Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I just recently sat down with Don Rico owner Rick Rico Olivo and learned exactly how this tequila is made. But the real question here is can three months in a barrel actually create a reposado worth buying or is it basically just a dressed up blanco? Let's find out. What's up everybody? I'm Brad with tasting Tequila with Brad and today we are going to take a look at the Don Rico reposado. I love this label. I think it is so cool. The agave plate on there is pretty awesome.
[00:00:25] So we are going to dive into this. I recently got to do an interview with Rick. We are talked about how they make it, the story behind it. Definitely check it on the YouTube channel. I think you'll find it very interesting. All right, before we dive into tasting, I like to talk about how the tequila is made. Don Rico reposado comes from. Now I'm 1608 in Jalisco, Mexico where I found this particularly interesting. In the conversation Rick said they use a blend of both highland agaves and valley agaves. Highland agaves bring sweetness, fruitness, floral notes. While those valley agaves contribute a lot of vegetal minerality, earthiness and spice. The goal was to create a balance, balanced tequila. Instead of leaning towards the highlands or the valley. These agaves are cooked in a traditional stone masonry oven. Then they are crushed using roller mill extraction. Fermentation takes place in open air stainless steel tanks using deep well water and no agave fibers in this one. Tequila is then twice distilled in stainless steel pots that are equipped with copper coils. And finally rested for three months in American white oak whiskey barrels before bottled at 40% ABV. Now let's find out how that translates in the glass. This is not a fresh pop. I did have some in the video. I want to say thanks to Don Rico for sending me their blanco del repo and anejo to taste. I really appreciate that and the interview was a lot of fun. Let's dive into the nose of this one. Okay. I get cooked agave. I get a little bit of a honey caramel note. There's a nice wood, musty barrel wood smell that I like. It's a little floral and there's a little bit of a citrus note. Can't really put my finger on if it's lime or lemon or if it's just a zest. But you do pick up this bright citrus note. All right, let's dive into the taste of this nice cooked agave. Really like a roasted, a roasted agave smell a little bit of caramel, a little bit of vanilla. It's got a nice sweetness to it, but definitely not a fake sweet. The mouth feels, I'm going to say medium to medium, maybe a little bit thick. I like that. The oak really shows up more, I think, in the finish, where as it kind of rests, there's this woody barrel, musty type. I call it a musty smell. But this woody barrel taste that I really like. That honey sweetness is there, and that cooked agave is there with a little bit of some pepper notes. Second taste, a little more vanilla, a little more caramel, little more cooked agave. That agave hangs around a lot longer than what I expected, which I really like. The oak is present, some lingering spices and a little touch of pepper as it just kind of slowly fades in the finish. This is a really nice finish. This is a nice just sipping tequila. One thing I took away from the interview with Rick was that this tequila is not trying to reinvent tequila. They're focused on making it clean traditionally and doing this blend to try to give you both influences, which I kind of like that idea. There's a few tequilas that do that today. After spending a little bit of time with this repo, I think they've accomplished it. This one is really, really nice. It's got great flavors, and it's one that I would definitely pick up off the shelf to a taste. If you enjoy a repo that still lets the agave shine through with adding some layers of that barrel caramel spice, this is definitely one worth checking out. Honestly, after hearing Rick talk about the production process, the tasting, the finished product kind of makes sense to me of how I'm getting these flavors that I'm getting, knowing that they're doing it in a very traditional way without blending anything else into the tequila. If you've tried Don Rico reposado, drop a comment. Let me know what you think. And if you haven't seen the interview with Rick, make sure you jump over to YouTube and take a look at it, because it's definitely, I believe, worth watching. If you like this review, hit that, like button. Subscribe and as always, sip wisely, drink responsibly, and drink authentically. Cheers.
