As I’ve talked about earlier than on this website, if you wish to carry 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 seek out in any retailer that sells liquor, and garners prompt respect.
Over time this premium tequila has gotten extra advertising muscle behind it, so it’s simpler to seek out exterior of Mexico as properly, 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. Additionally 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 for those who 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 choice, that may very well 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 fancy and well-structured mixture of spice (particularly cinnamon), citrus, and agave sweetness. In the event 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 turn out to be a type of gold customary. Fittingly, it has received a lot of gold medals too in tasting competitions.
The añejo model is aged for 18 months, however you wouldn’t realize it from its appears. Popping out of its brown bottle, it’s surprisingly pale for one thing aged this lengthy. There’s a motive for that although: the model bucks custom in one other method by utilizing the barrels they’ve already used reasonably than recent ones from the bourbon of us.
In different phrases, the barrels holding this model for a yr and a half have already hosted the reposado tequila for eight months a minimum of. This makes Don Julio radically completely different than most others within the sense there’s so much 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 the event you choose a heavy, oak-forward model to sip after dinner, Don Julio anejo will not be your greatest wager. It’s probably the most fascinating although, with extra butterscotch, honey, and spice notes up entrance than you normally 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 folks for a loop at first pour. Bartenders have been identified 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. You must look carefully to see that the one on the appropriate has been aged longer.
Luxurious Tequila Manufacturers From Don Julio
In the event you’re keen to drop $100+ on one thing fancier, there’s a Don Julio 1942 Tequila aged for a minimum of two and a half years. This ups the ante much more, and the second time I bought to strive it I noticed the sunshine: that is clearly one of many prime bottles you should purchase at any worth. In the event you’re at a high-end all-inclusive resort like La Casa de la Playa within the Riviera Maya, make the most of it and get a sipping glass of this one.
That’s nonetheless not the most costly selection from the model although. I doubt I’ll have an opportunity to strive the Don Julio Actual bottle anytime quickly: with a number of 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 may have a very large deal to have fun or a key consumer to impress and inform me the way it went.
For some motive, that one will not be listed on the official web site anymore. As a substitute you’ll discover the unusual however well-liked 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 most costly tequila I’ve seen at retail: the Don Julio Ultima Reserva, a restricted version model that may go for $699. Possibly for those who’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 company blissful and so they received’t price greater than your month-to-month automotive fee, 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 normally within the $45-$60 vary on the large liquor retailer chains. The añejo is commonly lower than 10 {dollars} extra, making it a relative cut price for those who’re in search of a sipping tequila with some further getting old.
In the event you’re coming to Mexico on trip, Don Julio is likely one of 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 the event you go to a high-end all-inclusive resort on the coast someplace, there’s an excellent probability they’ll have this model. Arrange your individual tasting and test it out.
(If all that is an excessive amount of and also you’re simply in search of a bottle to carry to a celebration for mixing or photographs, a dependable wager with Mexicans is Cazadores Tequila, which is likely one of the greatest 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 instances and relies in a UNESCO World Heritage metropolis in central Mexico, the place he owns a house. See contact data right here.
