Chamucos Extra Añejo Cask Strength Review | Is It Worth Buying?

[00:00:00] I think a lot of people overlook Chamokos. When people start talking about great additive free tequila, you hear some names over and over again and somehow this one doesn't get the attention that it deserves. Today we're going to taste their extra anejo cast strength bottled at 88.8 proof and after spending a little bit of time with this bottle, I think it deserves a lot more conversations. Chamuclus has a really interesting history. The brand was conceived back in 1992 by Oscar nominated Mexican film director Ontario Ruta and his friend Cesar Hernandez who is a hand blown glass artist. They later teamed up with importer Mark Howard and legendary master distiller Hector Davalos and created Chos Tequila. The brand officially launched in 1994 but originally only made a reposado. The blanco didn't even arrive until 2009, followed by the Anejo in 2010 and today Chocos is sold around the world with the United States remaining its largest market production is one of the reasons I respect this brand. They're using 100% organic Highland Weber agaves harvested around 27 to 30 bricks. Slow cooking the agaves in a traditional masonry brick oven, naturally fermenting in open tanks with their own proprietary yeast and double distilling and specially designed stainless steel pot stills. The tequila is produced at NOM 1586 and back when Tequila Matchmaker was doing its thing, it was verified additive free. For this extra anejo, they're bleeding tequilas that are aged for three, four and five years in a combination of virgin white oak and French oak barrels before bottling it at 44.4 ABV or 88.8 proof. I like that higher proof in this because it's going to give a little more agave flavor since it's been in those barrels for so long. All right, let's get it in the glass. As you see, I've busted out my, my anejo tasting glass, my glassfin glass. I definitely like the darkness of this. It's got a great color. [00:01:43] Wow. You can smell it already. Okay, let's dive into the nose. Great cooked agave, great barrel note. I get some vanilla, some oak, some butterscotch. I get also some like stone type fruit, maybe, maybe some apricot or maybe some plum, a little butterscotch, a little cinnamon. I think I could probably sit here and smell this and pull out different things with every single, every single breath. There's a little vanilla there. It's got so much going on. I will say the cooked agave is there but it is muted behind all of these other barrel notes. And sometimes when I get into an extra anejo, the barrel notes kind of overwhelm it and take away some of the cooked agave. The this one is a little bit less cooked agave than what I like and a little more barrel. But it is smells so good. I just know it's going to be pretty complex. All right, let's dive in. The taste of this one, great mouthfeel coat your whole mouth. You definitely get that what I always call musty barrel. You get that really deep barrel note. Some toffee, some vanilla. I do picked up cooked agave. It turned more like dark fruit. Maybe some raspberry with some plum. So like a, a light red raspberry and a dark plum. Plum note. I like the sweetness of this one and I kind of like that raisin, fig, stone fruit that's all mixed in the finish. Kind of lingers. You get that toasted oak. I get some butterscotch. There's even a hint of dark chocolate with some cinnamon and a little cooked agave in the finish as well. Overall, I think this is what an extra anejo should do. It delivers richness, complexity, almost leans into bourbon whiskey, cognac type drinker notes, but it still doesn't lose its identity as tequila. Probably a little less agave than what I like. I like a little bit more agave. I. I believe if it wasn't at this higher proof, there'd be less agave there. So I'm really glad that they left this at a higher proof. I will say as an extraneo, this one does come across to me as a little pricey. So this is really a dessert type drink. This is something that you're going to keep around for a special occasion. And I do think it's one that you should have on your shelf. They've got a really great bottle design. It comes in a really cool tube, so it's got some great presentation to it. And it is one that any of your whiskey drinkers are around, you're going to be able to convert them over to drinking a great tequila and they're going to feel better for it. If you've had this model, let me know, Put it in the comments, let me know what your thoughts are. Let me know what you think of their other expressions. Let me know if you've had the Diablo and what you think of that one because that one's so good. If you like reviews and you like interviews, hit that like and subscribe button. I really do appreciate everybody that comments and watches. Thanks. Cheers. Have just a fantastic night.