Cheers to those who served. Celebrating this Veterans Day with Siembra Valles Aniversario capón blanco. I was fortunate to enjoy this years Aniversario release with the brand owner at a curated tasting & it easily ranks up there among the best of the best. With the announcement of a pit cooked variant last Friday, i made a bee line to my favorite shop at the first opportunity & thankfully they had one put aside for me. It's been some time since I sat down to collect my thoughts & write a proper review, I apologize if I'm a bit rusty. Can the pit cooked bottling eclipse the original? does this version take an amazing blanco to even higher heights? Let's get into it.
For those who need to know, capón is a technique in the world of mezcal & agave spirits where the quiote stalk is cut when the agave reaches full maturity, which results in the plant concentrating it's sugars. I'm sure there's a better explanation, feel free to ask your favorite AI agent. Wood tank fermentation, fermenting with fibers, mallet maceration, pit cooking, all of these techniques come from the history and tradition of agave spirits, it's great to see them working back into the tequila sphere. Moving right along...
In the glass: nothing to see here. Both are the same color, which is to say there is no color. Clearer than clear. Do you see silver streaks? I don't & I'm really trying.
On the nose: for the brick oven it's all agave. Sweet grass, a bit of black licorice if you really close your eyes & focus. Pit cooked leans more into the herb garden, I get a hint of smoke which is expected, but not overpowering.
Down it goes: brick oven is sugary sweet agave, a bit of petrichore soil earthiness, then a blast of black jellybean, fennel, & anise. clearing my palate with black coffee, I'm really floored by the pit cooked blanco. This is more like cooked agave sweetness, less intense with a bit of char, like burnt carmelized sugar. There's no smoke in the taste which surprised me as I was expecting something between ArteNOM 1123 & a sweeter Siembra Valles Ancestral.
while I love the original, this new batch is definitely its own thing as opposed to more of the same or a mild departure. Going back to the brick oven blanco, that black jellybean finish is huge. I was expecting something savory & I'm not getting anything like that with the pit oven, it's more like drinking a creme brulee. There's a lot going on with both, I don't think I can pick a favorite.
I will wrap it up & say if you're gonna splurge on a spendy blanco, get one of these. already own the original? get both. My expectations were subverted in the best way. these are truly unique blancos, an experience in & of themselves. if you are getting bored with more & more of the same highlands blanco releases, take a trip to the valley. I'll leave it at that, thanks again to all our veterans, & most of all thank you for reading. ¡Salúd!