La Adelita Black Cristaliño Tequila Review
La Adelita is a fairly new tequila brand and this La Adelita Black Cristaliño Tequila under review completes their current range of five tequilas.
But how can you have a range of five tequilas when there are only four official categories: blanco, reposado, añejo, and extra añejo? (See my Types of Tequila page for details.) The answer is cristaliño.
What is Cristaliño Tequila?
Cristaliño is a new style of tequila which a number of distilleries are now producing, and there are campaigns to have this added to the four existing official types of tequila.
A cristaliño is basically an añejo or extra añejo tequila (or a blend of the two, as here), and these have been aged in oak barrels, picking up color and flavor along the way. To produce a cristaliño, you then use a filtration process which removes the color but not the flavor, leaving you with a tequila that is crystal clear, more sparkling than a blanco, but hopefully with all the flavors of an añejo or extra añejo.
You can see why there is some debate about whether to make this an official new category or not. Is a cristaliño really that different from an añejo, apart from the color?
La Adelita Tequilas
My colleague at Drinkhacker has reviewed La Adelita’s Blanco and Reposado, recommending the blanco in particular with a rating of A- on an A-E scale.
La Adelita produces single-estate tequilas, the estate being that of the Hacienda La Capillla in the Jalisco Highlands that can trace its roots back to 1883. The present generation has been making tequila here since 1993, and La Adelita brought in a vintner to work with the traditional tequila makers, to produce the tequilas they wanted to put out on the market.
La Adelita’s tequilas are distilled in small Cuban copper pot stills and then aged for 18 months in American oak barrels that have previously held whiskey but which have been charred again on arrival in Mexico. This is unusual, and should give extra color and especially flavors to the aging spirits.
Who Is La Adelita?
According to the label:
‘La Adelita became the symbol of the commitment of the female soldier that fought in the revolution for the rights of all Mexican people. Her strength, bravery, and courage endure to this day. In the spirit of Adelita, this tequila is distilled by hand, the old-fashioned way, in small copper pot stills, circa 1920s Cuba. Single estate, from the purest agave, hand-selected and harvested in the rich red soils of our plantations in the heart of the highlands of Jalisco.’
Tasting La Adelita Black Cristaliño Tequila
The cristaliño is certainly crystal in color, seeming to be more sparkly and shiny than a regular blanco. On the nose there’s an unusual saltiness, some agave earthiness, a hint of honey/candy sweetness, some vanilla, some lemon, and some oak from the barrel too. There’s certainly plenty of action going on!
On the palate there’s lots going on too, with all that aromatic richness turned into tastes, and some subtle differences. It’s now vanilla rather than candy sweet, it’s slightly sour, pleasingly so, there’s oakiness, some peppery spice to give it a little kick, and there are touches of both salt and lime – ideal for a margarita. On the finish there’s smoothness and a dash of that earthy agave, which is what tequila is all about.
Buying La Adelita Black Cristaliño Tequila
With a tequila as good as this, what does it matter which category you put it into? It’s not cheap, with a recommended price of $69.99, but it’s worth every cent. You can buy it direct from the La Adelita website. And yes, it made a killer margarita!
Buying La Adelita Black Cristaliño Tequila
With a tequila as good as this, what does it matter which category you put it into? It’s not cheap, with a recommended price of $69.99, but it’s worth every cent. You can buy it direct from the La Adelita website. And yes, it made a killer margarita!
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