Speechless

I do my duty as a spirits buyer. I try everything from every major brand (even the flavored vodkas), even if I'm more prejudiced and less open-minded than I like to think I am. So when my sales rep Jannette brought me the latest Patron tequila release (a brand we do not carry at K&L), I did my due diligence: 

I poured, swirled, sipped, and spat.

Then I did the same thing again. And again. And again. Back, and to the left.

What the hell? This can't be right. 

"No," I mumbled to myself.

"What?" Jannette asked. 

"These are....they're.....they're really, really good," I stuttered in disbelief.

I just tasted these again before writing this—these new Patron tequilas that utilize only stone-crushed agave in their recipes (otherwise known as the tajon or the tahona process). There are many distilleries that still crush their agave with a huge rolling rock, carted around a large pit by an old donkey. It's definitely romantic and it's a more traditional process, but I've never seen it make such a huge difference in quality.

These Roca Patron tequilas are so good they're almost perfect—and I don't say that willingly. I don't really want to say that at all. I've never been a backer of Patron and I have no love for their regular line of tequilas. There's absolutely nothing motivating me to say what I'm saying right now than my own professed love for agave spirits and my desire to share that love with others. But you've got to give credit where credit is due. These are soft, delicate, easy-to-sip tequilas, but they pop in all the right places and they don't taste sweetened, manipulated, or artificial. I keep looking for a weakness, but I can't find one.

I'm going to spend the rest of the day making sure I'm not crazy before bringing these in. If it indeed turns out that my mouth is not malfunctioning then I'm going to put these on the shelf and stand by them.

Full notes at that time. Meanwhile, I'm going to keep pondering this unexpected turn of events. It might be another case of "the Empire Strikes Back."

-David Driscoll