Animals
are just like people in that they occasionally enjoy a fermented
beverage. Now, don't me get wrong; they don't get all gussied
up in their favorite outfit and slide on down to the local
bar and down a few shots. Out in the wild, while they forage
for fruits and berries, they sometimes come across a tree
or bush whose offerings have naturally fermented on the vine.
And do they consequently avoid that fermented fruit? No way,
they are drawn to it, and you can verify this statement by
watching any number of YouTube videos showing drunken birds,
bats, giraffes and even elephants getting totally wasted.
And
that brings us to the story of the drunken Mexican rabbits
and the agave cactus. Legend has it that tequila was originally
discovered by luck. A farmer's wife noticed rabbits getting
tipsy on fermented agave and that is how mezcal and tequila
were born. I would actually tend to believe this story as
it is very similar to the discovery of beer. Back in the day,
wheat was stored in open vessels and rain got in and soaked
the wheat and naturally occurring yeast floated through the
air and into that container, and it naturally fermented, and
the animals got into it and got drunk, which prompted the
locals to give it a go, and they got drunk as well and that
became the beginning of civilization as we know it today,
but that's a different story for another time.
Suerte
(which means "luck" in Spanish) Tequila is the brain
child of a couple of Colorado based partners and a family
run distillery in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. Suerte
uses only 100% blue agave that is made in small batches and
sourced from its single estate. The agave at Suerte's distillery
is harvested by hand, and then slow roasted in brick ovens
instead of being steamed in stainless steel. Then the agave
is pressed, not shredded. The distillery uses micron filtering
to double distill its tequila instead of charcoal filtering,
and relies on gravity to power the filtration process, instead
of pumps and motors.
Today we're trying their Anejo tequila, which is aged in charred
American white oak whiskey barrels for 24 months, twice as
long as the industry standard. Of course, it comes in a clear
bottle bearing a hallucinatory looking yellow rabbit that
reminds me of the mad hatter from Alice in Wonderland or perhaps
some kind of hallucination from the 1960's. The color of this
tequila is a very pale yellow and the nose contains faint
aromas of roasted agave, oak, honey and vanilla. On the palate,
I get spicy, smoky notes followed by that agave flavor and
a touch of oak and it is medium bodied and slightly oily.
The finish is (dare I say) almost minty, citrusy and then
smoky and just slightly spicy and lasts a medium amount of
time.
Suerte
Anejo Tequila is well balanced and downright tasty. This is
a dandy little sipper that should be served in a snifter and
enjoyed all by itself. It has a lot of flavor and that flavor
is well blended and proportioned just right. And I rather
enjoyed that minty flavor in the finish. You can find Suerte
Anejo for around $60.00 per 750ML bottle and it is 40% ABV
or 80 proof. So make like a good little rabbit and jump on
a bottle of this tequila; you won't regret it.
By George Brozowski
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