El Espolon Tequila Silver

I'm not a huge fan of drinking blancos neat, but Espolon was half off and at $16 I had to try it.

Good, not magical. I like the aroma, and it's not bad overall.

It does get better when very cold, I blended a bit up just with an ice cube and it was delicious, and then made a cocktail with Tequila Rosa and OJ (and El Espolon Silver) which I completely enjoyed.

I am skeptical about silver (blanco) Tequilas for sipping but I wanted to try one to calibrate my taste buds. A true fan of whisk(e)y and especially single malt scotch, I like a strong natural flavor to appear in my glass. I love true Oaxacan blanco Mezcal for its unrelenting earthy, smoky character but I also appreciate subtlety and elegance in distillates, like flowery lowland scotches. That being said, I found very little character in the nose, pallate and finish of Espolon Blanco. There was nothing at all offensive or aggressive, but that was perhaps the problem...

The nose certainly showed agave and mild smoke. The initial taste was dry, clean and mild, showing some slight vegetal hints of cactus and aloe. The finish was dry and clean, with a light trailing waft of the agave. Unfortunately, the overall impression was that of an agave-flavored vodka, with clean alcohol and a light burn being the dominant characteristics. This is surely well-made stuff, but uninteresting on its own and something that disappears in a cocktail. Un-aged and under-aged stuff should reek of its natural components; this did not.

Overall, a very un-offensive, mildly tasty tequila, and great for the price as there are NO off-notes whatsoever, but if you're looking for gutsy, risk-taking flavor in your strait glass or mixed drink, go for something else!

Buy and by, I'll throw this bottle into many margaritas and have a nice clean buzz with no hangover to worry about!

Tequila Espolon Silver, NOM 1440. I tasted this tequila in a small, stemmed Cognac glass. It is crystal clear in color & has an almost neutral, light agave nose with a clearing, open, alcohol sensation. The rainbow of spicy-sweet tastes included cardamon, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, & an ample amount of cloves all blended together very nicely with some traces of alcohol. The sweetness continued into the body with a nice, warm glow. This spirit finished in the middle of the tongue & faded off with an earthy, floral bouquet. Espolon is smooth but still possesses a youthful, rawness experienced as a moderate, alcohol burn. I enjoyed the initial taste of this blanco more than any other to date but overall it fell just a bit short of my expectations. B+/A