Review: La Adelita Blanco Tequila
La Adelita Blanco Tequila was launched 2019 along with La Adelita Black, Reposado, Anejo, and Extra Anejo by Chris Radomski. This is not the first spirit Chris has created. He collaborated with Ethan Wayne the youngest son of John Wayne in developing and founding Duke Spirits. Duke’s whiskey lineup now includes Dukes Kentucky Straight, Grand Cru, and Double Barrel Rye. Chris also co-founded Hundred Acre Wine. La Adelita is named to honor the female soldiers that fought and turned the tide in the Mexican Revolution. La Adelita is crafted at Compania Tequilera Hacienda La Capilla. This distillery produces several tequila brands including Ambur, Cuestion, Puntagave, and Cavalino. La Adelita starts with 100% Blue agave grown on a single estate in the Los Altos Region of Jalisco. Once hand selected and trimmed the pinas are split in half and steam roasted. The cooled pinas are crushed and shredded, and the juice is fermented in stainless steel drums. The spirit is double distilled in small Cuban built copper pot stills, bottled, and hand labeled onsite. Read more 
Review: YeYo Silver Tequila
YeYo Silver Tequila was founded by Jon Bullinger in 2010. Jon traversed the Highlands of Arandas and came upon a family run farm harvesting agave. After testing, tasting and scoring hundreds of tequila in search of the perfect combination of citrus agave and pepper Jon selected Feliciano Vivanco y Asociados to produce YeYo Silver Tequila. This distillery makes several tequilas including Don Weber, Tequila Cabeza, and Tequila Honor del Castillo. YeYo is made from single estate 100% Blue Agave that is slow roasted for 72 hours in traditional brick ovens. After fermenting for 200 hours with a serenade of Spanish classical music playing to relax the juice it is double distilled in copper pot stills. YeYo is a tequila that had been on our radar for years. Initially it was only available in Oregon. Texas was added but by 2014 it was gone. It reappeared near the end of 2019 with expanded distribution, and a new bottle. The tequila itself remained the same and it is still produced at NOM 1414. Read more
Review: Los Sundays Blanco Tequila
Los Sundays Blanco Tequila is one of three expression produced under the Los Sundays label. They also craft a Reposado and Coconut Blanco. My regular readers may recall my previous reviews of Los Sundays Reposado and Blanco Tequila. At that time their Blanco was infused with coconut flavor. Los Sundays has redesigned their packaging and Los Sundays Blanco is now unflavored. I will later review Los Sundays Coconut Blanco Tequila. My hope is they haven’t changed their original formula. Los Sundays Blanco is made from hand selected sustainably farmed 100% Blue Weber agave grown in both the Highland and Lowland region for 8-12 years. A minimum 23 sugar brix is required before harvesting. The distillery has secured relationships with the agave growers to ensure consistency. Destiladora del Valle de Tequila is positioned over a running volcano river where the water is used in the distillation. The agave is slow cooked in stone ovens for 24-48 hours using steam. The extracted juice is fermented with a proprietary yeast strain from Germany for 48-72 hours before it is double distilled. Read more
Review: Clase Azul Plata Tequila
Clase Azul Plata Tequila is made with 100% organic Tequilana Weber blue agaves grown for a minimum of 9 years. The pinas are cooked in old-fashioned brick ovens for 72 hours. Once cooled they are crushed to extract the juice which is blended with a proprietary yeast and fermented in open steel vats. The spirit is double distilled in copper alembic stills. Water refined in a five step process is married with the tequila. A triple filtration follows before bottling at 80 proof. Speaking of the bottle, over 100 artisans dedicate their time to creating each 14 inch tall Clase Azul bottle, one at a time. Clase Azul had been produced at NOM 1416. It is now produced at Casa Tradicion, NOM 1595. For the record I am reviewing a bottle crafted at NOM 1595. Read more
Review: Cincoro Blanco Tequila
Cincoro Blanco Tequila is one of four tequila expressions just released in limited distribution. The plan is to roll them out nationally in 2020. The others include a Reposado, Anejo, and Extra Anejo. Cincoro comes from the Spanish words for five, cinco, and gold, oro. The brand originated from a dinner in July 2016 attended by five friendly rivals attending an NBA owners meeting in New York. They exchanged stories and discovered a shared love for tequila. Those five included Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan, Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wes Edens, and Boston Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck and his then fiancée Emilia Fazzalari. They soon decided to craft the finest tequila. After sampling about 1000 different tequilas they selected a distillery, Destiladora del Valle de Tequila. This distillery currently crafts almost 100 other tequilas including the previously reviewed Los Sundays, 21Seeds, Sparkle Donkey, Contigo, and El Padrino de Mi Tierra brands. Cincoro Blanco is made from hand selected agave grown on private farms in the San Miquel el Alto region in the Highlands, and the El Arenal region in the Lowlands. The agave is slow cooked separately in small batches in traditional clay ovens for 35 hours, fermented with a proprietary yeast, double distilled, and then artfully blended together. Nike’s VP of Innovative Special Projects Mark Smith designed the bottles with five sides to reflect the five co-owners with a glass embossed agave on the bottom of the bottle, The base tilts 23 degrees, in a subtle nod to Michael Jordon’s jersey number. The crystal stopper is an inverted replica of the bottle. Read more
Review: Padre Azul Silver Tequila
Padre Azul Silver Tequila was launched in Europe in 2016 and was later released in the US February 2017. The story begins in Heidelberg Germany where HP Elder from Austria met and fell in love with Adriana Alvarez Maxemin from Guadalajara Mexico. They soon married and with the help of his Father in law, HP Elder set out to create the finest tequila. Their quest led them to a small distillery in Amatitan. Padre Azul Silver is made from 100% Weber Blue Agave grown for 8-10 years in the valleys of the Lowland Region by Master Distiller Erika Sangeado. The extra growing period produces more sugars for fermentation. The agave are slow cooked in traditional masonry ovens that steam the pinas for 24 to 48 hours. The pinas rest and cool for 24 hours before the juice is extracted. Only natural occurring yeasts are used for fermentation which takes between 72 and 96 hours in stainless steel tanks. A double distillation at low temperatures so as not to burn off the sugars follows. The hand blown bottles are topped with a 270 gram solid metal skull paying homage to Dia de los Muertos and eternal friendship. The leather jacket with lacing is a tribute to the Mexican Lucha Libre wrestling mask and is a tribute to El Santo, the most famous Luchador in Mexico. Read more
Review: Cava de Oro Plata Tequila
Cava de Oro Plata Tequila is produced at Tequileria Puerta de Hierro in El Arenal, Jalisco Mexico. The distillery was founded by the Partidas family who continue to operate it today. The tequila is artfully crafted under the guidance of the Partidas Family, third generation distillers. Cava de Oro Plata is made using traditional artisanal methods. This tequila was previously sold as Cava de Oro Silver Tequila and packaged in a distinctive green hand blown glass bottle. The distillery was originally named Leticia Hermosilla Ravelero. They currently produce five expression including Reposado, Anejo, Extra Anejo, and Extra Anejo Cristalino. Read more
Review: Cobalto Blanco Tequila
Cobalto Blanco Tequila is crafted at Destileria Casa de Piedra from 100% organic weber blue agave grown in the Highland region. The agave is slow baked in stone ovens and fermented in open air stainless steel tanks while classical music plays in the background. After a double distillation in stainless steel stills, the tequila is carefully filtered. This distillery also produces Terraneo, Zurdo, and Chamucos tequila. Read more
Review: Puntagave Rustico Tequila Blanco
Puntagave Rustico Tequila Blanco is one of five expressions in Puntagave’s, Rustico line of spirits. The others include a Mezcal, Raicilla, Sotol, and Bacanora. Puntagave was founded in 2015 by Guillermo Barroso Arnaud and Juan Pablo Garciabueno. Guillermo became the second certified Maestro Tequilero in the world. He has developed four unique agave brands including El Pintor and Fat Ass. Juan is the mastermind behind Tequila Specialist founded in 1997. He is responsible for the introduction of hundreds of brands of tequila into US and European markets. Some of those brands include Casa Noble, Tres Agaves, Clase Azul, 30-30, and Oro Azul. He is also the Co-Founder of Tequila Don Fulano. Puntagave Rustio Tequila is made from 100% Highland grown Tequilana Weber agave. The agave is baked in an autoclave oven and double distilled in copper stills by Guillermo Barroso Arnaud at Compania Tequilera Hacienda La Capilla. Read more
Review: Astral Blanco Tequila
Astral Blanco Tequila is crafted at La Cofradia. This distillery also creates several tequila’s including Casa Noble, Calende, Grand Mayan, and Senor Rio. Astral was founded by Master Sommelier Richard Betts. He also founded Sombra Mezcal. Both brands were acquired by Davos Brands March 2017 but Richard Betts retains a significant interest. Astral is made from 100% organic Weber Blue agave grown for 8-10 years at high elevation in the mountains on a single estate in the western edge of Jalisco. The agave is slow roasted in traditional volcanic stone ovens. The agave is crushed and the juice is fermented with the agave pulp and wild native yeast. This process takes up to ten times longer than conventional methods but results in maximum agave character. After a double distillation Astral is bottled at 92 proof. The vast majority of tequila is bottled at 80 proof. Read more