There is a new player in the game of tequila production, and he goes by Trago.  Although Trago tequilas are among the newest entries in the ultra-premium tequila market, all of Trago (pronounced trah-go, meaning “sip” in Spanish) tequila is produced and distilled at Los Alambiques by Felipe Camarena, who is the son of the famous Don Felipe, who some consider the “Father of Tequila.”  The pure blue agave used in the production of their tequila is grown in the high-altitude region of Arandas, Jalisco, Mexico.  The high-altitude and superior soil found there allow for Trago tequilas to accumulate more sugars for a richer taste.  All of their tequila offerings also go through a double distillation process using both stainless steel and copper to allow the tequilas to retain more of their natural acidic properties.

     That’s all fine and dandy, but how do these “ultra-premium” tequilas taste?   Enter BoozeBasher with the answer.  The folks at Trago were kind enough to send us samples of each, and even though there wasn’t enough tequila in the samples to follow our reviewing process to produce full reviews, we got more than enough to share some tasting notes:

     After cracking open the care package from Trago, we decided to taste the products in order of price point.  With a 750ml bottle retailing for $55, the Trago Silver is the cheapest and therefore got the nod as the first tequila to be tasted.  Trago Silver is crystal-clear, actually it is so clear you might mistake it for vodka.  Its aroma is slightly peppery with deep notes of mineral, but none of the scents are overly-harsh or obtrusive.  The Trago Silver was smooth and warming as it went down.  The warming sensation was very pleasant and less harsh than you might expect from a tequila.  The taste was slightly sweet, almost buttery-sweet.  The finish is rather sharp and then dry at the same time.  The aftertaste is very light and gives you a hint of that wonderful earthy tequila taste.  It won a double gold medal at the 2007 San Fransisco World Spirits Competition in the category of “Tequila Silver,” beating out the Patron Platinum that retails for four times that of the Trago Silver.  It even compares favorably with decent reposados such as Cabo Wabo’s offering. 

      Coming in at $65 for a 750ml bottle, we tried the Trago Reposado next.  The Trago Reposado is darker than the Silver and has a gray tint with a yellowish hue.  It has a spicy, buttery smell, and you can even make out the aroma of the American oak barrel used in its aging.  The Reposado is smooth, extremely smooth going down.  There is absolutely no bite, which makes it good for tequila drinkers and non-tequila drinkers alike.  It warms the esophagus on the way down, but that warming sensation is not as strong as the Silver.  The taste is slightly woody and spicy.  It has a sweet and more complex, almost honey-like taste that is much more pleasant than any other reposado tequila we have tasted.  The finish is very dry and clean and does not linger too much on the tongue.  The experience is very refined, yet it retains a sense of the unruly nature that you would expect from tequila.  This is truly magnificent tequila that needs to be tasted by everyone, at least once.

    The final Trago to be sampled was the Añejo, which will run you a substantial $75 for a 750ml bottle.  Trago Añejo is unique in that it is aged 18 months in used American oak bourbon barrels.  The Añejo has a darker appearance than the other two, but it is substantially lighter than a traditional añejo tequila.  It’s a rich gold in color with superb clarity.  The aroma of Añejo is very intricate and simply too complicated to adequately describe.  It’s a very complex bouquet with a definite spiciness.  With the spiciness also comes a sugary, oaky bourbon scent.  All of the character and spicy aroma seem to combine in subsequent sniffs to give off a scent that actually reminds us of the cheap pink bubblegum from childhood.  It’s rather strange, but not in a negative way.  The taste of Añejo is bold and spicy yet very smooth.  Where you might expect a tequila burn, this stuff gives you a cinnamon-like tingle in your throat and then warms the esophagus as it goes down.  It has a truly amazing taste that is again nearly indescribable.  The finish is very clean and dry, but the spiciness lingers as it would with a fine bourbon.  We found the aftertaste to be fantastic, but it might be a little too bold for tequila drinkers who do not also enjoy bourbon.  We were blown away by the smoothness and complexity of this spirit.  It seems they took all the good qualities from tequila and added the woody complexities of a good bourbon.  The Añejo should be consumed neat because even ice might disturb the truly incredible flavor.  This is one of the best-tasting liquors any of us have ever consumed.  I was informed that it took home the double gold medal this year (2008) at the San Fransisco World Spirits Competition in the “Tequila Añejo” category, and I can certainly understand why.  Trago Añejo is a unique sipping experience, one that every drinker deserves to enjoy.

     All in all, the three tequilas from Trago are very impressive and can go toe-to-toe with any other tequila you will find in your local liquor store.  We should be able to do a complete review of the Trago Silver sometime next month, but we’ll have to wait awhile to get our hands on the others.  I look forward to picking up a few bottles as soon as Trago products are widely available, and I would advise you do the same! 

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     Jim Beam Black is the 8-year-old elder to the regular 4-year-old Jim Beam.  If I could borrow a phrase from the great Ella Fitzgerald, “What a difference a day makes!”  Well in this case it’s, “what a difference 4 more years makes!”  Black has all the quality that the regular Beam has, but it takes all those qualities and raises them to the next level.  The difference between the two bourbons is like the difference between a pro exotic dancer and your grandma, unless your grandma is an exotic dancer, and in that case, good for her.

     Jim Beam Black goes through the same distilling process as the regular Jim Beam except for one easy-to-see, major difference.  It’s aged eight years.  That’s four more than the regular stuff.  Black is aged in new charred oak barrels and bottled at a full 86-proof, making a bourbon with its own distinct character.  I personally believe at some point in the extra four years of aging, a magical liquor fairy comes and embues Black with the power to overcome all the short comings of regular Beam.  The crew of BoozeBasher determined that the only reason the people at Jim Beam are still selling the regular Beam is to showcase how good the Beam Black really is.  If that was your plan, guys, good work.

    The smell when pouring out of a bottle of Black is one of strong sour mash, alcohol, and charred wood.  And the taste is more of the same.  It has a sour, woody taste when it first hits your tongue, then that mash flavor really pulls through.  It gives a slight burn, but right after the burn is gone, there’s an aftertaste that can only be described as alcoholic candy.  All of this makes Beam Black perfect for the morning.  I like to set the bottle next to my bed and take a swig when I wake before doing anything else.  It leaves my mouth with that clean feeling and really helps to shake that morning grogginess right out.  If you do the same, you’ll be ready for work, or another swig, in no time.

     I mixed Beam Black with the only other thing I know to mix bourbon whiskey with (besides ice), a little soda.  The only way I can describe it is with a except from the dictionary:

de·li·cious [di-lish-uhs] –adjective

Yes thats from a real online dictionary and I agree fully.  Nothing should be this damn good (excluding grandma’s pole dancing ability, again that’s only in certain cases).  The burning from the strength of the whiskey is gone, and all you have left over is that sour mash woody flavor, which makes this stuff really easy to consume.  After all, when you make a mixed drink, that is really what you want to be able to do.

     Another fun part about this booze is it carries a pretty good drunk with it.  Black is one of your strongest weapons in the war against sobriety.  I got a very clean drunk off this Beam.  It’s not a groggy tequila drunk feeling but a clear vision, slow-motion kind of drunk feeling.  The only real downside of Black’s drunk is, unless you are a drinking pro, you might not be able to gauge how drunk you really are until you are telling your problems to the porcelain therapist.  However, if you can control your intake, the next morning shouldn’t be too brutal.  I went a little into the excessive range and awoke in a pretty weakened state.  There was an horrible case of cotton mouth and a headache that made it rough for me to run and scamper about house.  It was well into the afternoon before I was able to drink again.  Not that it was a bad thing.  Even the best drinkers need a little time to recover.

     All the perks of Jim Beam Black can be yours for around $26 for a 750ml bottle.  If you like the regular Beam, Beam Black will be the reason you never buy the regular Beam again.  If you don’t like Jim Beam, give Black a try and see why so many people still come back to drinking Jim Beam Black.  If you ever needed proof that experience makes things better, then look to Jim Beam Black.  Who knows, maybe you should pull a dollar out and give granny a chance; you may learn a thing or two.

Sipability - 6.5

Mixability - 7.5

Drunkability - 7.0

Hangover-ability - 6.5

Bang for the Buck - 8.0

Overall - 7.0 

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    The BoozeBasher staff has a schoolyard crush on Flor De Caña’s rum.  We loved the Gold for mixing, the Grand Reserve for sipping, and even the Extra Dry holds its own amongst a group of people who don’t believe in drinking a rum unless it has some color to it.  Really we are just one happy family of rum drinkers and tasty rums.  Unfortunately, there is always that one that does not fit in with the rest of the family.

    Maybe it’s the cousin that shows up to the family reunion on a chopper wearing ass-less chaps.  Maybe it’s the sister that goes into the adult film industry and wants to show grandma what she does for a living.  In Flor de Caña Black Label’s case, it just didn’t measure up to the standards we have come to expect from Flor de Caña.  Having sampled and enjoyed the rums on either side age-wise, we expected something that mixes well in a cocktail and could be consumed on the rocks without making gargoyle faces.  Sadly, this rum suffers from the middle child syndrome and the Black Label just did not cut it in either case. 

    Flor de Caña Black Label is the middle child of the slow-aged family, spending 5 years in a barrel used only once prior.  This aging time is spent in their original barrel houses which were constructed without air-conditioning, electrical ventilation, or humidifiers.  This provides a natural environment for this line of rums to rest in comfortably.  Compañia Licorera, the parent company of Flor de Caña, has even trademarked this process and believes that it produces the finest family of rums on the market. 

    The aroma of Flor de Caña Black Label is not especially entrancing, as it is dominated by a strong alcohol odor, but it does have hints of sweet molasses and oddly a hint of cotton candy scent.  The flavor on the rocks is not really unpleasant, just disappointing.  It provides the same sort of feeling you get when your son drops a promising law career for one with a group of traveling folk singers.  Yeah, you will lie to your neighbors about his new profession, but you will feel bad about doing so.  It has nice oak flavors with a little bit of pepper, but the aftertaste is a little dry and metallic.  There are no caramel, molasses, or fruit flavors to entice me into another sip.  In fact, the taste is a bit delicate, and when we tried mixing it with cola, it was pretty much obliterated.  Ginger ale is a better mixer, but the Flor de Caña Black Label does not add much to the drink. 

    Well, it doesn’t add much other than an 80-proof dose of liquid courage.  Though even in this category, it was not as effective at the other Flor de Caña products we have enjoyed.  It will still get you nice an tipsy.  Unfortunately, the next day I had a persistent unsettled stomach that lasted for the majority of the day.  Again, this was just one more area that the Black Label did not stack up to its siblings.

    A bottle of Flor de Caña Black Label will cost you about $21, but honestly, I suggest you spend a little less and get the Gold or a little more and get the Grand Reserve.  The Black Label is not a bad rum; it just lacks the extra bite to mix well and yet does not have the smooth bold flavors to be consumed on the rocks.  We are not going to kick it out of our happy little family, but it is going to be relegated to the kids table at supper time.

Sipability - 6.0

Mixability - 6.5

Drunkability - 7.0

Hangover-ability - 5.5

Bang for the Buck - 7.5

Overall -  6.5 

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