Dia de Los Tequilas -- The new labels feature the famous skeltons of Mexican folk-art
Any one who knows me knows that one of my all-time favorite ultra-premium Tequilas is Espolón. It has been hard to find in the US for years now. And it was always pricey...$40 and up. Much to my amazement, today at the liquor store I discovered a new-look Espolón! We're talkin' new label, new bottle, and new VERY LOW PRICE -- $20.00!
Is this some kind of marketing trickery? The press-release issued by Skyy claims there is the exact same juice in these new hippified bottles. Is there, really? If so, why is the price less than half of what it was before? In fact, I paid MORE for Espolón in Mexico back in February -- $24 to be exact. Were we paying for the fancy bottle and its embossed metal label all that time?
Campari/Skyy, the same company that bought Cabo Wabo last year also now owns Espolón. The spirit conglomerate bought the Espolón distillery, NOM 1440, and actually now make Cabo there, too. Apparently, the MSRP for both blanco and repo is $25.95. That's also odd, don't you think?
Are they going to market the Wabo as the Ultra-Preem and the Espo as the down-priced bottle? That would be wierd to me, because Espo is WAY better tequila than Wabo. Way!
So is it the same tequila? My pallette says no.** I just did an A/B comparison between the bottle I bought of blanco in Mexico and a brand new bottle of the $20 blanco. The original tasted smoother, lighter and sweeter, not that Espo is particularly sweet. It has a big, flavorful taste with plenty of agave, spice, and a hint of licorice.**I later realized I was comparing a 38% (the Mexican bottle) with a 40% (the new US bottle), so there you have it! That explains the diff.
But the new one tasted a tiny bit harder, hotter and oilier. It is not as easy on the pallette. They ARE very similar, and maybe the difference could be the normal variation of batch-to-batch. But most would agree that my REAL Mexican juice tastes better than the new.
Read the full press-release here on Tequila.net
Espo Old and New from Drew's Stash
It is the same - went to that same distillery in Arandas a couple of months ago and their master distiller was showing me 2 huge tanks with tequila inside. They won't change before they get all that stock out.....
ReplyDeleteThat's good to know. Must just be natural variation.
ReplyDelete*I realized I was comparing a 38% (the Mexican bottle) with a 40% (the new US bottle), so there you have it! That explains the diff.
ReplyDeleteI picked up a bottle of the "New" Espolon and I love it. At the time(only three months ago) I couldn't understand why I liked drinking shots of the inexpensive $19 a bottle Espolon blanco better then my fancy $60 Patron. Learning is fun!
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