Bourbony Tequila?

[LCWoody]

Would like some of you tequila drinkers to give some suggestions on bourbony tasting tequila. 

[tanstaafl2]

I suppose the more time tequila spends in a barrel (usually a used bourbon barrel) the more time there is to minimize the agave vegetal quality that makes tequila taste like tequila and add strong barrel vanilla and wood tones. There are a few ultra old tequilas but they also tend to get ultra expensive.

Otherwise there is no such animal that I know of. If you want bourbon-y tequila maybe Wild Turkey can mix up a bottle of Forgiven, South of the Border Edition!

[LCWoody]

That's funny, thanks I was just curious. 

[tanstaafl2]

36 minutes ago, LCWoody said:

That's funny, thanks I was just curious. 

In all seriousness I bought the Fuenteseca Extra Anejo from K&L which had  a marriage of 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, and 21 year old tequilas. David D. at K&L described the palate of this blend as having a brandy like character but noted the older barrels by themselves were herbaceous in character but "overwhelming" on their own.

I haven't tried it in a while but because of the substantial younger tequila this one still had a lot of agave character as I recall. Not exactly bourbon-y!

If Max wanders by maybe he will have some insight. But to be honest I don't really want my tequila to taste that much like bourbon!

Interestingly Angels Envy at one time was talking about a tequila barrel finished bourbon but nothing has come of it so far when I last spoke to Wes Henderson last week.

Edited February 29, 2016 by tanstaafl2

[LCWoody]

I have a Roca Patron that I was sipping on last night that made me ask the question. I understand it was in bourbon barrels for awhile. I think it's a very good tequila (take that for what it's worth, I don't have a lot of time under my belt with tequila). I don't stray from bourbons much, but lately (past year or two) I've really gotten to like some of the Stouts aged in bourbon barrels and was going to try my luck with some of the tequilas. 

 I have gone back and read some of the Wednesday night tastings and have gotten good information from that. 

[tanstaafl2]

57 minutes ago, LCWoody said:

I have a Roca Patron that I was sipping on last night that made me ask the question. I understand it was in bourbon barrels for awhile. I think it's a very good tequila (take that for what it's worth, I don't have a lot of time under my belt with tequila). I don't stray from bourbons much, but lately (past year or two) I've really gotten to like some of the Stouts aged in bourbon barrels and was going to try my luck with some of the tequilas. 

 I have gone back and read some of the Wednesday night tastings and have gotten good information from that. 

 

Patron is a bit too smooth for my palate. I still like a little kick from my tequila! If I am looking for interesting barrel aging with tequkila I tend to look for ones with something different like Excellia anejo which gets time in both sauternes and cognac barrels.

[LCWoody]

Thanks, I'll look into picking that up and see if it's something I like. 

[jaycamm]

Espolon has a Bourbon Barrel Finished Anejo. 

[tanstaafl2]

1 hour ago, jaycamm said:

Espolon has a Bourbon Barrel Finished Anejo. 

 

Lots of them out there! Indeed most aged tequila is aged in ex-bourbon barrels. The Espolon Anejo doesn't taste any more bourbon forward to me than most aged tequila.

 

For example Herradura/El Jimador is a Brown-Forman product. Any guess where B-F barrels might go? Well, besides the ones used to age the B-F owned Scotch brands!

 

Several years ago Corazon made a big deal out of tequila aged in BTAC and Old Rip barrels. When I get to the point when I can tell the exact brand of bourbon cask a tequila (or rum or other other barrel aged spirit) is aged in it might be time to quit!

Edited January 28, 2017 by tanstaafl2

[bullitt]

Corazon has several bourbon influenced tequilas (Expresiones del Corazon) but I was not that impressed with the effect as being that strong. It was there, but slightly noticeable at best. From my personal experiences I'd say the one tequila that had the most bourbon taste was Herradura Seleccion Suprema at around $350 a bottle. There have been others over the years (Herenica Historico 5 year, Asombroso 11 year, Tonala 4 year) but are expensive and or no longer made/hard to find. Generally the longer the tequila rests in bourbon barrels the more likely it will be that it will pick up the bourbon characteristics, but even that is not a 100% guarantee. You really can't go wrong with any extra anejo tequila though. A couple of suggestions in the XA category would be Crotolo and Don Pilar for a deep strong barrel influence. If you like bourbon you'll like these. 

[bullitt]

Bourbon is never influenced by tequila. Most tequila people really don't care for an overly "bourbon" influence. Someone like you and I who enjoys both tequila and bourbon and can appreciate the roll the bourbon barrel  plays in aged tequilas. Example. I brought a bottle of bourbon to a tequila gathering once for educational purposes and it wasn't touched. A lot of anejo tequila lovers don't make the bourbon connection as being part of what they like about anejos and extra anejos.

[tanstaafl2]

You might like the Fuenteseca Reserva if you have a way to buy from K&L. The first version had much older tequila's in the blend but was also much more expensive. It did still manage a nice blend of tequila and barrel character.

 

Fuenteseca has also released some age stated tequilas in the 18-21 year range but I have no idea how that might taste (and not sure I want to try them) and they are super expensive (which means I am quite sure I don't want to try them!).