Vitola: Corona- 5.125” x 42 ring gauge
- ~$9.00
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
The Alec Bradley Cigar Company was founded by Alan Rubin and named after his sons, Alec and Bradley. In 2018, after having grown up in their father’s cigar business, those sons founded their own subsidiary brand within the company, called Alec & Bradley. The inaugural release in the new line was Blind Faith, but the second release was the one that has gotten a lot of attention in the last few years: Gatekeeper.
For this release, Alec and Bradley turned to Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, Jr., and his Tabacalera La Alianza operation in the Dominican Republic. The blend used Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers, a Nicaraguan binder, and an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. They named it in honor of the blender, saying, “Ernesto is a gatekeeper to new opportunities and experiences for us.”
The blend was released in four sizes and is generally available wherever Alec Bradley Cigars are sold. I tried the blend soon after it first came out, but didn’t revisit it until more recently when we had an event at Burns Tobacconist. The rep suggested I try the Corona size, saying it was by far his favorite in the line. I bought two and this review sample is the second of those. I got some background on the release of this cigar from Cigar-Coop.
Prelight
The band is described as “Head of Medusa” but that doesn’t really describe it adequately. It’s the severed head of Medusa in gray on a black background, while the fingers of the hand that hold the head up and the gore that is dripping down from the sliced neck are rendered in gold foil. “Gatekeeper” is written in gold oil on the right arm of the band as it wraps around to the back of the cigar. It’s distinctive, although a little disturbing as you realize what the image is.
The wrapper was a dark chocolate brown color with a decent amount of oils to the eye and to the touch. It had a rich earthy manure aroma to it…as I’ve described before (sometimes to laughter)…”it smells like shit, but not in a bad way.” The foot of the cigar had more earth along with strong notes of cocoa powder and some faint woodiness.
I clipped the head with my Xikar Xi straight cutter and got a very good cold draw that had notes of dry cocoa powder, earth, cinnamon, and a slight pepper spice.
Flavor
Firing up the Gatekeeper Corona, I got copious tea and earth notes up front, followed closely by red pepper, unsweetened cocoa powder, and slight dark fruit sweetness. Subsequent puffs saw espresso bean and wood get into the mix, as well. The retrohale has earthy and nutty with an intense red pepper heat.
The second third of the Gatekeeper had espresso bean pushing tea notes out of the way, while earth and cocoa powder continued on. There were occasional sweeter notes and a continual pepper spice as an accent.
The last third burned quickly to the end with notes of earth, coffee, and dark fruit, while the pepper spice ebbed away a bit, providing just a background burn.
Construction
I had an excellent draw, very even burn line, and solid ash throughout.
Value
The cigar is very good, the price is very fair…great value!
Conclusions
There’s one thing that could throw this review into question in the future: they have announced that they are moving production of this cigar from Tabacalera La Alianza in the Dominican Republic to someplace in Honduras. It is my experience that it doesn’t matter how good the new factory is and it doesn’t matter how closely they they try to follow the original blend…with different pre-production techniques, different rollers, and different quality control people…basically different people at all stages of production…the blend won’t stay the same.
For now, though, The Gatekeeper Corona is simply one of the best cigars I’ve ever had from the Alec Bradley Cigar Company. It was bold and rich with loads of complexity from end to end. I need to pick up some more of these before the factory change happens.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
