Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] What exactly is a Cristalino and why does it even exist? Crystalino starts with an aged tequila, usually a reposado, an anejo, or an extra anejo. It spends time in the barrels. It's picking up color, vanilla, caramel, and spice. And then it's filtered, typically through an activated charcoal to remove the color while trying to keep some of the aged character there. So what you end up with is something that's clear, like a blanco, but with some softness and sweetness of an aged tequila. And why does this even exist? The way that I heard that this was invented was a master distiller had a batch go bad. So what he thought he could do is take that aged batch of tequila, run it through some filters, and try to fix it to make it have less of the wrong flavor that it had so it could be blended back into another tequila. Unfortunately, in the eyes of Kristalinos, it worked. It cleaned up that batch, and all of a sudden a new type of tequila was put out there. For people who like the smoothness of aged tequila but prefer the clean look of a blanco, Cristalino might be for you. I. I truly don't understand it. I don't get it. It's not a Tequil I go to. For newer drinkers, they may find the traditional oaky flavors too intense and a Crystallino a little more modern, polished, and approachable. Let's talk about one that I think is pretty good. How about we have Authentico Organic Cristalino authentico starts with 100% USDA organic grown blue agave. This is aged for six months in lightly charred American oak barrels. And then it goes through a one month filtration process to remove the color. This is a tequila that was on the certified additive free list. That matters because when you're doing all of this filtration, a lot of times producers have to put sweetness back in because that gets filtered out when they're going through this normal process. Let's get this in a glass and see what it tastes like. You will notice it is very clear, but it's not all the way crystal clear. You can still see a little bit of color in this one. Okay, let's dive in on the nose. I get a bright citrus right away. I get a little bit of orange peel right away. There's like a pine note. That's really nice. It's also really green. It's very clean smelling. There's still an earthy agave presence there. It hasn't been completely stripped out by filtration. So let's see how it tastes. This is interesting. I get a little bit of coke agave. I get this nice chocolate, soft, creamy milk chocolate flavor right away. There's also a bright lemon that comes through. The best way to kind of describe this would be a little bit of cooked agave and like a lemon sugar cookie dipped in some hot cocoa. There's the sweetness, but it feels like it's natural. You get this little hint of mint in the background that keeps everything really fresh. The body of this has a nice viscosity to it, but it is pretty light because it's filtered. It doesn't carry the heavy weight of the barrel. You don't pick up a lot of those oak flavors. Plus, it was a. It's reposado, so it shouldn't have a lot of those oaky flavors. There's just a nice little layered bit of oak with citrus and agave. And the finish is kind of long. This whole time I've been talking, it's still kind of lingering there. And that chocolate and that orange peel just kind of stick around a while. All right, so here's the takeaway, right? Cristalino tequilas exist to create a clean, soft, more approachable tequila for people. They do well in Mexico. This is like the number one selling category of tequila in Mexico's Cristalinos. Everybody loves them. These guys, they did it well. Some of them lean, really heavy on additives, get that cake batter and a really syrupy type mouth feel. Authentico Organic Crystalino shows that you can make one of these that's additive free. You can still deliver it with some nice flavor and a nice sipping experience. So now I want to know from you, do you like Cristalino tequilas or do you prefer your tequila aged and full of body, or do you like a blanco or a high proof better? Drop it in the comments. I want to say thanks to the guys at Authentico. Paige and Ryan are amazing. You now can find this in Indiana. Ryan's actually from Valparaiso, Indiana. So pretty exciting to have a tequila that has some roots here in Indiana. Let me know if you've had it. The most important thing, know what you're drinking. Have a great night.
