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.

Agave forward nose, lured me in with a very soft profile. Flavour is good but not great, it hasn’t veered off the path of tequila but the finish is hot and dirty and lingers a bit too long for my taste. Overall a decent Tequila, the bottle is marvellous and the product is approachable.

From a Tequila Club presentation a few years back. I think my TMM rating got lost somewhere along the line. So I’m going from memory on this Reserva XA and another XA.

From a Tequila Club presentation a few years back. I think my TMM rating got lost somewhere along the line. So I’m going from memory on this XA and a Reserva XA.

Striking bottle. Strike out tequila.

A little harsh, their version of a Cristalino. Not a fan of stripping the color and flavors from an Anejo. One of the prettiest bottles though.