Today we’d like to introduce you to Milan Antwan.
Hi Milan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq from Chaldian roots from small Village name ALQUSH from northern Iraq, I came to the US in 1999 at age of 19 years with major support from close family members and my uncle Mike Antwan seeking freedom and living after multiple wars and suffering I’m sure all of you knows or somewhat familiar what Iraq went through from 1988 – up to date and started working as a stock boy at Liquor store in North San Diego and I was introduced to the alcohol industry and started my new journey to learn this Industry from start to finish and learning the system in the same time as I always knew in the back of my head that I’m not just going to be a employee handing product to the customers cashier checking people out and stocking products. After my brother Ivan Antwan came in to the US in year 2000 we decided to move from San Diego to Temecula Vally Wine Country, working for a liquor store in downtown Temecula and there I was introduced to the cigar and tobacco world on top of the alcohol industry and I became a 50% part owner in 2004 then took full ownership in 2008 with a lots learning experience about the wine, bourbon, scotch whiskey and beer from start to finish, about the same time I met JB Wagoner, and he started talking to me about producing Tequila in Temecula and call it TEMEQUILA, I was very excited and dive in deep with him learning all the process in the wild Aguave and making tequila sadly this went down after putting a lot of pressure on him from Mexico because of the right for producing Tequila from Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico from there in 2012 I started shifting to the tobacco and the Cigar Industry and start traveling to Dominican republic and Honduras and landed in Estele, Nicaragua and started producing premium cigars under “The Antwa’s New Era Cigars INC” I started with 1 Brand called “HABANOS DEL CAMPO” that has 16 different style today and the second brand that we launched three years ago called “LICENCIA” and selling a big portion of the product in the USA. Here we are today, we expanded storefronts to four locations and cigars distribution center and E-commerce site with alcohol and cigars platform for shipping throw all US.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course, nothing comes easy if you are doing the true and the right path there was a significant of hours of work day and night seven days a week nonstop with no day off to learn the system and dealing with the requirements especially when I am dealing with Alcohol and Tobacco.
As you know, we’re big fans of Rancho Liquor & Fine Cigar House. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Our business to serve customers locally. We do service all our customers with our storefront seven days a week from 7:30 AM to midnight with all they need with a very large variety of Spirits and Estate wines and premium cigars and all local and import beer and related accessories, Barware and tobacco at Rancho Liquor & Fine Cigar House and to spice it off from the Mediterranean our PIZZERIA DE MILANO that service our customers with delicious homemade pizza and pasta that it’s made from scratch daily with daily prep and fresh ingredients that it’s available for dining and take out and delivery at Pizzeria De Milano at 951-676-8880. Our business to serve customers nationally and for shipping & delivery’s for Wine, Spirits, Barware orders please visit our website at Rancholiquoronline.com. For Cigars and Cigar accessories please visit our website at Theantwanscigars.com.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: rancholiquoronline.com
- Instagram: neweracigars
- Facebook: new era cigar
- Twitter: new era cigars
- Other: Fakebook Rancho Liquor in Temecula
