Tequila Ocho Extra Añejo 2020
Tequila Ocho · Destilería La Alteña
Where many extra añejos let the barrel overwhelm the spirit, Ocho's 2020 vintage maintains a clear dialogue between agave and oak. The terroir-driven approach — single ranch, single vintage — gives this bottle a specificity that mass-produced competitors can't match. The finish alone justifies the price.
Nose
Cooked agave and caramel dominate, with dark chocolate, vanilla, and a faint whiff of tobacco. Oak is present but measured, letting the agave speak.
Palate
Silky and layered, with butterscotch and cinnamon balanced against a deep cooked agave center. Coffee and leather emerge on the mid-palate, anchored by minerality.
Finish
Remarkably long, with oak and dark chocolate tapering into sweet agave and a final note of leather and smoke that persists well after the sip.
- Agave
- 100% Blue Weber Agave, single estate
- Production
- Brick oven cooked, tahona and roller mill extraction
- Region
- Los Altos, Jalisco, Mexico
- Cooking Method
- Brick oven cooked, tahona and roller mill extraction
- Distillation
- Double distilled in copper pot stills
- NOM
- NOM 1474
- Additives Free
- Yes
Food Pairing
The tequila's dark chocolate and cinnamon notes find their mirror in a complex mole sauce, while its leather and smoke accent the braised meat's caramelized exterior.
Born from a collaboration between the late Tomás Estes and the legendary Carlos Camarena at Destilería La Alteña, Tequila Ocho pioneered the concept of single-estate, vintage-dated tequila, treating agave fields with the same reverence Burgundy affords its vineyards.
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