Review: Dona Victoria Tequila Extra Anejo

Dona Victoria is a line of tequila from Ocean Azul, which is by all accounts an independent spirits bottler that leans hard into the bottle part. Check out their website, and you’ll find alcohol inside bottles shaped like a pair of handguns, complete with fancy display box, or even a birthday cake (both vanilla and chocolate varieties). Their range of spirits is similarly broad with a dozen or more tequilas on offer, along with bourbon, vodka, Cognac, and even arak.

Dona Victoria’s bottle is comparatively less elaborate but still eye catching in an over-the-top way with a tall, curved shape topped with something resembling an Aztec pyramid and elaborate Mexican-inspired etchings. While Ocean Azul offers three different bottles of Dona Victoria on their website, the only distinction appears to be the color (blue, black, or shiny gold). There is little-to-no info about its production, but according to the bottle it is made from 100% blue agave and, as an extra anejo expression, has been aged in oak for a minimum of three years. Thoughts follow.

Dona Victoria Tequila Extra Anejo Review

The nose is heavy with a thick, vanilla sweetness that alternates between buttercream frosting and donut glaze. The agave does little to temper the saccharine quality, adding only a glimmer of greenery to an aroma that seems to only build with sugary intensity. After a minute or so of breathing in the glass, even the vanilla notes recede, leaving only treacle and simple syrup.

The palate is unsurprisingly sugary, delivering candied notes of vanilla bean, caramel sauce, and subtle citrus – vaguely resembling orange creamsicle – before transitioning on the midpalate to a more tropical candied pineapple. The agave is buried under all that sweetness for much of the sip, only finding a delicate footing on the finish where a bit of black pepper finally helps to temper things. It’s undeniably approachable with nothing getting in the way of all that sweetness. But a nuanced extra anejo this is not, and I’d argue it’s almost too saccharine for a sipping tequila. If sweetness is your benchmark, it will do the trick. But you can get that tequila in a boring bottle for a lot less money.

80 proof. NOM 1466.

B- / $160 [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]

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