As I’ve talked about earlier than on this web site, if you wish to convey a present to impress to a Mexican who drinks, the most secure guess you can also 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 bit much less, is simple to search out in any retailer that sells liquor, and garners prompt respect.
Through the years this premium tequila has gotten extra advertising muscle behind it, so it’s simpler to search out outdoors of Mexico as nicely, however the high quality has stayed persistently good.
Don Julio has been out as premium tequila since lengthy earlier than that was a classy 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 dashing.
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 in case you don’t 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 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 specialists what the yardstick must be to measure different tequila manufacturers, Don Julio’s reposado comes up greater than most others mixed. It has change into a type of gold commonplace. Fittingly, it has received numerous gold medals too in tasting competitions.
The añejo model is aged for 18 months, however you wouldn’t realize it from its appears to be like. Popping out of its brown bottle, it’s surprisingly pale for one thing aged this lengthy. There’s a cause for that although: the model bucks custom in one other means through the use of the barrels they’ve already used moderately 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 least. This makes Don Julio radically completely different than most others within the sense there’s quite a bit much less affect from the wooden. There’s additionally no risk of residual bourbon from Kentucky influencing the style of a spirit constructed from 100% blue weber agave. That is an uncommon attribute within the tequila world since practically 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 guess. It’s one of the vital fascinating although, with extra butterscotch, honey, and spice notes up entrance than you often discover, with much less of the leathery, tobacco type of notes you usually encounter with tequilas aged this lengthy. It’s an intensely pleasurable ingesting expertise, however can throw individuals for a loop at first pour. Bartenders have been recognized to have an order despatched again, the patron considering they bought the unsuitable model.
You may see that within the photograph 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. It’s a must to look carefully to see that the one on the proper has been aged longer.
Luxurious Tequila Manufacturers From Don Julio
In case you’re prepared to drop $100+ on one thing fancier, there’s a Don Julio 1942 Tequila aged for at the least two and a half years. This ups the ante much more, and the second time I bought to attempt it I noticed the sunshine: that is clearly one of many prime bottles you should purchase at any value. In case you’re at a high-end all-inclusive resort like La Casa de la Playa within the Riviera Maya, benefit from it and get a sipping glass of this one.
That’s nonetheless not the costliest selection from the model although. I doubt I’ll have an opportunity to attempt the Don Julio Actual bottle anytime quickly: with among the fanciest packaging you’ll discover anyplace and a “In the event that they’ll pay it, we’ll make it” perspective, this model lists for an eye-popping $399 at retail. Spring for this when you could have a extremely huge deal to have fun or a key consumer to impress and inform me the way it went.
For some cause, that one isn’t listed on the official web site anymore. As a substitute you’ll discover the unusual however standard 70 Cristalino that has all its shade artificially stripped out and some premium gadgets just like the Rosada aged in port barrels. Then there’s what could also be the costliest tequila I’ve seen at retail: the Don Julio Ultima Reserva, a restricted version model that may go for $699. Perhaps in case 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 visitors pleased and so they received’t price greater than your month-to-month automotive cost, nevertheless 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’s 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 discount in case you’re on the lookout for a sipping tequila with some further getting old.
In case you’re coming to Mexico on trip, Don Julio is among the best premium manufacturers you’ll discover, even at locations that aren’t 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’ll have this model. Arrange your personal tasting and test it out.
(If all that is an excessive amount of and also you’re simply on the lookout for a bottle to convey to a celebration for mixing or photographs, a dependable guess with Mexicans is Cazadores Tequila, which is among the finest values on the shelf. Or see our different tequila critiques right here.)
Article by Timothy
Timothy Scott is the founder and editor of Luxurious Latin America and has been masking the area as a journey journalist because the mid-2000s. He has visited every nation we cowl a number of occasions and relies in a UNESCO World Heritage metropolis in central Mexico, the place he owns a house. See contact data right here.