The midpalate is all about pepper kick – it’s black pepper, white pepper, clove, habanero, and then oak. As we move on to the midpalate, the pepper spice increases, ultimately outpacing the oak. It’s really here in the entry where this tequila is at its best. The entry for Hornitos Black Barrel is oak forward, but it has some sense of balance with roasted agave, black pepper, and caramel. While the oak notes in the nose are fairly strong, they don’t completely obliterate the core tequila aromas. The nose, however, is decidedly tequila, with black pepper, vanilla, and roasted agave mixed in with old oak. Hornitos Black Barrel Anejo Tequila (40% ABV / 80 proof, $29.99, NOM 1102) is dark gold in color and visually could easily be mistaken for an American whiskey. The aim here is to get some deep color and oak from the heavily charred barrel and then additional sweetness from the toasted oak barrel. Hornitos Black Barrel Anejo Tequila takes the standard Hornitos anejo tequila aged for a year in traditional oak barrels and then finishes that tequila in heavily charred American Oak casks for four months, and then moves it to a toasted American Oak barrel for another two months. Jim Beam/Suntory (owners of the Hornitos Brand) deeply understand the lower end of the price spectrum and have seized the opportunity to bring a lower priced tequila offering aimed at the value-driven whiskey consumer. Much of the movement in the tequila space has been aimed at the high end whiskey consumer. Tequila producers have also been eyeing that whiskey consumer, and there has been a dramatic increase in anejo and extra anejo releases aimed at them, including Tequila Avion ReseMilenio, and Gran Patron Piedra. The list of brands to “go black” is fairly long and includes such major releases as Johnnie Walker Double Black, Jameson Black Barrel, Captain Morgan Black, and Mount Gay Black Barrel. Basically, by extra-aging a spirit in a deeply charred barrel, that spirit gets an infusion of strong oak and color, and seemingly, instant whiskey consumer friendliness. The most common way for non-whiskey brands to do this is with oak, namely via the now extremely pervasive “Black Barrel”. ®Aeroplan is a registered trademark of Aeroplan Inc., used under license.With the explosion in popularity of American Whiskey, other spirit categories have tried to ride whiskey’s coattails with crossover offerings aimed squarely at whiskey consumers. Should you have any questions regarding the collection of this information, please contact the Freedom of Information and Privacy Office, 100 Queens Quay East, 9th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5E 0C7, Toronto, ON, Telephone 41, Fax 41, E-mail You may also visit the LCBO Privacy Policy for further details. If you provide your Aeroplan member number we also will use LCBO purchases made using this number to customize the communications and offers you receive. The personal information related to a LCBO Email subscription, including information collected through the use of cookies and similar tracking technologies that can sometimes be considered personal information, is collected under the authority of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario Act, 2019, SO 2019, c 15, Sch 21, Section 3 and will be used for the purpose of providing you with communications and offers from the LCBO.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |