Bay Club Opening In Bahamas
A stalwart of the fine cigar game is partnering with an elite luxury community deep in the Bahamas to create a new cigar lounge for some very fortunate and well-heeled residents.
Tucked away amongst the island chain that bears its name, the 500-acre Abaco Club will invite its residents to a curated selection of Graycliff cigars in the private Bay Club. Overlooking the Caribbean, the evening-only venue is scheduled to open October 17th, and it plans to offer top-shelf spirits and a seasonal craft mixology menu to pair with those cigars.
Trudy Thomas, the beverage experience director at Abaco, explains how The Bay Club stayed in the Bahamas family with Graycliff, a cigar made by the same family that owns the venerable Graycliff Hotel and Restaurant on Nassau.
“It’s very much a similar clientele [for Abaco and Graycliff]–luxury brands that share that Bahamian history,” Thomas says, explaining how she explored Graycliff’s world of cigars, spirits and wine during a tour of the former pirate fortress earlier this year. To give their incoming cigars a place to hide, the Bay Club will soon take ownership of a tabletop humidor capable of holding 150 selections.
Over in Nassau, Paolo Garzaroli—president of Graycliff and son of the founder, Enrico—says their operation will initially provide specially branded versions of Graycliff’s popular Pirate torpedos. They’ll pitch in on the culinary side, too.
“Right now, we’re also making wine for [Abaco] under our Bahama Barrel label,” Garzaroli says. “We’ll also do some of our signature chocolates from our kitchen.”
Garzaroli adds that the specially branded Pirate torpedos heading to Abaco will be made from Graycliff’s Chateau Grand Cru recipe, including Costa Rican, Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers with an Ecuadoran binder inside a Costa Rican wrapper.
“We’ll send different sizes for that line at Abaco,” he explains, “We feel it’s a good choice because it’s not too strong, not too mild. It’s not an insulting cigar strength-wise for the experienced smoker, but it can still serve as good beginner’s cigar. It’s been our mainstay for many years.”
The Bay Club also plans on selling cigars from Rocky Patel. “As for Rocky, I’m still working with them in the process of picking out which of his signature cigars we’ll include. I want to make them complement the selections we're getting from Graycliff, while offering a variety of sizes and wraps—some lighter, some darker wraps,” says Thomas, who is also working on a spirits collection that will only be available at the Bay Club.
“We’re currently aging a Boulevardier that’ll include an Italian vermouth infused with coffee,” she says. “We’re also doing a Japanese whiskey and a Japanese gin cocktail—a white Negroni with cherry blossom-infused white vermouth.”
Thomas stresses that the Bay Club is very much a community resource, and its visitors will be welcome to make suggestions or requests for products they’d like to see. For example, she notes some Abaco members are investors in an up-and-coming Texas whiskey that will find its way behind the Bay Club bar.
Come the mid-October opening, Thomas insists the new cigar lounge will be more than just something original for the resort’s residents. It’ll be one of a kind in all of the Bahamas.
“At Abaco, the Bay Club will be all about stretching our wings and doing something unique in the islands.”
Bay Club at The Abaco Club
Winding Bay
Marsh Harbor, Abaco
The Bahamas
(844) 799-3031
https://theabacoclub.com/about/
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