Herradura Tequila Anejo

Herradura is a strange brand for me. It's been inconsistent in all of its ages. This review is on a new bottling of the anejo, which has, for me, consistently been the best of the bunch.

Aroma: A nice complex aroma of woody agave, fruits, oak and a hint of dark chocolate.
Initial Taste: Fruity agave with really nice spice notes.
Body: A nice thick and oily body that coats the mouth really well. There's only a light oak flavor that mixes with the other ones very well. The sweetness is more fruity than the caramel and vanilla that you get from most anejos. It's a pleasant change of pace. The spice notes of pepper and baking spices are there too.
Finish: A really nice cinnamon punch at the end to go with the fruity sweetness. The agave character is still there. The finish has a bit more of a bite than some might like, but I've found that to be common with Herradura that they all tend to finish a little hot. A pretty good finish that could be a bit better.

This is a pretty darn good all around tequila. Given that it has great distribution, it may very well be the best on the shelf of your local liquor store. As mentioned in the finish, it's got some good character, but it loses a bit because of the alcohol heat. Oh well, Herradura Anejo may not be perfect, but it's a pretty darn good tequila.

This one has been one of my staple tequilas for years. Not quite what it used to be but I can still get into it. Nice combination of wood, agave & pineapple.

I am surprised with the broad availability on this that it had taken me so long to taste. The color is quite goldy and on the nose I pulled our lots of cinnamon and some dried fruits (blueberry, cherry). The Palate had that same fruit with some added caramel and the body is really quite full. The finish was pleasant overall a pretty good effort. Presentation -enhhh, nothing special

Ahh Herradura, I kind of have a love/hate with this distillery. It seems like their bottling is inconsistent. Sometimes I have it and love it, others not so much. I bought this bottle based on a tasting I did a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Granted it was chilled and I've since only had it neat in Reidel's or brandy snifters.

Aroma- You can def. tell its been steeped in bourbon/whiskey barrels as its got that oakiness and de facto vanilla/agave. I think I also got a bit of caramel and heavy notes of banana. The longer this sits in the glass the better it is.

Taste- Everything in the nose comes out in the taste with the addition of some vegetal/herbal notes. They've done a great job at keeping the mellow oak with the bite of the agave. Again if I pour then sip I dont enjoy it as much as if I pour and let it sit for 20 minutes and periodically swirl it in the glass. On one hand theres a lot going on here but not so much that my semi-virgin pallet cant pick out.

Price/Presentation- Its a nice bottle with lots of glass, minimal label. Mines dif than the pic above where only the horseshoe is on the bottle. I'd like a cork at this price/quality but its not a turn-off. I paid mid $40's for the bottle and I think thats fair, a lil bit cheaper wouldn't hurt as always.

I hadn't looked at the reviews before trying this and as I was sitting down to write this thought it deserved mid- to high-eighties, and am glad to see the other reviewers agreed pretty much. I paid the Michigan state minimum price of $51.98 for the bottle and feel like for that price there are much better anejo's - still good, just not great. Other reviews would probably hate me for saying this, but I'd take Patron's anejo over this any day for around the same price. And I can get Don Julio's anejo for about the same price too, which is a clear winner in that range.

Anyway, clear agave presence in the nose along with earthy scents and slight vanilla. Initial taste is carmel, vanilla, sweet agave, overall a touch sweet for my taste, but still nice. Clear agave and wood presence in the body. I experienced a pretty long finish with a mild to medium burn on the way down.

I should note, I'm not prone to headaches or hangovers (usually don't drink nearly enough for that), but after I drank this for the first time I had a wicked headache the next day (ALL day). I did drink a bit more than usual - probably five or six ounces, but it seemed odd. I sampled about 2 ounces for this review earlier tonight and feel a hint of a headache again. Not sure if anyone else has experienced, but thought I'd mention it... after all, I view these reviews as a reflection of the total experience and to help other people choose their tequilas with as much info as possible!