Drew Estate Liga Privada Undercrown 10

By Tony Casas | June 28, 2021

I think we are finally going to get rain! It feels like forever since we’ve seen any and we really need a break from these triple digits. To celebrate, I hopped out back in hopes of beating the storm with a Drew Estate Liga Privada Undercrown 10 paired with a bottle of The Bruery Terreux’s Baklava Tart Sour Ale beer.

The Good Stuff:

Marking the 10th anniversary of Drew Estate’s legendary Undercrown release is the drop of their newest creation, the Undercrown 10. Blended by Drew Estate’s Master Blender Willy Herrera, the new cigar features a Mexican San Andres Dark wrapper over Connecticut River Valley Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan fillers. The cigar will be offered in five sizes: Robusto (5 x 50), Toro (6 x 52), Corona Doble (7 x 50), Corona Viva! (5 x 43), and Lonsdale Factory Floor Edition (6 x46). The Lonsdale Factor Floor Edition will also include “puritos” which are small rolled samples of each of the blend’s solitary components which will allow each consumer to try each of the individual tabaccos used in the blend. Each size comes package in boxes of 20 and will range between $10.50 and $13.50 a stick. Big thanks goes out to Drew Estate for sending a few of these our way to sample.

• Size: 6 x 52
• Wrapper: Mexican San Andres Dark
• Binder: Connecticut River Valley Broadleaf
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $12
• Pairing: Bruery Terreux Baklava Tart (Sour Ale 12.2% ABV)

Prelight:

The Drew Estate Liga Privada Undercrown 10 starts out with a very dark, very consistent, almost dark-chocolate brown colored wrapper. The wrapper’s texture is extremely toothy and gritting with a ton of thick oils coating the cigar’s body. The wrapper feels very dense and very hard to the touch as it’s laid seamlessly over itself showcasing minor veining and naturally tobacco webbing as the cigar’s thick body leads up with it’s round double-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with the dark blue and gold branding we are all familiar with in an updated form to include the “10” on the crest, a very nice, elegant gold ribbon tuning from the band over the cap of the cigar, and the addition of a foot band that says “A Decade of Dedication”, “All Dekk’d Out”, “Esteli, Nicaragua” in gold over black ink.

The wrapper on the Undercrown 10 gives off a ton of sweet brown sugar and chocolate notes while the foot of the cigar smells a bit more earthy with grain and spice notes. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces lightly spiced notes over chocolate and oak.

First Third:

The Undercrown 10 starts out with a pretty hefty blast of black pepper that caught me off guard. After the first couple of draws the pepper begin to fade allowing strong notes of chocolate, spice, oak, vanilla and cinnamon to seep through. There is also some really deep earthiness and pine that pops in every so often. This thing is packed with flavor. The draw is perfect as each puff kicks out a good amount of thick, white smoke. I can’t really attest to how long it sticks around though as its quite breezy out today, but the cigar down release a good amount of stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is slightly wavy (probably due to the winds) while the ash left behind is medium and dark gray and slightly compacted. The ash held on for about 2/3 of a inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Undercrown 10 and this cigar is just pumping out flavor. The chocolate and spice still leads the charge over oak, vanilla, cherry and cinnamon. The retrohale really brings the spice out in the cigar profile and its relatively smooth so I find myself doing it quite often. The cigar is still burning a bit wavy, especially as the winds pick up but I haven’t had to reach for my torch to touch up or relight the cigar so that’s a win. I close out the second third with only a very minor bit of nicotine.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Undercrown 10 and I am quite impressed with the amount of flavor this cigar continues to pump out. The chocolate and spice are still dominant while the oak and vanilla follow shortly after over softer notes of cinnamon, cherry, and sandalwood. It took me almost 2 hours to take the Undercrown 10 down to the nub and I experienced no harshness, nor any extended heat. Despite the wind I never once had to touchup or relight the cigar either. I close out with only a minor nicotine hit.

Overview:

There is so much hype around each one of Drew Estate’s releases, and in most cases, they deliver which is the case for the Undercrown 10. This cigar has all the flavors from the classic Undercrown maduro line that I love, with added body and a ton of new flavors. The cigar reminded me so much of Abuelita hot chocolate for those familiar. The cigar is balanced, complex, and nailed my personal profile for what I look for in a cigar. The burn performance was great, and the cigar as a whole offered a fantastic experience. These are a bit pricy as they are almost pushing the bounds for the normal Liga Privada lines, but the cigar does deliver.

Pairing:

Brewed in Placentia, California, The Bruery Terreux’s Baklava Tart is a 12.2% ABV blend between an imperial stout and a Flemish-style red sour ale treated with maple syrup, pistachios, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, cinnamon and vanilla. The beer leads with an initial blast of sour apple and cherry over notes of bold cinnamon, light malt and brown sugar before finishing with a touch more sourness over much more cinnamon and brown sugar with some light nutty flavors on the aftertaste. Its easy to see why I chose this beer to pair with the Undercrown 10 as so many of the flavors were found in both experiences while the beer itself added a bit more complexity to the pairing as it introduced the sourness.