Most Tequila Fans Have Never Heard Of This

[00:00:00] What if I told you there's another protected Mexican spirit that has a denomination of origin just like tequila, that comes from volcanic soil and has over a hundred years of tradition and even had its barrels used in the 2023 winter blend. But it's not tequila and it's not mezcal. It's tiranda. And honestly, if you're into authentic additive free tequila and agave spirits, this may be one of the most interesting spirits that you've never had. Hey guys, welcome back to tasting tequila with Brad. You know that I dive into tequila, mezcal and everything, agave and sometimes sotol, that's agave adjacent. But today we're going to talk about something else that's not too far away from those. Has a lot of Mexican tradition, terroir and a denomination of origin. And I'm really excited about talking about it. We're diving into European charanda from Michoacan, Mexico. And if you're a tequila nerd, there's actually a lot here going on that's going to feel very familiar. So you ask, what exactly is chiranda? It is a Mexican sugar cane spirit that can only be made in a specific regions of Michoacan under a protected denomination of Oregon. Michoacan is a state in Mexico. It's very similar to how tequila can only be made in certain regions of Mexico. The word charanga actually comes from the Purepeche language that refers to red volcanic soil where the sugarcane grows. And that volcanic toar matters. The European region sits in high elevations surrounded by extinct volcanoes. And those mineral rich soils create very distinct sugarcane characteristics. Just like we Talk about Highlands vs Valley Tequila Terroir matters here. It isn't about mass producing the rum as well. The Pacheco family has been producing chironda since around 1907. European chironda has become one of the flagship expressions helping introduce this category to the world. Now here's where Tila fans get really excited and appreciate this process. European Charango blanco is a blend between two different distillates. One side comes from fresh pressed estate sugarcane juice distilled in traditional wood fire copper stills. The other comes from a molasses distilled in French column silves. And these two different distillates are blended together at a 50:50 ratio. This gives you a cool balance, a bright grassy like slight characteristic with a rich sweet rum. Note the fermentation on this is natural, it's slow and it's allowing the raw material to really shine through. And everything goes through double Distilled copper stills. If you've been watching my channel long enough, you know, we always talk about how production matters. Fermentation, copper contact, raw material, terroir, all the shapes of flavor. And charunga is one of the spirits where you actually can taste the land, volcanic soil, elevation, the cane. It all comes through in the glass. So let's put it in the glass and let's taste it. And I'm going to have it in this wonderful glass Vin tasting glass. [00:02:47] Now, I got to say, I'm not a huge rum guy. I only picked this up when I was at Benny's in Chicago because I'm interested in finding out something else that's made from Mexico. And the traditions there are so rich and so real that I thought it has to be good. So let's dive into it. For me, it weirdly has a little bit of a tequila note to it. There's kind of a smoky note to it. There's a grassy, not a lot of minerality. There's even a little bit of funk. Let's taste it real quick. Nice minerality, really neat sweetness. It definitely doesn't taste like tequila by any means, but it has a lot of really cool characteristics. And the minerality of this, the sweetness of it's good. And it has a really nice long finish that just hangs on. So this is something that I think would taste really good in a cocktail. But for me, at $21 a liter, it tastes good to sip on. And I have been sipping on it ever since I brought it home. I've had some friends try it. It's pretty cool. Mitchell Count is a state that's located a of Jalisco and a little bit north of Nairi. So it has a really rich history of Michoacan. And you also can grow agaves there and make tequila in certain approved municipalities. Now, tequila fans probably have heard about Charanga recently because the 2023 winter blend Fortaleza used barrels that previously held Sharonda in them. They do have these in all kinds of age spirits, and I'm going to chase them out. That's a huge crossover moment for the category. Fortaleza leans into authentic production and authentic flavor profiles, and Chironga does the same thing. So when you're looking at Chiranda, they're doing the same old school traditions that Fortaleza is. So it makes a lot of sense to to use those barrels for the aging in the process. And 2023 is one of my favorite winter balloons. So at the end of the day, Charanda may not be an agave spirit, but it absolutely belongs in the conversation of authentic Mexican spirits, protected origin, traditional production, volcanic terroir, family legacy, and copper distillation. And that's the kind of stuff I love talking about on this channel. So let me know down in the comments if you've ever had charana before. Let if you'd like to see more Mexican spirits outside of tequila and mezcal. If you enjoyed this video, please hit the subscribe the like button and always follow and drink good tequila and maybe a little of charanda too. Cheers.