Happy Cinco de Mayo!
I celebrated the 150th
anniversary of the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of
Puebla on May 5, 1861, a day early with a visit yesterday from the Don
Julio Tequila master distiller, Enrique de Colsa Ranero. He came to
preview his latest creation, which will celebrate another anniversary
when it debuts later in the year, the 70th birthday of the founding of
Don Julio in 1942.
Almost
as striking as his Tequila was the method in which he revealed it,
which ran contrary to most of my experience. Usually when spirits
representatives unveil their lines they either start with the liquor of
the mildest body and build to the fullest or they proceed from
entry-level quality to highest.
Enrique did neither. He went straight to his
new surprise, the anniversary Tequila. Once you hear the logic it makes
sense.
One of the strongest
trends in Tequila is aging. Reposados (aged more than two months, but
less than a year), Añejos (more than 12 months, but less than three
years) and the new designation Extra Añejo (more than three years) have
been growing in popularity. Enrique argues that while this relatively
new development in aging Tequila has brought rich notes to the spirit,
it also tends to mask some of the raw agave flavors that are the gift of
Tequila as well.
He
addresses this quandary with the 70th anniversary edition by starting
with an Añejo version of Don Julio and then filtering it. So, rather
than pouring first his Blanco (essentially no aging) and then working to
the older stuff, Enrique went to this new juice first. And it was quite
the pleaser—full of rich honey taste, almost rock candy—some of the
mellow caramels and vanillas that you associate with its time in Bourbon
barrels and, at the end, a minty evergreen and slight yeastiness.
From there he went to
his Añejo Don Julio, which was also excellent, but focused on and
developed the sweet and mellow, with pronounced wood tones. Gone were
the hints of agave, yeast and mint.
The last taste was of his Blanco-style
Tequila. Now was revealed all those agave flavors that are hallmarks for
the dyed-in-the-wool Tequila fans who were brought up without the
benefits of the barrel aging that is so prevalent today.
The whole thing
was...what's that overused expression in the tech
world?...counterintuitive...but proved an excellent way to reveal the varied
charms of Tequila and to show how the new expression will contain both.
Anyway, this is a
long-winded way of saying: it's Cinco de Mayo, and you should probably
taste some Tequila.
Here's
a link to some past Tequila reportage from our library to get you started.
