JC Newman

August 18, 2020

Drew Estate Year of the Rat (5 1/2 x 46)

 







Video review HERE.


Drew Estate announced that the Liga Privada Unico Serie “Year of the Rat” has shipped to Drew Diplomat retailers hosting Virtual Events.

The Liga Privada Unico “Year of the Rat” cigars are presented in a 5 ½” x 46 vitola, featuring the iconic fan tail capa illustrated on select Unico Serie cigars. This commemorative cigar is highlighted and defined with a lush Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, a dark, rich Brazilian binder and nasty, hearty Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. Each “Year of the Rat” is wrapped in gold foil, packaged in a beautifully embossed, blue Liga Privada Unico box.

From the Wynwood Safehouse, Jonathan Drew Founder and President of Drew Estate exclaims, “The Rats are coming June 1st … so we kindly ask you to welcome them with open arms during the planned virtual events that the team has been working on.  Year of the Rats were first released many years ago in partnership with the Florida Panthers and were only available at their stadium in Miami.  Later, I used them for some of my personal events until Willy and the Marketing dudes forced me to give em up.  Frankly, me and the Rats are still kind of annoyed about it.  I have a conference call with the Supreme Team Rat Lords to review how we will respond. Stay tuned ...”

The Liga Privada Unico Serie Year of the Rat is presented in a 10-count box with an MSRP of $159.97/box of 10.



The cigar features a fan tail cap.




The cigar has an average feel in the hand.



The test draw after cutting away the fan tail cap was very good. The initial flavors at light up come quickly. They were predominantly orange citrus with underlying cedar notes, quite a bit of brown sugar and cinnamon, caramel, a pasty nutmeg, light worn leather, and black coffee. There was a lot of black pepper rated at 8 to 8 1/2. Very nice start.



At the first third (22 minutes) the ash is still intact. It's almost completely white with sprinklings of pepper. The flavors have improved since the light up. Now I had a huge amount of orange citrus, cedar undertones, brown sugar, tons of cinnamon, caramel, toned down nutmeg, toned down leather, and still a lot of dark roasted black coffee. The black pepper remains very good. At this stage the cigar is medium to full bodied. The finish has some citrus tones, light brown sugar, quite a bit of pasty nutmeg, and a lot of lingering black pepper.  The cigar has a rich flavor. It is excellent at this point. I rated the first third 96.



At the second third (45 minutes) there was a little change. Now the cedar notes are much higher. The nutmeg is more pronounced. The leather is very reduced. The black coffee is still very good. The black pepper is still excellent. The cigar is now full bodied. The finish is unchanged. The cigar made some transitions but they did not hurt. I maintained the score of 96 for the second third.



The cigar lasted 1 hour 8 minutes. I used the PerfecDraw tool to nub it at the end. In the final third the cigar made a small step backwards. The overall massive sweetness and richness decreased a little. The cigar is very full bodied. The finish is unchanged. The black pepper remained very good. I lowered the final third score to 95. This is a fantastic cigar.


Overall Score: 95.67

No comments: