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Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Tequila Week: The Reposados Part I
Reposados, or rested tequilas are aged from six months to a year. I'll be sample a variety so I'm diving them into a few posts and sampling them in no particular order.
Tequila Chamucos Reposado, 38% abv ($55)
This tequila has a devil/vampire character on it with the slogan si amanece nos vamos or "at dawn we go." It has a nice sweet agave nose with some magic marker notes. The palate is quite sweet and a bit salty but lacks any real depth. The finish is pretty short. I'd say this one starts well but doesn't follow through.
Tequila Don Tacho Reposado, 38% abv.($53)
This one has a fascinating nose with wood chips and pine. It's very earthy. The palate, though, is bizarre. It drinks almost like water with just a vague earthiness like water from a nasty, unrefrigerated drinking fountain at an old school or park. This really has almost no flavor to it and certainly no finish. Strange stuff.
Arette Reposado, 38% abv. ($44)
The Arrette brand is one of the few I'm trying that seems fairly popular among US enthusiasts. This has a lovely nose of wild flowers and hay. The palate starts as a traditional tequila but then has a bit of anise/absinthe type notes which last into the finish.
I enjoyed the Arette most of all from these three, but I didn't find any of these three to be particularly noteworthy.
What I find noteworthy is that four out of five of the tequilas you have written about are 38% ABV. Seems to me that the M.O. in Mexico is to turn water into wine that tastes like water instead of wine. Then again, maybe whiskey has chipped away at our palates such that flavors are hard to detect at close to 80 proof.
ReplyDeleteIn the US, tequila has to be at least 40%, but these are Mexican releases so they can go under that.
ReplyDeleteA friend brought around a bottle of Baluarte blanco to share, and I was floored by how good it was. (I'm a mezcal guy, too, for decades) It's hardly available in the U.S., unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteHEY!
ReplyDeleteHave you tried Mi Casa Reposado? I found it in my local Mexican Restaurant (boy, do I miss the Mexican food down there), but what the Bay Area lacks in good Mexican Food they sure do make up for it with snooty Tequila Bars.
Anyway. Mi Casa. You won't be sorry.