Chinaco Añejo
Chinaco (González family) · Tequilera La Gonzaleña (NOM 1127), González, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Nose
Baked apple, papaya, mango, sweet cinnamon, cardamom, mocha, caramel, toasted oak, with an indescribable softness and elegance on the mid-palate
Palate
Long and warm with dark chocolate, dried herbs, vanishing oak spice, and a clean agave sweetness that lingers
Finish
Vanilla, Cinnamon, Caramel, Oak, Fruit (Apple, Pear, Pineapple, Mango), Chocolate (Dark Chocolate, Cocoa)
- Agave
- 100% Blue Weber Agave
- Production
- Rich golden amber
Cocktail Suggestion
The Tamaulipas Sour: 2 oz Chinaco Añejo · 3/4 oz fresh lime juice · 1/2 oz agave nectar · 1/2 oz Grand Marnier · Shake with ice, strain into a rocks glass over a single large cube, garnish with an orange wheel.
Food Pairing
Mole negro with roasted chicken — the chocolate, spice, and fruit complexity in both the mole and the tequila create one of the great pairings.
Chinaco Añejo is the tequila that should not exist — not because it is not excellent, but because it comes from a place nobody associates with tequila.
Redbreast Lustau Edition
Irish Distillers (Pernod Ricard)
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Cragganmore 12 Year Old
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Cragganmore 12 is the Speyside malt that rewards the patient nose. Where many single malts deliver their story in one dramatic chapter, Cragganmore reads like a novel with slow-building subplots. Those unique T-shaped lyne arms create a spirit of genuine complexity that unfolds over an hour in the glass.
Old Grand-Dad 114
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Old Grand-Dad 114 is the thinking drinker's value bourbon — a bottle that punches so far above its price point it almost feels like a mistake. That 27% rye mash bill, nearly double the industry average, gives it a backbone of spice that would overwhelm a lesser whiskey, but here it serves as architecture for layers of caramel, chocolate, and charred oak to hang upon. The high proof isn't a gimmick — it's a magnifying glass, amplifying nuances that lower-proof expressions wash away. At under thirty-five dollars, this is a bottle that seasoned bourbon drinkers quietly recommend to one another.
Chairman's Reserve The Forgotten Casks
St. Lucia Distillers Group of Companies
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Fortaleza Añejo
Tequila Los Abuelos (NOM 1493)
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Siembra Valles Blanco
Siembra Spirits
Siembra Valles is the tequila that bartenders drink after their shift — the one they recommend when you ask for something real. David Suro-Piñera is not just a brand owner; he is a tequila scholar and advocate who founded the Tequila Interchange Project to promote transparency in the industry.
Maestro Dobel Diamante
Proximo Spirits / Beckmann Family
Maestro Dobel Diamante didn’t just create a tequila—it created a category.
Espolòn Reposado
Campari Group
Espolòn is proof that applied heat, carefully controlled, separates good tequila from great tequila. Cirilo Oropeza's decision to quarter the piñas — doubling the surface area exposed to the autoclave's heat — extracts more sweetness and complexity from the agave than conventional methods.