Tequila (5th one, Tastings #32)

Anejo Tequila Tasting (November 30th, 2023)

This is our 5th Tequila Tasting. The bottles in question were;

We sold 23 racks, but unfortunately a few people couldn’t make it last minute, so, we had 15 people on the Zoom.  Not all voted independently, some voted as a group.  We had 11 people voting on the Zoom polls.  This was our 5th Tequila tasting, and our 3rd ‘all’ Anejo Tequila tasting.  We are getting more ‘refined’ as a group.  For those who are unaware, rule of thumb about Tequila, there are 4 types of Tequila;

• Blanco/Plata/Silver,  (0-2 months aging)
• Resposado meaning ‘rested’,  (2 mths – 11 months)
• Anejo meaning ‘aged’, (1 year to 3 years)
• Extra Anejo (> 3yrs)

Some may argue for 2 more ‘types’ of Tequila, Joven (young/gold), and Cristalino (charcoal filtered to remove the tannins, and therefore the color, of the Resposado or Anejo Tequilas).

The other 4 tequila tastings are referenced here, for those who are curious. The 4th Tequila Tasting was Jan 2023, the 3rd Tequila tasting was Jan 2021, the 2nd Tequila tasting was July 2020, and  1st Tequila tasting was in Sept 2019.

We had 3 new participants to the group, one from Chicago, one from Calgary, and one from Montreal!  Welcome, Brian, Angele, and Paul.  I hope you had fun!  I hope you will continue to participate.

I had my first co-host this tasting, Teneille, my niece, helped me host the event, and drew the names for the bottles, and did some ‘on the fly’ research, to answer some of the tougher questions, from the group.

The tasting went well, the tequilas were varied, some additive free, and some not so much.  We were pretty well paced, at 10 to 12 minutes per tube.  Allison was our official timer this tasting.

I was so ‘excited’, to have the Bourbon egg nogg, I forgot, to put up the Zoom voting poll, for the Tarantula tequila drink, our “H” this time around, (the blue one in the picture).  I think the Tarantula would have got a solid ‘7’, but sadly, we will never know.  It was tastier than I would have thought, straight…it contains tequila, wine, grain spirits, water, sugar, and Brilliant Blue FCF (hence the color), as ingredients.

I also didn’t ask for votes on the Bourbon egg nogg, it was from Evan Williams, and is only $16/bottle, it is 15% ABV, or 30 proof.  The Bourbon egg nogg, was included, for me to give back to the group.  I wanted the Evan Williams egg nogg to be the ‘H’ in the Bourbon tasting in October, but it didn’t arrive in time, so instead I put Jack Daniels Apple Punch.  The Apple Punch was only ‘ok’..in my opinion.  I think we all agree after having the egg nogg, it would be been a better “H”, than the JD Apple Punch.

In terms of identifying the Tequilas based on the tasting notes, the highest was 2 out of 7 ‘correct’, this being the best in the group, a few got 2s out of 7, so it was hard to recognize them from the tasting notes, from Tequila Matchmaker.

This time the most expensive bottle, won overall, but the least expensive bottle, came in 2nd!  Interesting…no?

The Winners!

The winner was El Tequileno, with 8.6 (95/110).  The next closest was Teremana (Dwayne Johnson’s brand, “the Rock”) with 8.2 (90/110).  In 3rd was Flecha Azul (Mark Wahlberg’s brand) with 7.7 (85/110), 4th was Pasote with 7.4.  This means, besides the winner, we are ‘ok’ with additives, as a group…just saying.  El Tequileno, Pasote, G4 and Cascahuin, are additive free.

So $$ for $$, the Teremana is the cheapest ‘on the podium’ at $83, and getting 8.2 rating.  El Tequileno, is $143 ($130+tax+shipping) for 8.6 rating.  Flecha Azul is $95 ($80+tax+shipping) for a 7.7 rating.

1st Place (8.5)     $143 CAD/$90 USD

2nd Place (8.2)   $83 CAD/$40 USD

3rd Place (7.7)       $95 CAD/$60 USD

The next Tasting is January 25th, 2024, and will the the “long awaited” Foursquare Rum Tasting.  “Long awaited” by me, to be honest…lol.  I’ve been to the FourSquare Distillery in Barbados, and I would highly recommend their product.  We will see if my group agrees with me.  This will be our first “premium” tasting, and will be a little more expensive than the normal tasting.

The Survey Results (# in cells, represents a vote, with a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best)