Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Today we're talking about a tequila that blends Top chef creativity and 10 generations of tequila mastery. This one's pretty cool to me. I just interviewed one of the co founders, Top Chef winner Michael Battaggio, and 10th generation master Tecalero Bruno Barba. This interview is full of great information. It's live on my YouTube channel. Definitely go check it out. You're going to get the story behind the brand and the story behind this bottle, which is absolutely fire. All right, let's break this down. Production method, real quick. This is made at NAM 1502 authentica, the distillery right there in the town of Tequila Blue Weber agave.
[00:00:41] Low cooked process. They're utilizing low pressure autoclaves. They're using crushing method of a roller mill, and it is like a five pass roller mill. From there, they're going into twice distilled stainless and then aged eight months in American oak barrels.
[00:01:00] Now think about it. A reposado is a minimum of two. So eight months, they're really going a little bit special. Maybe we're going to get a little more barrel influence and see if that agave character still rises to the top. Let's get this one in the glass. Whoa.
[00:01:19] One of the things I asked in the video was did Michael have some input in how this tequila was going to taste? And Bruno really talked about how Michael was able to share true, nuanced flavors of agave. Not only did they go to the fields to smell fresh cut agave and then stand in front of the oven and smell that cooked agave and then also take it out and taste it. What Michael really had in his mind was how to take that true taste of agave and get it into your glass, not do something fake, but do something authentic and utilize Bruno's knowledge of creating fantastic tequila. And. And they wanted to do a reposado, which is really cool. Bruno's ancestors are known to be one of the first people to make the first classified reposado in history. So let's get a nose on this one.
[00:02:10] Nice cooked agave. I get a little teeny bit of funkiness. There's a nice honey note and a very light caramel note. There's a nice amount of spice with this, and it does have, like, a really neat nuttiness to it. So cooked agave with a little nuttiness and a nice oaky flavor that the oak isn't really over, like overbearing or too strong. All right, let's get a taste of this one. First thing is that cooked agave. I get a Nice cooked agave that kind of goes right into a like a vanilla caramel. There's a citrus note, almost like an orange.
[00:02:41] There's a little bit of like a cocoa note, almost like a chocolate. It's got a nice like green note to it. And for some reason there's a little hint of smoke that I'm not sure where that smoke would come from. It must be something that's coming from either the barrel, from being, you know, charred in the barrel, or maybe something from roasted agave. The finish itself, medium to long. It's warm, it's not super hot. It doesn't have like this massive amount of pepper like some tequilas. It has a sweet, like just light spiciness. The agave really hangs on there. It's a nice tequila. This isn't something I would say is like incredibly over over complex, but it gives you the basis of a tequila and a nice reposado and to me, pretty good sipper. One thing I really appreciated from the conversation with Bruno is this isn't about over engineering a tequila. It was about respecting tradition, slow cooking, small batch production, letting that agave speak and really just letting the barrel add a little nuance to it. And with this long of an aging process, they actually were able to do that. It's got a great agave flavor with just a kiss of the barrel. This is a reposado that you can find between 46 and 60 bucks. So it seems to be in a pretty competitive range. And that's something good for something traditionally made. It is kind of hard these days sometimes to decide if I'm going to go to like a budget brand or some super high price brand. This one gives you a quality tequila in the glass at really a mid level to lower price. It's one that I would definitely pick up. Seen it in the store, final take on it. It's balanced, it's flavorful, it's true. To agave. It's not just a celebrity tequila. It's a tequila backed by real heritage and craftsmanship. And it's nice when a chef can come into this realm and add the depth of complexity and flavors and have that be expressed in his tequila. If you guys like this review, hit that like subscribe. Share with your friends Drop a comment if you've tried Marcado 28. And don't forget to watch the full interview with Michael Batagio and Bruno Barba because the story behind this tequila makes sipping it mean a little bit more. So check it out. Thanks for watching tonight. Cheers.
