This week J.C. Newman Cigar Co. will ship The American All-Star Humidor to premium cigar retailers in the United States. All six sides of this humidor are made from wood from the floor of the 2011 NBA All-Star Game. An officially licensed product, this humidor is part of the NBA Reclaimed program, which repurposes authentic game-used NBA courts. Each humidor contains 30 The American All-Star cigars, one representing each NBA team, along with a signed […]
With four releases in 2023, we take a look at Booker’s 2023-03 Rare Uncut & Unfiltered “Mighty Fine Batch.” It was a bourbon I picked up to share at Friendsgiving but I a Monday morning quarterback mentality I wish I kept it all for myself. From the website, “Booker’s® Bourbon is a rare barrel-strength bourbon, bottled uncut and unfiltered. But you obviously know a good bit about bourbon, because you don’t end up here by […]
From Nelson Alfonso and Selected Tobacco comes Alfonso Gran Selección. The cigar is aged in cedar rooms while raising and lowering humidity to allow the cigars to age while taking in the different types of cedar. For Alfonso Gran Selección this process takes five years and their final aging is done in rooms lined with French Oak. Nelson Alfonso the man behind Selected Tobacco has changed the definition of ultra luxury cigars with his releases […]
The Tatuaje 20th Anniversary celebrates an iconic milestone. It’s hard to believe that Tatuaje has been in business since 2003. I remember sitting in a cigar store in New York City and friends of mine making fun of the name and how in 5 years no one will have ever heard of Tatuaje. The difference was they were old school cigar smokers brought up on legacy brands like Romeo & Juliet, Montecristo, Etc. I was […]
Born in Peaks Mill, Kentucky Elmer T. Lee was a legendary master distiller and a true Kentucky Bourbon icon. Elmer joined the Buffalo Trace Distillery in 1949, where he would spend the next 36 years playing a pivotal role in the revival of the bourbon industry. He worked his way up from maintenance engineer to plant superintendent and eventually to plant manager and master distiller. Along the way, he introduced several innovative practices, including the […]
The HVC Black Friday 2023 continues a tradition started in 2015 when HVC released a cigar in honor of Black Friday. This year the HVC Black Friday 2023 measures 4.5 x 56 which makes the Petit Gordo the biggest ring gauge in the series and the second time it measures at 4.5″. The company has released just 600 boxes of 50 for a total of 30,000 cigars. Black Friday has become synonymous with holiday deals […]
Boliche Blvd. epitomizes the idea of go big or go home in a nod to Tampa’s rich cigar making history and its vibrant present. If one cuisine singularly identified with the history of Tampa, it’s Cuban food, mixed with a dash of Spanish and Italian — the ethnic mix whose labor force kept the cigar factories humming in the early 20th century. The Cuban culinary tradition continues along the Cuban corridor of Tampa’s Columbus Drive, […]
At the end of 2022, when we were strictly a liquor review site operating as The Liquor Authority we named our first ever Liquor of the Year, Chicken Cock Straight Bourbon Whiskey. We opted to only announce one winner with no end of year list. In 2023, The Barrel Burner has decided to expand how we announce Liquor of the Year. Starting on Monday, December 18th, we will announce our Top 5 liquors beginning with #5. […]
The Perfect Fifth, an American independent Scotch Whisky bottler known for its rare, ultra-premium single cask Scotch Whiskies, is introducing a new line, Oran, a blended Scotch Whisky created by whisky expert Jim Murray, author of “Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.” Murray has long served as a behind-the-scenes blender for many distilleries world-wide, but his partnership with The Perfect Fifth is his first public foray into an official blending role with a company, allowing his 40 […]
In the June of 2023 Nick Melillo owner of Foundation Cigar Company announced the release of Charter Oak Pasquale. According to their website, The “Charter Oak Pegnataro and Pasquale” cigars embody the commitment to excellence and artistry that define Foundation Cigar Company. Crafted by Nicholas Melillo, Founder and Master Blender, these cigars pay homage to the unwavering spirit and timeless wisdom passed down by his grandfathers. They also serve to pay tribute the opening of Foundation’s […]