Embajador Anejo Tequila Review [Transcript]

ALEX: I´m Alex Perez.

MIKE: I´m Mike Morales.

ALEX: And you are watching Sipping Off the Cuff on Tequila Aficionado dot com.

MIKE: Yes, and we´ve got Anejo Embajador. Anejo for those of you who´ve heard of this.

ALEX: Third of the series.

MIKE: Third of the series. You´ve seen us do the blanco, the reposado, if you´ve been watching the series consistently you know we´ve been singing its praises. The blanco outstanding, the reposado –

ALEX: Outstanding.

MIKE: – sings. And now, we´re going to do the anejo. This is an anejo that, according to their flavor notes, is an 18-month anejo in American Oak Barrels. And again, look at the color on this thing; deep, dark, gold.

ALEX: Beautiful color.

MIKE: Yeah. Just enough to make it interesting. Again, I´m going to prejudge and say this is probably a virgin American Oak Barrel but you know….

ALEX: Why would you say that?

MIKE: Well, because of the color. And it´s an 18-month. I, I don´t think it´s a used barrel just because the color is so deep and rich.

ALEX: It´s got a beautiful, deep, gold color.

MIKE: Nice legs on this one, too. Really pleasant looking viscosity on that. Very nice curtain of tears all the way along.

ALEX: Ooooh. It´s got a beautiful nose.

MIKE: Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

ALEX: Mmm! Beautiful nose. Now when you´re smelling a spirit like this, you don´t want to dig your nose in there, but just try to see what you can catch just by moving the glass in front of your nose.

MIKE: Of course, we´re using tequila glasses, these are our tools for specifically for tasting, and serving in most cases, and it´s very elegant as you can see.

ALEX: Got the sweet agave tones, a lot of caramel, vanilla. It´s got a beautiful nose. (swishing the glass in a circular motion) Now we do this to try to open up the tequila, to get some oxygen going in there.

MIKE: This is not like some of the other tequilas that you may have seen us taste, where they artificially oxygenate the tequila. It´s a process where they actually shoot oxygen or air into it to smooth it out. This is only a double distilled tequila, it is a highlands tequila, from Atotonilco, same area as Siete Leguas, for those of you who follow regions and terroir.

ALEX: Mmm, beautiful nose.

MIKE: Wow. You know, you still don´t lose that agave flavor though. I´m really impressed with the fact that so far every varietal that we´re tasting, you get that from that agave.

ALEX: In the blanco, the reposado, the agave really shines through.

MIKE: Yeah.

ALEX: Because, you really don´t want to mask that. That´s really what you´re starting with when you´re making a tequila like this.

MIKE: And it is a single estate tequila, so it´s not sourced from other areas. This is a family-owned brand; you may have heard us talk about earlier in some of the earlier podcasts that this is a family-owned brand, Andres Garcia and his wife are spear-heading the effort and it is all family-run now, all the way down to their social media. And – have we tasted it yet?

ALEX: Not yet. Beautiful amber color.

MIKE: Yeah.

ALEX: I said gold before but it´s more of an amber.

MIKE: Well, it´s very shiny. I mean there are some…

ALEX: Chiny?

MIKE: It´s chiny.

ALEX: (laughing) I´m going to taste it.

MIKE: Like a polished gold. It´s really pretty.

ALEX: Mmm.

MIKE: (gargling noises)

ALEX: Wow. Very nice.

MIKE: We are spitting folks, sorry. Excuse us. Ooh! Nice lingering finish on that too, huh? It coats the pallet really well.

ALEX: It´s got some really good structure. It´s got a good punch also, for an anejo.

MIKE: Yeah it´s –

ALEX: Which we saw it coming through the blanco.

MIKE: The blanco was, it did not – it was not a tame blanco. You may have heard us mention some other brands that we´ve tried before that where it´s very tame on the way in, but no, this is… I don´t want to call it in your face but, this is a –

ALEX: Got a nice finish.

MIKE: It certainly tells you there´s no mistaking what it is – this is tequila! And it´s a highlands tequila.

ALEX: Very nice.

MIKE: Wow, and you do get some – it says you- the flavor notes are again, caramel, vanilla, and coffee. And I think with the anejo I start to get more of the coffee and almost a little bit of tobacco on the nose.

ALEX: Well, you´re – I´m getting a lot a bit of coffee. Very nice.

MIKE: Wow, this is a great after dinner anejo. I wouldn´t waste this on a cocktail. This, you serve it as-is, just like this, in a nice snifter or –

ALEX: Maybe even on the rocks.

MIKE: On the rocks, very possibly, with American Oak, you´ll be having those additives those natural additives to it.

ALEX: Especially if you get one of those globes of ice that melt real slowly.

MIKE: Oh, okay that doesn´t water it down, just chills it a little bit.

ALEX: Water it down, yeah.

MIKE: Just chills it a little bit, yeah.

ALEX: You can usually buy those molds and you get a nice…

MIKE: In fact, if any of you companies out there watching actually manufacture one, talk to us.

ALEX: Send us one.

MIKE: Send us one.

ALEX: Send us some so we can try it.

MIKE: Send us, yeah. We´ll talk. (laughing)

ALEX: Boy, I´m impressed with this life.

MIKE: You know, i´ll be honest just for the sake of transparency. When I had this tequila before, I´ve had it in champagne snifters. And again, we´ll probably do a Sipping Off the Cuff with glassware. Everybody should have a different arsenal and I´m limited to where I´m at right now, with the glassware that I have and it´s mostly champagne flutes. The champagne flutes do not do this tequila justice. You really need one that will, that lends itself to tasting. And this is a completely different juice than what I had earlier.

ALEX: Because of the glass.

MIKE: Because of the glass.

ALEX: It – it´s amazing what the – by using the proper tools the type of effect or the outcome that you´re going to get out of the experience.

MIKE: Yes. Do yourself a favor, you know, glassware is very important and if you´re delving more and more into what tequila nuances are, get the right tools. I can´t stress that enough. You don´t have to use this one, you know there are similar ones that are out there that are very comparable. But, I´ve got to tell you, in a proper glass, this tequila just shines. Just shines. I think we´ve got another contender for Brands of Promise.

ALEX: Most definitely. I´m very impressed with the entire Embajador line. Yeah.

MIKE: Andres Garcia and the family have done a wonderful job with this tequila. It´s really well worth an effort to find it. I believe it´s available in Arizona and some places in Southern California, and I believe Texas. Look ´em up on Facebook and Twitter. You can find it, you´ll see their dot com a little bit later on.