Review: Cabresto Silver Tequila   93/100
A review by Chip Dykstra (Aka Arctic Wolf)
Published May 15, 2016

Tequila Cabresto, imported by Cabresto Imports Corporation, is a brand rooted as solidly in Detroit as they are in Arandas, Mexico. It is a family owned brand with duties spread across two generations of the Lopez family. Founder Silverio Lopez runs the family ranch in Arandas and cares for the agave until its reached peak yield. His son Antonio is learning the craft of growing the agave and currently handles the branding and exportation of Cabresto to the United States. Silverio’s daughter, Sonia, is the first Lopez to graduate college and is spearheading the US operations of the Cabresto Imports Corporation. They do all this while maintaining the family tire shop in Southwest Detroit.

Any day of the week, the Lopez family can be found working at Lopez Tire and Auto Accessories at the corner of Vernor and Waterman in Detroit. The hard work at the tire shop has enabled Silverio to progressively purchase farm land in Mexico and ultimately to fulfill the American dream, which is a spectacular achievement for an immigrant who came to the United States with almost nothing.

Cabresto Silver Tequila is a pure 100% Agave tequila. The agave fields, and the distillery which produces the tequila are located in Atotonilco in the highlands of Los Altos de Jalisco, Mexico. The harvested agave is cooked in an adobe furnace that softens the plant’s fibers and transforms its starches into sugars. Once cooked and rested, the agave is passed through a shredder to separate the coarse fibers, then through rollers to squeeze out its sweet juice.

Although the Cabresto website does not specify the exact distillery which produces this agave spirit, I did notice that the identified NOM on the bottom of the label 1509. This NOM identifier is required by the Mexican Government to be placed on the label of each bottle of tequila to verify that it is produced legally from agave sourced in the Tequila region of Mexico. Each distillery has its own NOM, and thus we can trace the distillery of origin. In this case the producing distillery is Tequila Embajador who incidentally also produce Alma de Agave and of course Embajador Tequila.

Cabresto Silver Tequila is bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.

In the Bottle 3.5/5

Cabresto Silver Tequila arrives in the rectangular bottle shown to the left. The labeling is clear but perhaps lacks a bit of ‘pop’. Neither the front nor the back label give me any real information about the brand, and if I encountered this bottle in a retail setting, I doubt if I would be inspired to purchase it. The topper looks to be a flimsy metallic screw cap which screams ‘bottom shelf’.

Note: Upon opening the bottle I discovered that the flimsy metal screw cap is reinforced with a plastic liner which provides a suitable seal.

In the Glass 9.5/10

When I pour Cabresto Silver into my glass, my perceptions begin to change almost immediately as my nose is greeted with a warm soft aroma of fruity agave. The agave seems to hint at impressions of baked garden squash, grilled pineapple and mushy banana. The softness I am sensing surprises me, and I cannot shake the impression that this blanco spirit seems to behave (on the nose) in a manner which I would normally associate more strongly with a soft earthy lowland tequila than a heated highland spirit.

As I am enjoying the aroma, I begin to notice more typical highland characteristics of citrus spice and herb pepper building up and breaking free from the earthy agave notes. I am also noticing herbal impressions as well, a hint of cinnamon, a touch of soothing menthol, and a light floral characteristic all play in the breezes entwined into the agave and hot spice.

Despite my feeling that this particular spirit does not fit my stereotype of a highland tequila, I have to say this is really quite lovely!

In the Mouth 57/60

The Cabresto Silver Tequila is buttery which allows its flavours to linger upon the palate giving the spirit a richness not often associated with blanco tequila. There is a sweet note at the front of the delivery, and this sweetness compliments the lush agave and the peppery spices. It is the agave rather than the spicy pepper which is the star of the show, and this gives the spirit a compelling earthy quality. A lovely mint-like flavour seems to follow afterwards with just a touch of cinnamon heat mixed in. All in all I am quite shocked at how good this silver tequila whose bottle screamed ‘bottom shelf’ at me, actually is. (A good reminder not to judge a book by its cover.) The Cabresto Silver is a true sipping tequila.

As a blanco spirit, I expect most consumers will be mixing a margarita or two if they happen to purchase the Cabresto Silver. This means that mixing the popular cocktail is almost mandatory during my review. And when I do, I realize that although the margarita is very nice, the lovely, earthy agave flavour may not really the best match for a lime based margarita. Lime tends to play nicest with spirits with clean crisp flavour profiles. This thought causes me to I switch gears and mix a Margarita with lemon juice which should play more nicely with the earthy flavours within the spirit. The resulting Picador (see recipe below) tastes great, and (imo) is a much better cocktail for mixing Cabreto blanco than the lime based Margarita..

In the Throat 13.5/15

The buttery texture of the Cabresto Silver allows the flavours to linger. Sweet, fruity agave ebbs upon the palate and accents of citrus zest and pepper gently tap the tonsils. Cool menthol brings it all together. The exit is smooth which makes this blanco tequila ideal for sipping.

The Afterburn 9.5/10

I was very impressed with Cabresto Silver Tequila, and after I finished my sampling sessions and wrote the main body of my review I decided to serve the spirit at my latest Tequila tasting in early May. All of my good thoughts were reinforced by the response I received from my guests at the tasting. Of the three blancos I served, it was clearly the favourite amongst the tequila aficionados, and each of them wanted to know where they could buy a bottle.

At this time (unfortunately) the Cabresto brand is not widely distributed (it is available in Michigan and Texas). However, it is my hope that the brand jumps the border and arrives in Canada very soon.

You may read some of my other Tequila Reviews (click the link) if you wish to have some comparative reviews.

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Suggested Recipe

Picador

2 oz Cabresto Silver Tequila
1 oz Bols Triple Sec
1oz fresh squeezed Lemon Juice
ice
Lemon Slice (optional)

Add the three ingredients to your metal shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker begins to frost
Double strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with a slice of lemon (optional)

Enjoy Responsibly!

If  you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

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You may (loosely) interpret the scores as follows.

0-25     A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49   Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59  You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69   Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74    Now we have a fair mixing Tequila.  Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79    You may begin to serve this to friends, (we are probably still cocktail in territory).
80-84    We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89    Excellent for sipping or for mixing delicious cocktails!
90-94    Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+       I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and  Bronze medal  scale as follows:

70 – 79.5    Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)
80 – 89.5     Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)
90 – 95         Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping and for sublime cocktails.)
95.5+            Platinum Award (Highest Recommendation)