Xoloitzcuintle Extra Añejo | French White Oak vs American White Oak Tequila Review

[00:00:00] Would you spend $400 on a tequila just because it came in a Dom shaped bottle? Today we're finding out if these incredible Xolo Exquintlay extra Anejo decanters are just amazing collectibles or if the tequila inside is just as impressive. Now my friend Dave picked up the American oak version, I bought the French oak version and today I'm going to taste them side by side and see which one comes out on top. And if you like learning about great tequilas like these, go over to the tequila report.com it is a free newsletter that you should sign up for today at the tequila kiloreport.com subscribe check it out. Now let's get to these bots. If you've never heard of a show Low Esquitlay it's the ancient Mexican hairless dog that dates back a thousand years. The Aztec believe these dogs guided souls into the afterlife, making one of the most important, most recognizable animals in Mexican history. These ceramic decanters honor that tradition and I have to say they're absolutely stunning. Even if they're empty. They're going to be incredible displays for me around my bar and right now they have great tequila in them, so I'm excited about that as well. Now, thankfully these are filled with some serious tequila. Xolo Esquintlay Tequila is produced at Nom 1541st in the Highlands of Jalisco. Made with 100 blue Weber Agave grown in iron rich soils in Los Altos and follows a production process that I really appreciate. These agaves are slowly cooked in a low pressure autoclave then crushed with a roller mill to extract the juice. Fermentation takes place in open air stainless steel tank using natural ambient yeast without any agave fibers and then it's double distilled in stainless steel pots that are fitted with internal copper coils. Best of all, letting the agave and the barrel do the talking. Both of these expressions spend five years aging and that's where they start to go in different directions. Dave's bottle, it's aged in American bottled at 47.58% ABV has a single barrel cast strength. My bottle is in French white oak for the same 5 years but bottled at 54.73 making this a true powerhouse. I do want to point something out. Look at the color difference between the French and the American oak. I mean, holy cow. So let's dive into both of these and see which one I like better. All right, this has a really nice cooked agave but a lot of caramel in there Vanilla, caramel. And the oak smell is almost like fresh cut wood. Like, like somebody just sawed through an oak board and you could smell that sawdust type wood. Cooked agave is there as well. Okay, I really like that nose. Let's dive into this French oak. Nice oak as well. A little more brightness of the cooked agave, but I get a little bit more raisin, fig, leather, butterscotch, and then a little bit of minerality. I really like the nose of this one more because of the brightness of the wood. I think it smells really good. Not that I didn't like that one. Stop into the taste. Cooked agave is there. The oak is there. Vanilla's there, the caramel's there. A nice heat, almost like a vegetable heat where it came in and then lit more up in the finish. A little bit of cooked agave sweetness in the finish. A nice pepper and that sawdusty wood. Oak smell forms in a taste with a little bit of minerality. That is exquisite. All right, let's. Let's try the French. I don't know, it knows is even better. Now let's taste it. Wow, that's. That's rich cooked agave. That oakiness is nice. There's almost like a sherry type note there. There's pepper, there's cooked agave, there's butterscotch, there's a little bit of cinnamon, some raisin, some fig. The finish is a lot more peppery. It's a lot hotter. This one drinks a lot hotter. It is a higher proof. It really coats your whole mouth and just lights up your mouth with this pepper. Again, there's some cinnamon there in the finish. There's some vanilla. I'm going to say that's a couple hundred dollar tequila inside of a beautiful bottle. I'm so glad I was able to get these. These are very limited. Mine is bottle number 91 out of 260. Dave's looks like it is bottle 64 out of 250. I do believe Ernesto is going to keep this process up and bring these out on a regular basis. Something you want to watch his social media for. I did get to do an interview with him where he talked about Xolo, the whole process behind him creating this business. And it's something that I'm just really impressed with. He's a young man who was a teacher that decided to really go after something that he's always dreamed of. And it was really cool. So you may scroll back and look for that interview with Ernesto and learn a little more about this brand. If you were able to get one of these bottles before they sold out. Put in the comments, let me know what your thoughts are and which one that you got. And if you're bummed that you missed one, put that in the comments too so Ernesto can see who is excited about this coming out in the future. And then I've got to say thanks to these beautiful puppies for hanging out with me. Ton, thanks for watching this review. If you'd like to learn about agave spirits, meet the owners and the brand owners and master distillers and get reviews on Tequila. Hit that like and subscribe button. Tell your friends. Thanks a lot for watching. And I got to say cheers. Have a fantastic night.