One Tequila, Two Tequila – Wait, haven’t we been here before?

Ahh tequila, we meet again.

Unlike my friends, I’m not really into shooting booze, I’m much more of a slow and steady sipper. Probably why the smell of tequila doesn’t make me back away with a grimace.

And why, if they’re looking for shots of tequila to finish of their night, I’m ogling a reposado or an anejo to sip before my taxi home.

Maybe I’m just old fashioned like that?

Last year I was lucky enough to sample one of the only bottles of Herencia Mexicana Tequila in the UK – quite by accident and I was very, very impressed.

Last week, the two brothers behind the distillery, Julio and Daniel, dashed to Manchester as part of their whirlwind tour of Europe. I was prepared to be impressed yet again.

 

This tequila is truly a family business. The ranch where their blue agave is grown has been in the family since 1865 and the agave itself given as a gift to the family directly in 1872. That’s some history.

The agave is harvested at it’s peak, around 7 years old, the leaves are removed and it’s core baked in brick ovens for around 30-36 hours, low and slow. Once the roasting process is complete, they are removed and the juice is extracted from the plants and the fermentation process can begin.

72 hours later, we move to distillation and from there to the development of the three tequilas – Blanco, Reprosado and Anejo.

Surrounded by fellow drinks enthusiasts (sorry Dave, but I was) and some very excited tequila fans, we opened the bottle of Blanco.

Blanco, as the name might suggest has no colour whatsoever, and that’s down to it’s only resting period being a small amount of time (6 months) in stainless steel containers before bottling. It spends no time at all in barrels, meaning it has no colour and it’s flavour is pure and unchanged.

On the nose, it’s light, very light. There’s no harsh alcohol, a tickle of vanilla and something light a fruity. On the palate it’s the same, soft, fruit high in the mouth, herbal notes, no alcohol burn. And the flavour lingers in the mouth in a very pleasant way.

This is a very fine tequila. A very moreish tequila as we discovered as the night went on.

Onto the Reposado. Unlike it’s Blanco cousin, the Reposado spends some time (around 9 months) in ex Jack Daniels barrels, resulting in a very different tequila.

On the nose, this obviously has lots of wood notes, vanilla and hints at a little spice. On the palate, this beauty is all chocolate. Not your standard bottle of Dairy Milk, this is deeper, darker, sitting further back on the palate, it hits some soft cocoa notes that are delicious, whilst keeping the fruity agave notes in the roof of the mouth. And again, that lingering flavour in the mouth.

If you think you don’t like tequila, this is the one you need to try.

Finally, onto the Anejo, this is again, the same tequila, but rather than 9 months, this spends 3 years in barrel casks.

Surprisingly, I expected this to be again heavy on the chocolate, but we were in for a surprised. This extra aged tequila is lighter than the Reposado, with a slight savoury taste, some chocolate yes, but more toffee, more of a, dare I say it, salted caramel flavour about it. The citrus is present again, but sadly none of the long finish of the other two. Whilst still an excellent tequila, it’s younger counterparts prove to be the favourites of the evening.

So much so, that despite two cocktails created by the lovely Callum at Sandinista (our hosts for the evening), the bottle of Blanco soon disappeared and as the Reposado began to go the same way, I quickly made my escape before mentions of Liars Club and MOJO Bar were made.

Well, it was a school night and I had a 6:45am training session. I’m not that crazy.

With thanks to both Daniel and Julio, to Sandinista and Callum (I miss that squid ink risotto you know), to David and to my company for the evening. It was eye opening, an absolute honor and I have a feeling I’ll be revisiting this tequila all over again very soon.