Drew Estate announced today the nationwide shipping of their Pappy Van Winkle Barrel Fermented cigar. This cigar comes as an exclusive to Drew Diplomat brick and mortar retailers. Up until now the cigar has only been sold at pappyco.com, which is owned and operated by the Van Winkle Family.
Pappy Van Winkle Barrel Fermented is rolled at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate in Estelí, Nicaragua. The long-filler blend includes a barrel fermented “tapa Negra” wrapper, Mexican San Andres binder, and Nicaraguan fillers personally selected by Jonathan Drew. The fermentation process starts with leaves from Kentucky that are placed into small torquettes (or bundles of tobacco), then placed in oak bourbon barrels. Then, water is then added and pressure is applied to the torquettes via railroad jacks. After that, they remove the tobacco 2-3 times per year, shake it out, then repack it. This process of fermentation takes about 12-18 months.
Pappy Van Winkle Barrel Fermented comes in boxes of 10 (except for the flying pig) and in four vitolas: Robusto (5 ¼” x 52 $140), Toro (6 x 52 $150) and Churchill (7 x 48 $160), Flying Pig (3 15/16” x 60 $191.80). The flying pig is a new vitola and will not be part of the national launch, and will only be sold on Pappyco.com. This only comes in a box of 12.
Carrie Van Winkle Greener, Co-Founder of Pappy & Company said, “In the past five years, we have been fortunate to see this brand partnership grow as we have combined our strongest brand assets from the bourbon and cigar industries into a one of a kind product, unlike anything else sold in the market. We are excited to see how this partnership grows in the future and are grateful to have collaborated with Drew Estate, who shares our like-minded commitment to quality, craftsmanship and authenticity.”
Jonathan Drew Founder and President of Drew Estate added, “This is a historic partnership for the worlds of premium cigars and premium spirits. After five years of friendship, teamwork, and product/brand development – we are ready to move into the second phase of our aligned vision. The ongoing consumer demand for the BARREL FERMENTED expression is incredible … and we have discovered that hundreds of our brick and mortar stores were reaching out to the Van Winkles about carrying this specific line extension in their stores, even if they had to pay full retail price. While the entire barrel fermented line will remain available for online purchase exclusively at Pappy & Company, the Van Winkle and DE families have come together with a brick and mortar only opportunity for our DDRP customers who wish to sell the product. This is a game changer in every way. The BARREL FERMENTED is highly sought after, priced right, and is now going to have carefully controlled brick & mortar distribution nationwide.”
