Tasting Notes: Herradura Reposado Tequila

A restaurant in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood offers the largest tequila selection in British Columbia. I have dined there twice. Although I’ve contemplated ordering from their imposing tequila menu, I’ve never ended up doing so. The breadth of my understanding of the blue agave drink would certainly have increased had I sampled a few shots. Alas, the only drink I remember ordering was a monstrosity called the Coronarita—a margarita (tequila cocktail) with an upside-down bottle of Corona inelegantly and hilariously planted in it. It tasted predictably awful. On the plus side, everyone at the table laughed. All this is to say that I am no tequila expert, and probably a tequila heretic.

Here I am anyway with a dose of Herradura Reposado Tequila in a Glencairn glass. Reposado is a tequila that has been aged less than a year and at least 60 days. This one has been aged for 11 months (FYI: in the world of tequila, blanco is unaged, añejo is aged between one and three years and extra añejo is more than three). The nose has few notes but they are pleasant. At the forefront, there is citrus, on a flowery background. As for the taste, Herradura Reposado Tequila is remarkably smooth. Sipping it, I sense how far removed I am from days gone by of chasing the taste of tequila with salt and lemon. This is an enjoyable drink. There is only a hint of pepper (the oak) and the warming sensation of a 40 ABV drink.

If you (like me) are a tequila beginner, Herradura Reposado Tequila is an excellent place to start. It is reasonably priced and superior to the "bad" tequilas in plastic cups that you (and me) have downed as last call was rearing its ugly head. —Guillaume Garih

herradura.com