Seeing how much we liked the Cabo Wabo Reposado, we couldn’t help but try the clear Cabo Wabo Blanco.  As with all blanco tequila, you can’t expect it to taste as refined as the reposado or anjeo versions, but you can count on it getting you drunk, causing memory loss, and giving you a hangover the next morning (you know, all the fun parts of drinking).  Starting with the first sip of from this Cabo’s bottle, you know it’s going to be a long night that you will only recall 30 minutes of the next day.

    To recap for all you guys who don’t remember, here’s a little Cabo history.  Cabo Wabo tequila was brought to life in 1996 on the back roads of Guadalajara of the state of Jalisco, Mexico.  After what seemed like eons of time searching for tequila of good enough quality to serve at the cantina and call his own, Sammy Hagar linked with a small Mexican tequila producer that had been in operation since 1937.  Although some of the players have changed since the birth and rise of Cabo Wabo, it continues to be grown and handmade by a well-established tequila family with deep roots in the tequila fields of Jalisco.  Now with that out of the way, we can talk about the important stuff a.k.a the Cabo Wabo Blanco.

    The Cabo Blanco really embodies the difference between the flavor of blanco and reposado tequila.  The Cabo Blanco burns pretty harshly.  The burning from this tequila overpowers the agave flavor.  It’s still there, but you really can’t pull the flavor out of the tequila until after you swallow.  With that said, the aftertaste is great.  It’s a mildly sweet agave flavor that ends up being rather delicious after it goes down.  But with the kind of burn that this blanco gives when it first hits your tongue, putting out a burning match in your mouth could be considered pleasant.  Luckily, there are a few easy fixes for this: you can chill the shot or simply mix it.  A mixer to Cabo Wabo Blanco is like a team of firemen sent in to handle the wildfire that Blanco would have surely started.  With a mixer, Cabo’s flavor is allowed come to the forefront.  You can really taste all 80-proof of alcohol and agave.  Unfortunately, no matter how you drink it, the Cabo Blanco doesn’t taste like anything special.  It just tastes like another tequila.  It still tastes better than most lower-shelf tequilas, but not by enough to pay the extra $10 to get a bottle.

    What is strange about this 80-proof bottle of tequila is that it takes a lot to get you where you need to be.  The amount needed to get a good buzz from the Cabo Wabo Blanco really isn’t fair, considering how much you had to pay to get it.  Anything that takes half a 750ml bottle to get you happy drunk just isn’t right.  In the Cabo’s defense, I am a bigger tequila drinker than most people.  Hell, who am I kidding?  I’m an out-right alcoholic!  So just because It didn’t get me loaded as quickly as I would like, it doesn’t mean that you won’t have better luck.  If I’m going to spend around $48 for some booze, I want something thats going to cover all the bases.

    I will give it credit for not giving me a bad hangover.  After a little more than half a bottle, I had a decent buzz going, and felt really sleepy.  It seems no matter what tequila I’m drinking or what level of drunk they can produce, they all share the trait of causing blackouts.  When I came to about three hours later, I felt great.  I was ready to go out and drink even more.  Any booze that helps you keep drinking is a good one.  Well, it’s good until you start mixing your poison with other types of booze.  Then you wake on top of a pool table with no pants, trying to explain why throwing up in the corner pocket was such a funny idea.

    If you aren’t a big tequila drinker, Cabo Wabo Blanco isn’t for you.  It costs a bit much, and the taste is a bit harsh for the causal drinker.  If you are a bargain shopper, you can buy two bottles of something that tastes slightly worse, but after a couple of shots I doubt you are going to care about that small difference.  Unless you are running some kind of liquor review site, this one should be a pass.  If you are dying for some Cabo Wabo, spend a little extra cash and get the reposado.

Shootablity - 7.0

Mixability - 8.0

Drunkability - 5.5

Hangover-ability - 7.0

Bang for the Buck - 4.5

Overall - 7.0  

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    No, this is not the smooth, womanizing, tall, dark, and handsome man of whom you all may be thinking.  Look again; it’s Don Julio not Don Juan.  Although there are some similarities between this tequila and the fictional person, one should not be confused for the other.  Let me see if I can make this absolutely clear for everyone.

    Don Julio tequila is produced at “La Primavera” distillery in Los Altos de Jalisco in Mexico.  Don Juan is a character of Spanish legend dating back as far as the 17th century.  A quick look at a map will show you that Mexico and Spain are not the same country.  No contest there.

    Don Julio started his tequila journey in 1942 as a young man.  Don Julio only uses fully-matured, ripened agave plants that can take between 7 and 10 years to ripen!  Of course, this can only be accomplished in the highlands of the Jalisco region.  Don Julio even has a special process for cultivating the agave that leaves only the body of the plant.  Don Julio slowly cooks the agave in masonry ovens to obtain the juice used for fermentation and then double distilled.  His passion for the growth, cultivation, and distillation of the agave plant has lead to a hand-crafted tequila that is well-known throughout Mexico.  The distillery has been using the same processes for over 60 years.

    Don Julio Blanco has a fresh, crisp tequila scent with hints of citrus.  I can only imagine that, if he were real, Don Juan would smell like a musty, sweaty man (they did not have deodorant in the 17th century).  This one is a no-brainer, with the tequila a clear winner.  So now we arrive at the best part of any liquor review, the drinking.  It is here that we finally come to one similarity, smooth.  Don Julio Blanco and Don Juan are both very smooth.  Blanco goes down nice and easy.  The fresh citrus notes really shine through for me.  There is a slight spiciness on your tongue and at the back of your throat that finishes clean.  The aftertaste tastes green.  I know a color does not describe a taste, but I guess you could say that it tastes like fresh agave would, but it’s not overwhelming.

    When mixing Blanco with Sprite, I must say that I was a little disappointed.  The Sprite covers up the clean tequila taste and adds an unpleasant artificial flavor to the agave aftertaste.  Not everyone agreed with my assessment, but they’re not writing the review.  I must say that I rather enjoyed Don Julio Blanco with a simple margarita mixer.  I felt that the flavor of the tequila worked quite well with the sour and citrus flavors of the mixer.  This is definitely the way to go and  I thoroughly enjoyed my drinks in this fashion.

    We now arrive at our second similarity, drunkenness.  While Don Juan may get you love-drunk with his devilish good looks and charm, Don Julio Blanco will get you nice and liquored up with it’s 80-proof muscle.  Here at BoozeBasher, we prefer the liquor drunk route.  So this means that Don Julio wins again!  The next morning, though, Don Julio will not be treating you as well as Don Juan might.  You will encounter the same problem that all tequilas have, the hangover.  I was not completely worthless the next day, but I was no spring chicken either.  In this case, the choice is yours as to which Don is victorious, but there is still a very clear difference between the two.

    So, to recap, Don Julio does not equal Don Juan.  You can pick up a bottle of Blanco for $50.  While you’ll never be able to buy a Don Juan, you can pick up a book about him for $13.  Overall, Don Julio Blanco was an enjoyable experience, and it even did well with the seasoned tequila drinkers (Wade and myself) in the blind tasting last month.  You can read more about here.  Salud!

Shootability- 7.0

Mixability - 7.0

Drunkability - 7.5

Hangover-ability - 7.0

Bang for the Buck - 4.0

Overall - 7.0 

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    When Trago first contacted us about sending some of their tequila to review I had some mixed emotions.  The first was obviously “woohoo, we are getting some free ultra-premium tequila for BoozeBasher staff consumption!”  Then I began to think about all of the possible issues involved in tasting this newcomer to the tequila world.  If it tastes really horrible, will I feel obligated to review it “gently” because I know they will be reading the review?  What if the Trago folks disagree with our review, call me names during recess, and then pick me last for kickball?  Fortunately, all of my fears were put to rest when we received our first samples because we discovered that Trago makes some damn tasty tequila. 

    If you checked out our feature article on Trago’s tequilas, then you probably know a bit of the company history.  If you haven’t read the article, shame on you, but I will get you a quick overview anyway.  Trago is an ultra-premium tequila distiller with their headquarters in Las Vegas, NV.  The distillery is located in central Mexico and is operated by Felipe Camarena, who happens to be the son of Don Felipe, also know as the father of tequila.  So the Trago name might be new, but the guys producing it are definitely not rookies.

    The Añejo is the big daddy of the Trago family.  Rested for 18 months in used American bourbon barrels, it is the darkest of the three.  At first glance, you might wonder why your liquor store has started stocking giant bottles of cologne, however, please do not attempt to dab this liquor on yourself.  Though the aroma of this Añejo is possibly as intoxicating as the actual tequila and might be effective in attracting members of the opposite sex with drinking habits, it would be a horrible waste of this precious liquid.  The moment you crack open a bottle of Trago Anejo, you know that it’s different from those other tequilas you have consumed in the past.  The sweet aroma of the blue agave is still present, however, it is intricately interwoven with a mix of peperry spice, a hint of vanilla, and a dash of brown sugar.  The nose of this tequila is so amazing that you might end up spending a large portion of your evening just wafting its aroma, that is, until you remember that you bought this tequila to drink.

    When I say drink, I really mean savor.  The folks at Trago recommend this Añejo be consumed neat and from a snifter.  The BoozeBasher staff wholeheartedly agrees with this suggestion.  When sipped, the first flavor on your pallet is the peppery spice that was also present in the Silver.  That spice remains on your tongue from start to finish, but it mingles with a hint of smokey oak, maple syrup, and a large dose of sweet blue agave.  The finish is impossibly long for a tequila, with the smokey spice flavors dominating when you inhale and the sweet agave dancing back across you tongue when you exhale.  Honestly, this tequila blows past the “Best Tequila I Have Consumed” category and lands into the “Best Liquor I Have Consumed” category.  Really, I enjoyed it that much.  Unfortunately, not all of the BoozeBasher staff agreed.  While everyone agreed that it was quite good and a couple even agreed that it was one of the tastiest liquors they have consumed, others felt that the spice was a little overpowering and diverged too far from a traditional tequila flavor.  Oddly, my suggestion of CAT scans to determine the dissenters cranial anomalies was not well received.

    Unfortunately, there are some aspects of tequila that cannot be distilled aways.  Yup, the bane of all tequila drinkers, the hangover.  A night of drinking Trago Añejo will leave you with a nice little reminder, in the form of a headache that will last a large part of the following day.  Fortunately, this 80-proof elixir will provide you with a night of fun before the misery the next day.  Consuming it neat expedites the night’s festivities and before you know it, you will be dancing on the tables with the best of them.

   The Trago brand might be a newcomer to the tequila world, but it is backed up by a family with over ten decades of distilling experience, and that expertise shows in the very first sip.  You might not have had the opportunity to get your hands on a bottle yet.  It is slowly making its way across the U.S from the West Coast, and I have heard of a few sightings on the eastern seaboard.  If you do happen upon a bottle, I suggest you grab it before anyone else has the opportunity.  Trago Añejo is not cheap, as it will cost you about $67 for a fifth of this unique tequila.  However, I think it is definitely worth the price, and I know I will be snatching up the first bottle I see on the shelves.

Sipability - 9.0

Mixability - N/A

Drunkability - 7.5

Hangover-ability - 6.5

Bang for the Buck - 4.0

Overall - 8.0  

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