-cigar thing seriously.

Moussard says he wanted to develop a vodka that paired with cigars that was just as tasty as his daytime cocktail-of-choice, tea and cranberry juice, so he began distilling Gorgeous Vodka from potatoes (it’s gluten free), a very mild and clean-tasting vodka, and it’s first flavor: tea and cranberry. For vodka-and-cigar pairings (an admittedly rare thing), Gorgeous is as good a choice as any for a cigar-paired vodka.

Both launching earlier in 2016, both Cattle Baron and Gorgeous are available in their native Montana, with plans for expansion through distribution channels underway now.