Nose: Prune, honey, dried cherries, vanilla, and a bit of orange…zero ethanol, but not in a good way. It’s cloyingly sweet, like a syrupy liqueur, and completely absent of agave or real oak influence. You could pour this into a juice bottle and fool most people. It smells like something flavored and mass produced. Palate & Mouthfeel: It actually improves a little on the palate. It’s not as aggressively artificial as the nose, but still overly sweet. Caramel and cherry dominate, with a faint wood tannin and some generic spice that might be barrel-driven or pepper, but it’s tough to pin down under all that sugary weight. The mouthfeel is thick and slick, bordering on syrupy. Finish: Short, and not in a refreshing way. Just more indistinct sweetness that disappears quickly and leaves nothing behind. Final Thoughts: If there’s agave in here, it’s in hiding. Sure, it’s “smooth” and “sweet,” but so is a can of cream soda. For folks who want tequila that doesn’t taste like tequila, maybe this hits the mark.

Lote 101: Black Heart with Anejo Label no XA Label. Not listed on TMM. Never have I come across so complicated and oversaturated of an Anejo for me to decipher. The taste makes me think that this is a blend of XA’s and Anejos. The aroma is old papers, chewing tobacco, wood funk, ethyl, sour milk, whisky, leather, chocolate, mustiness, barrel spice, toffee, Werther’s caramel, and vanilla The palate perceives orange citrus, chocolate, caramel, honey, stale Brazil nuts, tobacco leaf, funky yeast, butterscotch, oak, light spice, whiskey, toffee ,molasses , and long sweetness that coats the tongue, but eventually I reached agave trails in the final fading finish with artificial sweetener cleaning up dust after the parade (Rocky and Bullwinkle reference). The sweetness after one glass is slightly headache-y, going to have this bottle awhile.

You didn’t have that extra añejo tast would expect from this style