Review: El Jimador Tequila Cristalino

As cristalinos go, El Jimador‘s is pretty basic — which is in keeping with its legacy as a budget tequila producer. This bottling begins as a reposado with just two months of age on it. It’s then charcoal filtered to remove the color — though, to be fair, there can’t have been that much to begin with.

El Jimador Tequila Cristalino Review

There’s still a little residual yellowness visible in the glass, though it’s close enough to transparent for government work. Ample lemon on the nose makes for a welcome shift vs. what you find in the pungently peppery silver expression, though there’s still a sizable roughness underlying its rustic core. Curiously, the nose doesn’t connote sweetness, though there’s a hint of vanilla in the mix.

The palate is noticeably sweeter, with unctuous vanilla and almond nougat dominant from the start. Lemon/lime and some mixed green herbs are secondary but visible, the latter particularly present as the tequila evolves on the palate. The finish shows toasted coconut and torched marshmallow before a more generalized, slightly industrial bitterness comes into view. This pungency isn’t overwhelming, but it does make for a bit of a letdown over what is otherwise a surprisingly approachable cristalino.

At just $30 a bottle, I don’t know if you’ll find a cheaper cristalino on the market. And while it doesn’t wholly resemble cristalino tequila’s typical style, it’s a pretty low-risk way to sample it, should you still be unfamiliar.

NOM 1119.

80 proof. B+ / $30

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