In three short days I’m going to be joining a group of international tequila aficionados in Redwood City, Ca. for a once-in-a-lifetime tasting event.
We’re going to taste and compare 15 years’ worth of Cuervo “Reserva” over the course of two days. The Festival was organized online through Ian Chadwick’s mighty “Mumpsimus” Tequila Forum. The cost of admission is for each attendee to bring one bottle from any of the years of the production run (1995 -2008). I am bringing a still-hard-to-obtain 2008 year. The Reservas come in a limited edition artist-created wooden box, and some of art on the boxes is quite wonderful. You can read a bit of an overview of the product here.
I have a very limited experience with the Reservas. I have only tasted the 2007 product and was not impressed. Especially considering their $100/bottle price tag. I have been informed, however, that there are some incredible years in the history of the product, so I am drooling at the possibility of lining up 15 different Reidel glasses and tasting all the years at once! Could I actually be so lucky? I am in the process of “TOXIFYING” up my body so that the excessive alcohol won’t drop me to the floor. I’m in TRAINING, baby!
I plan on doing some tequila tasting tonite in anticipation of the big showdown over the weekend. I’ll post later about exactly what I drank and how it tasted. I’ll also be posting about the various “for trade” bottles I plan on bringing to the event, and I may even write a bit about the “dusty bottles” I hope to procure in some tucked-away and secret independent liquor stores in the South Bay. SHHHHHHHHHHh.. That’s on the QT!
UPDATE:
I decided to try out a few former favorites last night as I cooked dinner and watched the Iraq war documentary on PBS. (Unfortunately that viewing activity requires ALOT more tequila than I am willing to commit to these days..)
I drank:
Don Fernando blanco (old clear bottling) – Making a taste comeback for me.
Chaya blanco – Benefitted from the teeny drops of DF left in the glass.
Fina Estampa anejo – Light and sweet. Always a winner.
Casa Noble Single Barrel anejo (limited production run!) – My current infatuation. Lots of cherry/chocolate balancing that signature “Cofradia” bitter core.
I gotta say, I liked ’em all. And I especially liked the order of their “introduction” on my palate.