El Tesoro’s New Tequila Was Aged in Knob Creek Rye Barrels
El Tesoro is a tequila brand that is part of the Beam Suntory family, so it has access to an enormous amount of casks to use for maturation from nearly every whiskey category. The latest release in the El Tesoro Mundial Collection takes full advantage of this relationship—it's an añejo tequila that was fully matured in Knob Creek rye barrels.
This new tequila is the second release in the Mundial series. The first was the 2021 release of the Laphroaig Edition, an anejo matured for a year in 10-year-old barrels from the Islay distillery known for producing heavily peated scotch. Knob Creek Rye Edition was, as you probably guessed from the name, aged in barrels used to mature seven-year-old Knob Creek Rye produced at the James B. Beam Distilling Co . "The idea of this release was to bring the rolling hills of Kentucky to Mexico, or Mexico to the rolling hills of Kentucky," master distiller Carlos Camarena told Robb Report this week. He worked with Beam master distiller Fred Noe to pick choice rye barrels to ship to the La Alteña Distillery in Jalisco, and would send him samples to taste during the year the tequila spent in those casks. "We didn't know how tequila and rye would interact," said Camarena. "The right time to take it out of the barrel was when it showed the best of both worlds, highlighting the agave but also expressing the rye [character]. We didn't want the tequila to cover the flavors of the whiskey, or vice versa."
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Indeed, the rye influence comes across here, which is no surprise after so long in those new charred oak barrels. The nose opens up with a burst of honey and agave. The palate follows suit with these notes, along with black pepper, brown sugar, caramel, and some orange zest. The spice is present but not aggressive, which makes sense given that Knob Creek Rye is made from a mashbill of somewhere just over the legally required 51 percent rye, not a 95 percent rye like you might find from MGP in Indiana.
While most aged tequila is matured in ex-bourbon barrels, there are very few that have spent time in rye whiskey casks. Camarena said he believes the new Mundial expression is the second one (another that comes to mind is the Expresiones del Corazon tequila aged in Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye barrels). But the quality of this new tequila might inspire others to follow suit. El Tesoro Mundial: Knob Creek Rye Edition (SRP $175) will be available in the coming weeks at select retailers. You can also find other expressions in the Mundial series, like the single barrel version of the Laphroaig Edition, available to purchase from websites like Total Wine .
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