El Jimador, Tequila Blanco, 38%

El jimador is the person – are they always male? – who harvests the agave plants when they’re ready for tequila making.

El Jimador Blanco is a 100% Blue Agave tequila easily available in Irish stores at a reasonable price.

Tequila is a category yet to catch on in Ireland. The major store selections are dominated by the big playing multinational brands. El Jimador is no exception. Brown-Forman are the owners. They also have more familiar labels like Jack Daniels & Slane Whiskey – as well as many others.

As it was on the shelf in my local supermarket I purchased it – keen to find out how it tasted.

Being a Blanco El Jimador is a clear colourless spirit.

Rich agave aromas greet me.

Clean fresh palate, minty.

The dry peppery spice on the finish has a bit of a bite – which is nice – & leaves with a drying sensation.

A welcome introduction to 100% agave!

As an aside I compared my freshly opened 100% agave El Jimador with the last remnants of my mixto Azteca Tequila.

El Jimador is noticeably fresher on the nose. Azteca has a muddier, yet warmer feel on the palate. Both show dry peppery spice on the finish.

On a blind tasting I’m not sure which one I’d pick. The clean minty freshness of El Jimador or the smooth warmth of Azteca?

I’d like to think I’d chose the 100% agave – but having never experienced a blind tequila tasting – that theory remains to be tested.

I do enjoy the exploring however!

Sláinte

El Jimador website here.

Brown Forman brands here.

My Azteca blog here.

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Olmeca Reposado Tequila, 38%

Olmeca Tequila is found in pretty much every Irish supermarket & is often the only tequila offered at many bars & hotels.

This shouldn’t be much of a surprise given Pernod Ricard own the brand & possibly use the Jameson distribution network for Olmeca too.

I’ve enjoyed a few glasses of Olmeca in various bars.

The nose portrays that signature agave pungency with hints of peppery spice.

The smooth palate lacks a little flair with an accentuated black peppery spice on the finish.

Olmeca Reposado ticks all the tequila taste boxes – but not being 100% agave it does miss out a tad on the flavour front.

Often listed as Olmeca Gold – denoting a mixto tequila where only 51% has to be agave based & Gold possibly being coloured – Olmeca Reposado – also mixto but with barrel ageing – appears to be the bottle supermarkets stock.

In the absence of any alternatives – it does the trick.

Sláinte

All images authors own.