出生于1948年的戴尔·德格罗夫被誉为“鸡尾酒之王”，你可能读过他的鸡尾酒书籍。20世纪80年代他在纽约市的彩虹屋酒吧担任调酒师时，通过其精湛的技艺和创新的鸡尾酒配方，重新点燃了人们对鸡尾酒的兴趣‌。

那是一个辉煌的时代，那时在酒吧里你可以随时点燃一支雪茄。1995年，阿图罗·富恩特（Arturo Fuente）公司推出一款新品雪茄，是在彩虹屋酒吧举办的宣传活动，这个品牌给戴尔·德格罗夫留下深刻的印象。如今，富恩特的巨著X雪茄是他最喜欢的牌子，他最钟意的是巨著X的双皇冠型号。49环径，7.625英寸，全多米尼加烟叶卷制。这款雪茄的售价高达每支100美元。

戴尔·德格罗夫现在大部分时间呆在罗德岛州，在当地一家地掷球俱乐部的门廊那里抽茄。这位四处游荡的酒吧老板有时候把这当家，“在这里可以放松身心，适合抽一支长茄，有时候要抽一个多小时”，他告诉记者。

戴尔·德格罗夫喜欢用鸡尾酒或者纯酒来搭配雪茄。他提到一款混合酒，以龙舌兰酒（而不是用典型的威士忌酒）为基酒，掺入带有一点烟熏味的墨西哥梅斯卡尔酒。如果用纯正的烈酒，他会选择单一麦芽苏格兰威士忌，或者他自己品牌的德格罗夫新世界阿玛罗。

You probably know Dale DeGroff for his essential cocktail books, but back in the day, when the man known as King Cocktail was spearheading the cocktail rebirth, he ran the bar at New York’s famed Rainbow Room. It was a glorious time when you could do what came naturally and light up in such drinking palaces. In 1995, DeGroff hosted an event there marking the debut of a new, luxurious cigar from Arturo Fuente. It made an impression on him, and today that cigar—the Fuente Fuente OpusX—remains his favorite.

DeGroff now does much of his smoking on the porch of a bocce club in Rhode Island, the sometimes home of the peripatetic bar man. “It’s a perfect place to unwind and with a big cigar you’re committed for at least an hour.”

DeGroff enjoys cigars with both cocktails and neat drinks. For mixing, he calls out the Oaxacan Old Fashioned in particular. The well-studied bartender describes it as a riff on the original formula for a cocktail (spirits, sugar, water and bitters). Instead of the typical whiskey, it has Tequila as the base spirit, with a touch of smoky mezcal as a floater. When pairing with unadulterated spirits, he looks to single-malt Scotch, or his own DeGroff New World Amaro.