Añejos Ridiculosos
Since we've been talking about tequila all week, I thought I'd update everyone on a project that's almost two years in the making now. Since 2011 I've been dropping hints about a ridiculously old tequila we've been planning to release here at K&L, made by Enrique Fonseca in Atotonilco (right next to El Viejito actually). Enrique has insanely old tequila in cask that he carefully monitors using refill barrels that are moved around the warehouse to make sure they don't age too quickly. The initial plan was to release a single vintage or single age statement tequila, i.e. a 1999 13 year old expression. However, there was one small issue: the oldest ones weren't good enough on their own to justify the cost, and the young ones weren't complex enough on their own to offer anything new to the extra añejo genre. What to do?
I know what John Glaser would do. I know what just about any whisky distillery would do. They would attempt to blend the young with the old, hoping to make something better than the sum of the parts. After some serious work I think we may have done it. I'm not a master blender. Heck, I'm not even a novice blender, but either by osmosis or dumb luck I think we may have created the perfect balance of young and old. It's not going to be inexpensive because there's 21 year, 18 year, 14 year, and 11 year tequila in this marriage. No producer in the history of the tequila industry has released anything that old as far as I know (please let me know if you've heard of anything older). However, it will be far under $200.
And it will be the most interesting, most aged, and most incredible añejo tequila ever released.
And it will only be at K&L.
-David Driscoll