As I’ve talked about earlier than on this web site, if you wish to deliver a present to impress to a Mexican who drinks, the most secure guess you may make is Don Julio tequila. You may 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 seek out in any retailer that sells liquor, and garners instantaneous respect.
Over time this premium tequila has gotten extra advertising muscle behind it, so it’s simpler to seek out exterior 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. 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 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 if you happen to don’t splurge for the 1942 model, however many really feel that it’s extra agave-forward than a few of its oak-heavy rivals. Relying in your style choice, that may very well be or unhealthy factor.
The important thing distinction between the reposado and añejo variations is the time in white oak barrels. The sleek 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 consultants what the yardstick needs to be to measure different tequila manufacturers, Don Julio’s reposado comes up greater than most others mixed. It has grow to be a type of gold customary. Fittingly, it has received numerous gold medals too in tasting competitions.
The añejo model is aged for 18 months, however you wouldn’t understand it from its seems to be. 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 approach through the use of the barrels they’ve already used moderately than contemporary 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 not less than. 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 produced 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 the event you favor a heavy, oak-forward model to sip after dinner, Don Julio anejo will not be your finest guess. It’s one of the crucial 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 folks for a loop at first pour. Bartenders have been identified to have an order despatched again, the patron considering they acquired the fallacious model.
You’ll be able to 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 seaside in Los Cabos. You need to 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 prepared to drop $100+ on one thing fancier, there’s a Don Julio 1942 Tequila aged for not less than two and a half years. This ups the ante much more, and the second time I acquired to strive it I noticed the sunshine: that is clearly one of many prime bottles you should purchase at any value. In the event 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’s nonetheless not the costliest alternative from the model although. I doubt I’ll have an opportunity to strive the Don Julio Actual bottle anytime quickly: with a few of the fanciest packaging you’ll discover anyplace and a “In the event that they’ll pay it, we’ll make it” angle, this model lists for an eye-popping $399 at retail. Spring for this when you’ve gotten a very massive deal to have a good time or a key shopper to impress and inform me the way it went.
For some cause, that one will not be listed on the official web site anymore. As an alternative 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 costliest tequila I’ve seen at retail: the Don Julio Ultima Reserva, a restricted version model that may go for $699. Perhaps if you happen to’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 comfortable and so they received’t price greater than your month-to-month automotive 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 impartial U.S. liquor retailer. It’s often within the $45-$60 vary on the massive liquor retailer chains. The añejo is usually lower than 10 {dollars} extra, making it a relative discount if you happen to’re on the lookout for a sipping tequila with some further getting older.
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 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 deliver to a celebration for mixing or pictures, a dependable guess with Mexicans is Cazadores Tequila, which is likely one of the finest values on the shelf. Or see our different tequila evaluations right here.)
Article by Timothy
Timothy Scott is the founder and editor of Luxurious Latin America and has been overlaying the area as a journey journalist for the reason that 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 info right here.