Jose Cuervo 250 Aniversario extra añejo tequila
How much would you pay for a bottle of really good tequila? Not the kind that makes you say, "oh, that's really smooth;" but the kind where you "absolutely have to buy this!" If you are an average joe, like me, that threshold is usually somewhere around $80 to $100.
Tequilas above the $15 to $20 range are often called "premium tequilas" or "sipping tequilas" (a term I prefer). Then you get into the Patron, Don Julio, Partida game of "ultra-premiums," "super premiums," and, more recently, "luxury tequilas." Unlike the labels used to designate a tequila's age (i.e. blanco, reposado, etc.) there is no legal definition for "premium." It's all up to marketing.
Earlier this month Casa Cuervo released what I can only refer to as a "limited-edition, super-duper ultra-premium, luxury tequila." Why do I feel compelled to use this label? Because the Jose Cuervo 250 Aniversario is a whopping $2,250.00 for a 750 ml bottle. Yes: two thousand, two hundred fifty dollars and no cents.
The 250 Aniversario is a 100% blue agave, estate-grown and bottled tequila that's blended from select tequilas in the family's reserve and aged in a new double-cask method. Each of the tequilas used are aged in new American Oak barrels for a minimum of three years. They are then blended together and aged in ten months in Sherry casks originating from Spain. Each bottle has its sequential number etched into the glass.
NY Drinks Examiner Robert Haynes-Peterson was one of the lucky few to sample 250 Aniversario extra añejo and reports that "the tequila's fantastic...it doesn't have the same woody/smokey taste as most extra anejos. Instead you get all sorts of chocolate and leather flavor at the beginning and then a very long mineral finish. You can really taste the tequila in all the aging, which is fantastic."
RELATED ARTICLE: Robert Haynes-Peterson, NY Drinks Examiner "Tasting Notes: Jose Cuervo launches 250 Aniversario in New York City"
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