Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome back to tasting tequila with Brad. Every once in a while, I come across a bottle that makes me stop in my tracks. Not because it's expensive, not because it's impossible to find, but because somebody actually tried something different while still respecting what tequila is supposed to be. This is the brand new Alma Jaguar Barakas series. This is the apple brandy cast anejo. And when I saw it sitting on a shelf at Hazel's beverage World in Boulder, Colorado, I couldn't leave without it. One of the best tequila selections that I've seen while in Colorado. And I want to give a shout out to Brad at Agave Love and Lore, pointing me in that direction. Now let's find out about this bottle. All right, before we taste it, let's talk about what makes this release unique. It starts with 100% Blue Weber Agave grown in the highlands of Jalisco and produced at NOM 1414 by Master Distiller Sergio Cruz. They're doing their long cooking, stone ovens, roller mill, crushing wild fermentation open, playing some beautiful classical music twice distilled in those copper pots. But where it really becomes special is how it turns into this anejo. First thing they did was they created a true anejo. They aged it for 18 months in French oak barrels. After that, it does move into French barrels that previously held Galvados. I hope I said that right. It's a famous apple brandy from Normandy, France. Calvados isn't just an apple brandy. It's made by fermenting apples and sometimes pears into cider, distilling that cider and aging it in French oak barrels. For years, those barrels developed incredible flavors of baked apple, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, baking spices, and other flavors slowly work their way into the tequila during that finishing process. So I've read a lot about what people say it tastes like. I haven't tasted it yet, and I can't wait to find out here with you. Now. What I did was I opened this. I read a couple people's reviews that said, let it rest. So I opened this bottle this afternoon, and I poured this about 20 to 30 minutes ago, just letting it rest in the glass. Let it open up, and let's get all the flavors that are in here out so we can see what this one is really like. Now, I really love this brand, Alma de Haguar. One of the things that's really awesome is every single bottle actually gives back to the northern jaguar project, helping protect wild jaguars and preserve their habitat in northern Mexico. I love it when brands get back, and this one is a really unique cause, and I'm really excited that Macaulay put something together like this to give back and to create an amazing brand. I can't wait to have him on the show and talk about story behind the brand and his story as well. All right, let's dive into this glass. As you can see, it's a beautiful, deep color. Okay. I get nice cooked agave. I actually get the nice 1414 minerality. I get a nice caramel note, a honey note, vanilla, some warm baking spices. I do get just a hint of apple. And with that cinnamon, it is like a baked apple and cinnamon. There might even be a little touch of like a toasted oak and a little bit of a floral note. Just kind of hanging out there with all those other notes. Everything there just kind of enhances the agave, not replacing it. And the finish has a lot of flavors. I actually get a little bit more of the apple now in the finish. I do like that the agave, the tequila smell is right there. Okay, let's taste this bad boy. There's a nice agave sweetness there. Is that apple caramel together. I want to say this buttery too, almost like an apple butter. There's a little hint of pear and almost a little bit of leather in the finish of this when the there's some honey and leather as it starts to, like, die away. Yeah, definitely honey. The cinnamon that I got in the nose isn't as much there. The apple is still there, but it's almost like, like a caramel apple. And there's a little bit of baking spice there. The finish, it's just like fruity cooked agave, peppery agave.
[00:03:31] When they put apple on the front, you know you're going to find apple in the taste, but it really is there. That's pretty impressive. So is this a traditional on yeho? I don't think so. I don't think that's what it's trying to be. I think this is a classic oak driven type on YEHO that's adding some other flavors from this special barrel. It's one of the reasons why I search out these special barrel programs. It's one thing to have your normal everyday tequila to go to, and it's another day to pick up something that's going to taste a little bit different but doesn't lead you away from agave. Now, I picked this up for like $135. It's definitely not what I'm going to sip on. Every day. But it's what I'm really going to enjoy. And you know, for me, everything that comes out of 1414 is pretty exciting. And to have a project like this where part of the sales is going back to help a cause makes it really special. The best way to learn about some of these brands and some of these amazing tequilas is to go to the Tequila report the Tequila Report.com it's a newsletter that comes to your email twice a week. 63,000 other people received this email, so check it out at the tequila report.com subscribe if you've had this bottle, let me know down in the comments. Did you get apple? Did you get spice? Did you get barrel finish? Did you get cold agave? I'd love to hear what you think of this one. If you enjoyed this review, hit that like button, that subscribe button. And if you're new, as always, remember, life's too short to drink bad tequila. So see you next time.
