Jonathan kicked off our coverage of El Cristiano Tequila last year with a look at the distillery’s silver and reposado expressions. Now we’re jumping ahead to El Cristiano Extra Anejo, “Black Label,” which is aged for three years in ex bourbon barrels. The tequila plays like a selection of greatest hits from the Extra Anejo playbook. Notes of Almond Roca, vanilla custard, coconut, and Mexican chocolate are tempered by an edge of lemon curd which adds some necessary fruit and acidity. The palate is nearly identical, though there’s a certain agave-driven spice in the mix, some red pepper and ja ..read more

Ready for another innovation from the lately-on-fire Don Julio? Alma Miel is a blend of blanco tequila distilled with oven-roasted agave honey plus añejo tequila that has been aged for at least 14 months and finished in Crémant du Limoux (sparkling) wine casks from the Limoux region of France. Officially billed as a Tequila Joven, let’s tuck into this out-there offering. To start things off, the tequila has a slight yellow tint — the photo above is accurate as to the color. Moving into the glass, the nose is much more herbal and agave-forward than expected, boldly green and peppery, with only ..read more

1953 is a new tequila brand with a single expression — anejo. The tequila is “an ultra-premium, additive free anejo founded, farmed, distilled, and led by women.” To that end, the name of the product marks the year that women gained the right to vote in Mexico. Founders and friends Shivam Mallick Shah, Lindsey Davis Stover and Alison Kiehl Friedman came together in search of a consciously crafted, ultra-premium tequila. Together, they sought partners in Mexico who applied the finest craftsmanship utilizing the region’s traditional methods to make a luxurious tequila without additives, and wh ..read more

Presented in an artful, oversized bottle and carrying a substantial price tag, Emyla is clearly an ultra-premium tequila by design. It is the brainchild of founder Art Davtyan, who named the tequila by combining the names of his two daughters, and it is produced at the Casa Maestri distillery, which makes a broad range of products in the category. Emyla is made with 100% Blue Weber Agave drawn from both the Highlands and the Lowlands of Jalisco, and it has no additives. Currently, only an añejo bottling is available, which was aged for a little over a year in ex-bourbon barrels. Let’s give it ..read more

Previously we brought you a look at the six indie-bottled whiskies in edition three of the ImpEx Collection — now we’re carrying on with the bottler’s first foray into mezcal. The line comprises four different expressions from two distillers, using four different subspecies of agave. Let’s get into it. The ImpEx Collection Mezcal Felipe Cortes, Bicuixe – From a strain of A. Karwinskii, distilled in a pot still in 2015 and rested in glass for 7 years. Great fruit on the nose here, banana and peach, with a smattering of coal dust on top. The smoke is mild but beautifully integrated on the cream ..read more

In the widening world of mezcal, artisanal expressions made by hand with traditional methods are increasingly the best places to find unique flavors and superior quality. And it doesn’t get more handmade than Creador which dropped their second set of bottlings late last fall. The deets: Each of the six new expressions is milled by hand, clay pot fermented and distilled by maestro palenquero José Alberto Pablo in San Bernardo Mixtepec, Oaxaca. Each small-batch expression started by cooking agave piñas in an underground river rock-lined stone oven for five days, mashing the cooked piñas by han ..read more

Maestro Dobel‘s latest tequila is plenty old, but it isn’t a cristalino but a traditional extra anejo, complete with natural color driven from the barrel. This is actually the second release of Dobel’s “Atelier Tequila” Extra Anejo expression, which launched last year — and which you can still find online. The bottles are decidedly unique, coming in five hand-painted versions (check the photo to see what I mean), each clad in a wooden box “created to honor traditional Mexican craftsmen and techniques, in art and in tequila.” The 2023 edition pays homage to the “trajineras,” which are colorful ..read more

Late last year, El Tesoro launched a new line of tequilas called The Mundial Collection, which will be built around various whiskey cask finishes. “Mundial” translates to “world” in Spanish — a cue that you’re going to see finishes from all over the place used in this lineup. The first two releases are build around Knob Creek Rye and Laphroaig Scotch. Production details for each follow in our reviews below. Both are 80 proof. NOM 1139. El Tesoro Mundial Collection: Knob Creek Rye Edition – This is El Tesoro Anejo finished for 12 months in Knob Creek Rye barrels. An American rye cask finish is ..read more

Suerte has emerged as a solid choice for 100% agave tequila, a Highlands offering with a fairly straightforward, balanced approach — and reasonable pricing. If you want to break away from the usual trio of expressions, consider this newish release from the brand — Suerte Blanco at “still strength,” a cracking 52% abv. There’s not a lot of mystery here — this is really just a high-proof version of Suerte’s unaged tequila. Only 1530 bottles were made for this late 2023 release — a reference to Suerte’s NOM, a dedicated distillery that only makes Suerte. Presumably it will be an annual affair go ..read more

Let’s give tequila newcomer Cambio some credit for mixing things up in the tequila world. While these are both 100% Highlands blue agave, additive free tequilas, they are unusual in that they are fermented at low temperatures in tanks lined with American white oak and Mexican pine, then distilled over a long, two-week period. Bottling, at 46% abv, is considerably higher than the standard 40%, too. Cambio does not yet have an anejo expression on the market. Today we look at the two flagships — a blanco and a reposado. Both are 92 proof. NOM 1605. Cambio Tequila Blanco – While this is formally ..read more