Tasting – Herradura Plata
Tasting – Herradura Blanco
One of the many things I love about Tequila is the history and stories of the each particular brand. Who makes them, why they make them, how they came to be and their involvement in the industry over a long period of time.
Herradura is one of my favourite Tequila brands. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to tour the home of Herradura, the Hacienda San José del Refugio, in October 2011. A Hacienda is “a great house” a chapel, housing for workers, livestock, crops and a business.
The Hacienda was originally started by Feliciano Romo, a Catholic Priest, who amongst other things, made a Mezcal wine. I always find it funny how often Priests were involved in creating some of our most loved beverages. In 1858 the majority of the Hacienda was passed onto Josefa Zalazar, the priests goddaughter. Just 8 years later Josefa was forced to deed much of the Hacienda to Felix Lopez, in lieu of unpaid wages, who was employed to manage the production of the Mezcal wine.
In 1870, Felix Lopez, assumed majority ownership of the Hacienda, and officially registered the Hacienda as tequila producing. The Hacienda has been producing Tequila ever since.
The brand name Tequila Herradura was officially register in 1928.
Herradura remained in the family of Felix Lopez until January 18th 2007 when Brown Forman purchased Herradura and the hacienda.
If my memory serves me correctly my first impression of the Hacienda San José del Refugio was a bit of intimidation as we were greeted by 2 heavily armed guards, I believe carrying AK47’s, and roughly a 15 foot high solid brick fence. Once inside the Hacienda it was amazing to see this beautiful place. Beautiful cobbles stone paths, wonderful architecture, lime trees and a massive tequila production facility.
Herradura Blanco gives a pungent eucalyptus/kerosene nose combined with stewed agave, caramel and hints of lemon. The taste of Herradura Blanco is quite smooth. There is very little alcohol burn but you do get a nice hit of acid upfront with the prominent flavours being grapefruit and cooked agave. It finishes with a great length that is slightly peppery. Not the best Blanco I have ever had but far from the worst. I am more then happy to recommend Herradura to anyone looking for a good example of a quality Tequila Valley Blanco.
