Do You Know the REAL Difference Between These Lost Lore Tequilas?

[00:00:00] Hey guys, a couple weeks back I did a video about a still strength and I talked about what that still strength was. And what I want to talk about here is something that my friend Arturo Lamas, the owner of Lost Lore, has done. And they brought out something that lets you taste all three levels of their blanco. So when we talk about three levels of blanco, as you know, tequila mostly is 40% ABV or 80 proof, right? So you've got, you know, your normal blanco right here in the middle. So this one is 80 proof. Then they brought out what's called a high proof and the high proof is 98 proof. [00:00:38] And then they also brought out what's called a still strength. So let's talk about what those are. So when you think about how tequila is made, ripe agaves, you know, six to eight year old agaves, these are all coming from the highlands, from Vivanka fields of agave. The are brought into the distillery where they're cut into halves and sometimes quarters and stacked inside one of the three stone ovens that are there and then off to cook. They bake in there with steam and they just take some time and some heat and they caramelize and cook those agaves. Once those agaves are all cooked, they take them out of there. They run em through a roller mill. That roller mill smushes them down and presses the agave juice out as water's put on top to help rinse that agave juice out. Then all that juice goes into a giant fermentation tanks where they play some Mozart music. And I didn't think that was really a big deal, having the music play until you're standing there and you hear them tap on the sides of the tank and you watch that yeast all move around and come right to where that banging on the tank is. So that vibration really does something during fermentation. So they're using the Mozart method. And then from there it goes into a giant still. And that still makes what's called ordinario. And that is the first distillation that you get when you're making tequila. And that first distillation is going to be about 20% alcohol. So it's a lot lower than what you would want in your actual tequila. They're going to cut those heads and those tails. The bad alcohols and the bad chemicals that are in there, they cut those out and then they take those hearts and they put those into the next still, which is a little bit smaller still. And that one is what brings out the tequila and that brings your proof up to what is called a still strength. I grabbed the blanco in the middle. That still strength is what you can taste right off the still. It's the highest part of the hearts with the highest part of the alcohol content. And this one is coming out at 110 proof or 55% alcohol. And that's the highest proof that you can have and it still be called tequila. Now, sometimes you can let those hearts go a little bit longer and have a little bit more of the tails in there. And that's going to bring that alcohol content down just a little bit. And then you're going to add a little bit of water. That's going to bring you to what they did here, 49 ABV or 98 proof. And then that same tequila water is added like it is here. But to bring it all the way down to that normal 40 ABV. And what you'll get in the differences is really the agave flavor. When you're at that still strength, you're going to have a lot more of agave flavor. That cooked agave taste, it's going to be a little bit hotter. Of course you're going to have some more alcohol there. This one in the still strength really brings out more floral flavors, more cinnamon flavors, a little bit more citrus in it than normal. And then those are all kind of mild as you go into those lower proofs. So you hear us agave nerds talk about still strengths being our favorite. It's just because there's less water and you get more of the cooked agave. So I hope that's a good explanation. These are definitely three amazing tequilas to pick up. They're blanco, they're high proof, and they're still strength. And I would look for this one now because it was really hard for them to keep this at that high of an ABV and bottle it for everybody. So they said they probably wouldn't do another still strength. Fingers crossed that they do because it's so good. But thanks for watching. If you have any questions or comments about lost lore or comments about still strength versus high proofs versus a regular blanco, put in the comments. Thanks for tuning in.