As I’ve talked about earlier than on this website, if you wish to deliver a present to impress to a Mexican who drinks, the most secure wager you may make is Don Julio tequila. You might spend extra on Clase Azul and create an even bigger impression due to the hand-made porcelain bottle, however Don Julio Reposado or Anejo prices a great bit much less, is simple to search out in any retailer that sells liquor, and garners instantaneous respect.
Through the years this premium tequila has gotten extra advertising and marketing muscle behind it, so it is simpler to search out exterior of Mexico as nicely, however the high quality has stayed constantly good.
Don Julio has been out as premium tequila since lengthy earlier than that was a stylish factor, round since 1942. What’s additionally not stylish is its singular focus. Whereas the likes of Cuervo and Sauza produce a number of manufacturers in a single facility, “La Primavera” distillery solely produces this one. No crappy mass-market cocktail swill coming down the identical bottling line. In addition they keep away from the shortcuts some others take: the agave fruits are steam-cooked in conventional masonry ovens for 3 days to launch the candy agave juice slowly, with out speeding.
Don Julio Gonzales was an actual man too. He based the corporate on the age of 17 with a dream and a mortgage.
Manufacturing and Tasting Notes for Don Julio Tequila
Don Julio is taken into account a premium tequila model, even when you do not splurge for the 1942 model, however many really feel that it’s extra agave-forward than a few of its oak-heavy opponents. Relying in your style desire, that might be a great or unhealthy factor.
The important thing distinction between the reposado and añejo variations is the time in white oak barrels. The graceful highland reposado is aged for eight months. It emanates high quality from the primary whiff to the final end, a posh and well-structured mixture of spice (particularly cinnamon), citrus, and agave sweetness. In case you ask many consultants what the yardstick ought to be to measure different tequila manufacturers, Don Julio’s reposado comes up greater than most others mixed. It has change into a form of gold customary. Fittingly, it has gained plenty of gold medals too in tasting competitions.
The añejo model is aged for 18 months, however you would not comprehend it from its seems to be. Popping out of its brown bottle, it is surprisingly pale for one thing aged this lengthy. There is a motive for that although: the model bucks custom in one other means by utilizing the barrels they’ve already used relatively than recent ones from the bourbon people.
In different phrases, the barrels holding this model for a 12 months and a half have already hosted the reposado tequila for eight months at the very least. This makes Don Julio radically totally different than most others within the sense there’s lots much less affect from the wooden. There’s additionally no risk of residual bourbon from Kentucky influencing the style of a spirit constituted of 100% blue weber agave. That is an uncommon attribute within the tequila world since almost all different tequila manufacturers use reclaimed barrels which have mellowed out for 4 years or extra with Kentucky bourbon inside.
In case you want a heavy, oak-forward model to sip after dinner, Don Julio anejo isn’t your finest wager. It is probably the most fascinating although, with extra butterscotch, honey, and spice notes up entrance than you often discover, with much less of the leathery, tobacco form of notes you usually encounter with tequilas aged this lengthy. It is an intensely pleasurable ingesting expertise, however can throw folks for a loop at first pour. Bartenders have been identified to have an order despatched again, the patron pondering they acquired the fallacious model.
You possibly can see that within the picture above, which I shot after getting a pour of each whereas staying at The Towers at Pueblo Bonito Pacifica on the seashore in Los Cabos. You must look carefully to see that the one on the fitting has been aged longer.
Luxurious Tequila Manufacturers From Don Julio
In case you’re prepared to drop $100+ on one thing fancier, there is a Don Julio 1942 Tequila aged for at the very least two and a half years. This ups the ante much more, and the second time I acquired to attempt it I noticed the sunshine: that is clearly one of many high bottles you should buy at any value. In case you’re at a high-end all-inclusive resort like La Casa de la Playa within the Riviera Maya, reap the benefits of it and get a sipping glass of this one.
That is nonetheless not the most costly alternative from the model although. I doubt I am going to have an opportunity to attempt the Don Julio Actual bottle anytime quickly: with a few of the fanciest packaging you will discover anyplace and a “If they’re going to pay it, we’ll make it” angle, this model lists for an eye-popping $399 at retail. Spring for this when you will have a very huge deal to have fun or a key shopper to impress and inform me the way it went.
For some motive, that one isn’t listed on the official web site anymore. As a substitute you will discover the unusual however standard 70 Cristalino that has all its shade artificially stripped out and some premium objects just like the Rosada aged in port barrels. Then there’s what could also be the most costly tequila I’ve seen at retail: the Don Julio Ultima Reserva, a restricted version model that may go for $699. Possibly when you’re celebrating a home sale or one thing equally high-dollar…
For extra on a regular basis purchases to fill out the house bar, the common reposado and anejo variations will make you and your friends glad they usually will not value greater than your month-to-month automobile fee, however it pays to buy round. I’ve seen the reposado on the market for as little as $28 in Mexico and as a lot as $70 in an unbiased U.S. liquor retailer. It is often within the $45-$60 vary on the huge liquor retailer chains. The añejo is commonly lower than 10 {dollars} extra, making it a relative cut price when you’re searching for a sipping tequila with some extra ageing.
In case you’re coming to Mexico on trip, Don Julio is among the best premium manufacturers you will discover, even at locations that are not very fancy in any other case. I’ve seen it in comfort shops and at swinging-door cantinas. In case you go to a high-end all-inclusive resort on the coast someplace, there’s an excellent likelihood they’re going to have this model. Arrange your individual tasting and test it out.
(If all that is an excessive amount of and also you’re simply searching for a bottle to deliver to a celebration for mixing or photographs, a dependable wager with Mexicans is Cazadores Tequila, which is among the finest values on the shelf. Or see our different tequila critiques right here.)
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