Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right, guys, this is going to be a great one. Two fantastic tequilas that look the same on that side, but they're different on the inside. We're going to talk about Almadel Haguar's Nocturna.
[00:00:23] All right, guys, this nocturna is an amazing tequila. It's made very differently than a lot of other tequilas that are out there. And the cool thing about, about this one is this is the spring. So this one was released in the spring, and this just came today. This is the fall. And you'll see that they say right on the back. So if you're out looking for these bottles in the store, I was told by my buddy Tequila Cop that you still can find the 2024 at the Frugal McDougall in Tennessee. I don't know if they ship outside, but outside the state of Tennessee. But I definitely would do a little searching for it and see if you can find it, because the spring is amazing. And I did something on purpose. I didn't drink all of the spring because I wanted to compare this to the fall. And the main difference between these two is really going to be highlighting how the fermentation reacts and tastes when one is fermented in a timeframe to release it in the spring, and the other one is fermented in the time frame to release it in the fall. So this is McCully Williams brand. He's from Tennessee. He had a history in the bourbon world before he came over to the tequila world. He got with Adam Fodar and Sergio Cruz to develop something special, and they all worked together to come up with some special, unique ways of making tequila. I've done reviews on their blanco and their reposado, which are amazing. I know there's a single barrel repo bouncing around out there, too. A jay bear single barrel. I haven't had that one yet, but I bet it's amazing as well. And I kind of want to talk about this tequila and the differences of what nocturna is to some of their other their regular blanco and their regular reposado. First things first. McCulley is very supportive of the North American jaguar conservation. A certain percentage of every single bottle sold goes to protect the jaguars. His uncle, I believe, was one of the persons that started this conservatory, and he was really passionate about helping them out. Also an extremely sustainable brand. Their label here actually is made out of agave fiber, and the glass is 100% recycled glass. So just doing the right things to protect the area where this tequila comes from and help help them be able to do it for hundreds more years. Let's hope. Estate agave. So all the agaves come from the Vinca family's farm. So they're all estate grown and they control that whole process. So they know they're picking great agaves for this tequila. It is cooked in the Vivanca's Fantas fantastic stone ovens and then it's ran through a roller mill. And that's kind of the same of all of their tequilas. And then right here is where it starts to get different.
[00:03:02] In this case, they're doing a wild fermentation. So they're throwing the, the juice in the fermentation tank and they're not adding any yeast at all. They're just letting the natural yeast that's in the area come in and help that ferment and turn into an alcohol based product that they can distill into tequila. And another thing they did was they actually took the fibers that are left over after the roller milling. They get all of the sugars out of the agave and they put those in like burlap bags and they threw those in the fermentation tanks. So now you have fibers in bags floating around in this fermentation with, with actual agave fibers adding, you know, potentially some natural yeast to the fermentation process. And, and you know, it's extracting some flavors out of there too. And then after the fermentation is done, they did something even crazier during distillation. I was told that they took those bags and shoved them into the copper pots while it was being distilled. So now you have those fibers as part of the distillation, which is really crazy. I've never heard of that process being done in tequila at all. I have heard there's a certain mezcal where they put chicken or other vegetables into the still to get those flavors into the muscal. So kind of doing that type process with this. So that makes this different than all the other almond tequilas that are out there. And then for them to come together and put a spring and a fall and release them differently so we can see the taste, the difference and smell the difference of the different timeframes. I was told it's like 6,000 bottles were made of this. So it's one of those things that once you, once you drink it, it's gone. So that's where my Romo comes in. Fomo. Fear of missing out Romo. Fear of running out.
[00:04:54] Okay, let's try the spring first.
[00:04:59] Definitely a lot of cooked agave, some anise, kind of minerally, a lot of cooked agave. It actually smells like the oven. When you're standing next to the cooked oven and the steam's coming out, I get that smell of, like standing in a distillery.
[00:05:19] There's also a lot of vegetal or herbal, very mineral type. Smells very good. Let's do the fall.
[00:05:30] Same cooked agave that's extremely present. Very similar to the nose on that one. You get that I'm at a distillery smell. Get a little more spice. Maybe a cinnamon.
[00:05:42] I'm gonna say all spice. I get a spicy smell, more so than I did this one. That could be. Could be a little bit of a nice, potentially spicy or a nice smell. And I don't get any alcohol in either one, which is crazy there. This is 101 proof, so it's. It's a high proof. And to not get blasted with alcohol really just kind of blows you away.
[00:06:04] Great cooked agave. Again, this tastes like the distillery smells is probably the best way to explain it. I wish I could bottle that smell up and send it out. I get some orange, some maybe pineapple. A lot of great flavors. So very citrusy. And the finish is. It doesn't have a lot of bite in it. It's got a little pepper, and I get a little bit of cinnamon there on the end. Kind of turns into mint or spearmint to me at the end. Let's compare them here. Wow. That one has a lot more spice to it. You get the same cooked agave, not as much citrus, but it leaves a tingle on your tongue. That's. That's really cool. And you get a little bit of the citrus. I get a little bit of the spice. I still have that tingle. And I kind of get maybe a little bit of like a toasted almost a little bit of smoky flavor, but not, Not. Not in the muscal way or. I don't know. So a little bit of a. Maybe tobacco or smoke taste. A little bit at the end.
[00:07:04] A little bit of that citrus in that. In a second. The mouthfeel on this one is a little different to me than this one. Seems like the viscosity of this one is just a little bit more oily than what this one is.
[00:07:17] But both. Both great. That. That's really cool to have a tequila that is made exactly the same way, but just fermented in different temperatures of different times of the year. And of course, different agaves are used. Flavors are amazing. These are so good. This is a Cool one to do side by side. So I hope you got this spring one so you can get the fall one. Just know that this brand is. Everything's clean. This is, you know, confirmed in the old added free program. It's coming from 1414, which is one of my favorite distilleries. You can't go wrong any of the brands coming out of there. Sergio Cruz is just absolutely a master of making tequila and being able to make different profiles in the same distillery for different brands. And here's why. Because here's two tequilas that are the same brand, that are made with the same process, the same, you know, the same water proofed, the same agaves from the same farms, the same wild fermentation, the same stills, yet they taste different in some really neat nuances. So I was really excited to get this today. Definitely look for the fall and if you can find the spring, man, pick it up. And I think it's like $64 or $69. It's not a super expensive, especially for a high proof. You know, this is 101 proof. So when you think about your normal 80 proof, it comes out of this still, you know, a lot higher than 80 proof. And then they, you know, they bring. They use water to bring that proof down. Another thing different about the way they did this in distillation is this was distilled with the heads and the hearts and they only cut the tails. So that's definitely adding, you know, a lot more flavors of what's coming off that's still in the front. It's pretty. It's pretty amazing. So this is one to go check out. I hope, I hope you guys enjoyed this. I hope you've been able to have both the spring and the fall. They're amazing. Now I've got to find more because this one's like half gone. And this one will probably be half gone by.
[00:09:24] Well, today's Thursday, so I'm going to say by Friday because it's absolutely amazing. So thanks for tuning in. I love getting your feedback. Your comments let me know if you've tasted the spring and the fall. And also, like I mentioned in the beginning, my buddy Tequila Cop is the one that talked about where this one's available at. And if you haven't checked out his content, Tequila Cop's amazing. He always says at the end, added free or else I don't have a good ending one. Just, hey, thanks for tuning in and we'll see you on the next one.
