Review: El Tesoro Mundial Collection: Yamazaki Edition
El Tesoro’s Mundial Collection continues with this fourth version, the tequila distillery’s first collaboration with the House of Suntory.
El Tesoro Mundial: Yamazaki Edition brings together three masters of distilling: Carlos and Jenny Camarena, the former and newly appointed Master Distillers of El Tesoro, and Shinji Fukuyo, The House of Suntory’s fifth-generation Chief Blender. Known for their expertise in deciphering peak conditions and flavor profiles among their storied warehouses, this extraordinary tequila delicately expresses the notes that Yamazaki, The House of Suntory’s iconic single malt, is known for. This groundbreaking partnership unites the cultures of Japan and Mexico in one special bottle, made for fans of premium aged spirits worldwide.
“It is our greatest honor to share this opportunity with our friend Shinji Fukuyo-san and the team at The House of Suntory,” says Jenny Camarena, Master Distiller and CEO at El Tesoro and La Alteña Distillery. “Our Mundial Collection is one of the most exciting projects at La Alteña. Each time we release a new one, we show another way tequila can take the shape of something new that can express ideas and flavors one would never expect. My brother Carlos began working on the Yamazaki Edition years ago, and it’s been my pleasure to see it come to its final stage. We are so excited to bring a united piece of Mexico and Japan distilling and blending excellence to our fans.”
This Mundial is a custom version of El Tesoro Añejo, aged in bourbon barrels and then finished for another 12 months in “Yamazaki 12-Year-Old Japanese sherry and wine casks.” That’s a kind of weird way to describe Yamazaki 12 year old whisky casks, but El Tesoro is calling out that it is using Yamazaki’s own finishing casks, not first-fill wine or sherry casks. Make sense? Let’s taste.
El Tesoro Mundial Collection: Yamazaki Edition Tasting Notes
Off the bat, this tequila doesn’t introduce itself particularly as an anejo, with almost no oaky character visible. The aromatic profile is instead big with black pepper and heavy with Asian spices and flowers, evoking amazingly perfumed notes of plum blossoms and cinnamon, then biting menthol and fresh tobacco notes.
The palate is initially mild, with more traditional with some caramel and vanilla in the picture. The heavy spice notes visible on the nose come back into focus infusing notes of toasted coconut, bittersweet chocolate, and milky coffee with an exotic, quite floral quality. Lightly minty but quite perfumed on the finish, the pepper clings to the back of the palate but remains short of dominance. A potpourri note reprises the initial florality visible on the nose.
All told: Very unusual and unexpected, but never short of interesting.
84 proof. NOM 1139.
A- / $200
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