The Rum Howler Blog

(A Website for Spirited Reviews)

  • Copyright

    Copyright is inherent when an original work is created. This means that the producer of original work is automatically granted copyright protection. This copyright protection not only exists in North America, but extends to other countries as well. Thus, all of the work produced on this blog is protected by copyright, including all of the pictures and all of the articles. These original works may not be copied or reused in any way whatsoever without the permission of the author, Chip Dykstra.

  • Cocktails and Recipes

    Click Image for Awesome Recipes

  • Industry Interviews

    Interviews

    Click the Image for Great Interviews with the Movers of Industry

  • The Rum Howler Interview (Good Food Revolution)

    Click on the Image to see my interview on Good Food Revolution

  • The Rum Howler Blog

    Unknown's avatar

  • Rum Reviews

  • Whisky Reviews

  • Gin Reviews

  • Tequila Reviews

  • Vodka Reviews

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,090 other subscribers

  • Subscribe

  • Visitors

    • 15,514,214 pageviews since inception

  • Archives

  • Follow The Rum Howler Blog on WordPress.com

Posts Tagged ‘Tequila’

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

Review: Patrón Reposado Tequila

Posted by Arctic Wolf on March 7, 2015

Patron ReposadoPatron Tequila is a pure 100% Blue Weber Agave Tequila made from agave grown in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. This Agave is 6 to 7 years old when harvested, and the heart of the plant or the piña is all that is used. These piñas are cut and slowly steamed in traditional masonry ovens for 79 hours. The steamed piñas are then shredded and placed into a traditional stone pit, where they are broken into finer pieces with large stone milling wheels called “Tahonas”. The resulting juice is fermented for 72 hours in a wooden fermentation vat, and distilled twice in copper pot stills.

Bright Orange for the Shroud

Bright Orange for the Shroud

Patrón Reposado is a blend of individual tequilas which have been aged in oak barrels for an average of six months.

Here is a link to my full review:

Review: Patrón Reposado

“… My tasting notes include descriptors like honeyed caramel sweetness, soft ‘earthy’ oven baked squash, sweet green peppers, hot white pepper, sprinkles of sandalwood, and a hint of vanilla. But a list of descriptors does not really give us an understanding of how these flavours interact with each other. It turns out that the Patrón Reposado Tequila is a bit of a dichotomous spirit which begins to act in one direction, but then takes a sharp turn in another as you take your first sip …”

Please enjoy the review which includes one of my cocktails which is based upon a Travis McGee novel by John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud. I have always like the Travis McGee books, and their titles just seem to me to be particularly well suited to also be the names of great tequila cocktails.

Cheers Everyone!

Posted in Reposado Tequila, Tequila, Tequila Review | Tagged: , , , , , , | Comments Off on Review: Patrón Reposado Tequila

Review: Don Julio Reposado Tequila

Posted by Arctic Wolf on February 22, 2015

SAM_0574 Don Julio ReposadoDon Julio is a 100% Blue Weber Agave Tequila made from agave grown in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. As a highland tequila,we can expect the Don Julio to exhibit strong fruity citrus notes and to have a little hot pepper in the finish. The company was established by Don Julio González, who apparently began to examine the prospect of making his own Tequila in 1942. He established his distillery called, La Primavera, (TEQUILA DON JULIO NOM 1449, DOT 163, LOCATION: Atotonilco, Jalisco) and spent nearly forty years refining his Tequila into the spirit which now bears his name.

Metro Mexico

Metro Mexico

The Don Julio Reposado is aged in American white-oak barrels for eight months. The spirit brand is currently owned by the Diageo Conglomerate.

Here is a link to my full review:

Review: Don Julio Reposado Tequila

“… typical herbaceous agave aroma which is lightly peppery or spicy, somewhat earthy and somewhat fruity. I am reminded of baked squash, white pepper, and spicy citrus zest (reminiscent of grapefruit). A very faint echo of sandal wood is in the air with some equally light scents of, honey, vanilla, butterscotch, cinnamon and ginger …”

Please enjoy my review which includes a nice cosmopolitan-style recipe I call Metro Mexico.

Posted in Reposado Tequila, Tequila, Tequila Review | Tagged: , , , , , , | Comments Off on Review: Don Julio Reposado Tequila

Review: Hornitos Reposado Tequila

Posted by Arctic Wolf on February 15, 2015

Repo Sauza HornitosHornitos Reposado Tequila is a 100 % Agave Tequila produced by the Sauza Tequila Import Company  located in Tequila, a municipality of the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The Tequila is the creation of Don Francisco Havier Sauza (Don Franco), a third generation member of the Sauza family who founded the La Preseverancia, distillery. Don Franco is credited with helping the Mexican Government to establish the Jalisco region of Mexico as the exclusive origin of genuine tequila in 1974. Hornitos was reported to be Don Franco’s favourite tequila. Unlike other spirits which proudly boast of a maturation period in small oak barrels to ensure heavy contact between the spirit and the oak, Don Franco’s Hornitos spirit is different. The Hornitos Reposado is aged in large 10,000 gallon oak ‘pipones’ to ensure limited contact with the wood during maturation such that the agave flavour remains as pure as is possible in a reposado spirit.

Nightmare in Pink

Nightmare in Pink

You may read my full review here:

Review: Hornitos Reposado Tequila

“… The initial nose is full of spicy herbal agave fruit. It is a powerful, earthy smell that pours out of the glass growing deeper and stronger as you allow the tequila to breathe. White pepper scents and tart green apples reach the breezes along with grilled pineapple and lemons to round out the nose which is robust and anything but laid back. The scents and aromas from my glass interest me, but I sense a strong warning in those breezes. This is going to be intense…”

I hope you enjoy my review which contains a suggested cocktail which I designed for the Hornitos Reposado in 2011. I affectionately call it, Nightmare in Pink.

Please enjoy the review and the cocktail!

Posted in Reposado Tequila, Tequila, Tequila Review | Tagged: , , , , , | Comments Off on Review: Hornitos Reposado Tequila

Review: Casamigos Reposado Tequila

Posted by Arctic Wolf on January 27, 2015

Casamigos Reposado and the Valerie Project

Casamigos Reposado and the Valerie Project

Casamigos is a new tequila brand promoted by George Clooney, Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman. According to the website information this is an ultra premium tequila made in a small batch process from ‘hand-selected 100% Blue Weber agaves, grown in the rich red clay and cool climate of the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico‘.

As a Highland Tequila, we can expect Casamigos to exhibit strong fruity citrus notes and to have a little hot pepper in the delivery and in the finish. (This is as opposed to lowland tequila which has stronger earthier flavours of agave and less hot pepper.)

I was provided a sample bottle by the Alberta distributors Charton Hobbes, who have brought both the Casamigos Blanco and the Casamigos Reposado into my home Province.

Here is a link to my full review:

Review: Casamigos Reposado Tequila

“… The initial entry is a little soft and buttery with a stronger impression of caramel sweetness than the nose implied. Milk chocolate and a little bit of sea salt seem to ooze from the caramel making this a very interesting tequila to sip. Of course we also taste that squeal of highland white pepper, but the spiciness does not translate into burn across the palate …”

Although Casamigos Reposado is a very nice sipper it also works very well as a high-end mixer, and my review includes a new Margarita style cocktail, the Valerie Project.

Enjoy my review, and my cocktail!

Posted in Reposado Tequila, Tequila, Tequila Review | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Review: Jose Cuervo Especial Plata (Silver)

Posted by Arctic Wolf on June 12, 2014

SAM_0541 Jose Cuervo Especial SilverAccording to the Jose Cuervo website, it all began in 1795, when Jose María Guadalupe de Cuervo was producing his Mexcal wine spirit commercially having obtained an official permit for this purpose from the King of Spain. By 1812, he had established La Rojena, the distillery which to this day produces Jose Cuervo Tequila. By 1844, Jose Cuervo Tequila was being distributed within Mexico, and in 1873 the earliest known documented export of the Tequila outside of Mexico apparently occurred when 3 bottles of Jose Cuervo were transported across the United States border by donkey. As you know, those exports have continued (although no longer by donkey), and now the Jose Cuervo brand is the best-selling tequila in the entire world.

The Jose Cuervo Especial is available as both a Gold or ‘joven’ tequila and as a Silver or ‘plata’ tequila. These tequila spirits are not made from 100 % blue agave which means that they are referred to in the industry as “Mixto“. A Mixto tequila must have at least 51 % of its volume made from blue agave distillate, but the other 49 % can be distilled from other non agave sugars (usually sugar cane). Mixto is also subject to less stringent regulation with respect to additives such as sugar syrup and caramel.

The Dreadful Lemon Sky

The Dreadful Lemon Sky

(In July of 2013, Proximo Spirits acquired the distribution rights for the Jose Cuervo brand in supplanting Diageo, who had managed the brand since 1997.)

You may click on the following review excerpt to read my full review:

Review: Jose Cuervo Especial Plata (Silver)

“… The initial nose from the glass carries a mixture of light honey, mild white pepper and a somewhat muted herbaceous agave (the smell of which resembles boiled squash). As I let the glass sit, the light honey tones begin to remind me of sugar cane syrup, and the breezes above the glass reveal a light impression of lemon zest within the white pepper …”

Although this review was originally published two years ago, I have updated it to contain more current information and added a new cocktail suggestion, the Dreadful Lemon Sky. This Margarita style cocktail is based upon the Picador, a recipe which predates the margarita by several decades.

Please enjoy my updated review, and the cocktail suggestions which follow it. Cheers!

 

Posted in Blanco Tequila, Mixto Tequila, Tequila, Tequila Review | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Review: Jose Cuervo Especial Plata (Silver)

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »