New Booze: Tequila Corrido
December 07, 2009
Last week at the Indy Spirits Expo in San Francisco, I had the chance to try the new Tequila Corrido. The initial launch of this brand is in a few states for now. They're launching with just a blanco and an extra-anejo bottling.
The tequila is made at the PRASA distillery in the highlands of Jalisco, where the agave is also harvested. After harvesting, it's cooked in stainless steel ovens, shredded, fermented using "all natural agave yeast", and double-distilled.
The blanco ("Christalino") is unaged and tastes of overripe fruit like mango with dry a black pepper finish. It reminds me a bit of Corralejo, but not as creamy/intense.
he blanco is good, but it's not about the blanco. It's about the extra-anejo, which is matured for over three years in three different types of oak barrels. They're annoyingly mum about what those barrels are, but from the number of times "cognac-style" is used in the press literature, I'm betting that cognac is at least one of them. The tequila has buttery, briney, minty top notes and (weird scent memory alert) burgundy shoe polish with those overripe fruit notes way in the back. On the palate it's hotter and really buttery but thin with a very slight tannic finish. I like the smell more than the taste but the taste is good too.
p.s. The extra-anejo retails for something like $100.
Posted by: Camper English | December 07, 2009 at 08:27 AM
Is there a way to "train" your palate? You seem to be extremely spot-on with the tastes, and I often have trouble distinguishing them sometimes.
Posted by: Allen Irizarry | December 10, 2009 at 04:28 AM
Allen- I think that's probably its own blog post topic but it seems when you're stuck you mentally go through categories: herbs, flowers, vegetables, fruits- tree, tropical, dried- wood/butter, spices, etc. and try to pick out things in each category. I also find that you need to say them out loud or write them down, because at least in my head your try to put it together as one flavor rather than picking it apart.
Posted by: Camper English | December 10, 2009 at 10:34 AM