Nose: Not a bold or aggressive nose, but the underlying notes make a nice amalgam. Vanilla/cherry melds with cinnamon and brown sugar, juxtaposed to minerals and light pepper. Sweet, aged oak notes round out the whole package. Flavor: Flavors come in more robustly. Fairly spicy hot barrel notes consisting of cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Some pepper on the back of the palate with a touch of bitterness. Semi oily, and a general sweet sensation that I can’t pinpoint - not vanilla, or butterscotch, or the usual suspects... Finish: A whisper of butterscotch shows up on the last sips. Made by the quality folks at Arette and bargain priced in Mexico at about $500 pesos.

Smells amazing!!! Still getting tons of agave notes, that’s tough to find with an XA. A big hit of oak right off the bat but it softens quite fast and has a medium, gentle finish. Great stuff.

Mexican 38% abv. version, marbete is from 2010, codes are blurry, tasted on 10-9-23. Color: light brown to brown. Aroma: starts off with quite impregnating wood notes, after 30 minutes in the glass the wood notes have softened and sweet cooked agave notes emerge! Red apple juice with a touch of cinnamon, light acidity, Palate: confirms aromas perceived, red apple juice is quite intense together with sweet agave notes. Finish is medium to medium long, red apple juice with sweet cooked agave notes persist, at the very end a light astringent sensation emerges, maybe from the barrel but doesn’t dominate nor bother. The good thing is that the sweet agave notes are always present!