This is a relatively newly stocked item in Virginia and I’ve been curious about it for a while since seeing it by chance on the shelf of one of my local stores. Initially, I was undecided about picking up a bottle since the reviews on it online are mixed – Lesson Learned: Online reviews can be useful but also need to be read with care since they vary widely in detail and quality (for example, “reviews” based on samples from big events without any follow-up tastings are of very limited usefulness).
Produced at distillery La Cofradía (NOM 1137) in Tequila in the Jalisco Valley, which practices sustainable methods including composting of agave fibers, solar power, and reforestation initiatives, ElVelo (“The Veil) Reposado is bottled at 89 proof (44.5% ABV) from a distillation proof of 55-57% ABV using natural spring water running from the Tequila Volcano (Volcán de Tequila). The flavor profile for both the blanco and the reposado were developed by master distiller Carlos Hernandez Ramos and Brandon Cummins, director of education for Altamar Brands, which also releases the excellent Lágrimas Del Valle single estate tequila brand with distillery Cascahuín (NOM 1123).
ElVelo is made using mature 6-7-year-old Blue Weber agaves with brix levels of at least 21% grown both in the distillery’s own fields as well as sourced from local farmers. The agaves are cooked in stone/brick ovens (hornos) for 32 hours including a 16-hour closed-door resting period to prolong caramelization. The sugars (aguamiel) are extracted in a 3-step process: roller mill, an extruder shredder, and again with a roller mill. Open-air temperature-controlled stainless steel tank fermentation uses a mix of saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer’s/baker’s) and ambient yeast with some agave fibers (bagasse). The tequila is 2x-distilled in copper-lined stainless steel pot stills before the blanco is aerated and aged for five months in ex-Jack Daniel’s American White Oak barrels. La Cofradía’s aging cellar has mango trees growing inside of it.
A light straw yellow, the reposado needs aeration time to fully blossom on the nose and the palate. After opening up, the prominent ethanol begins to dissipate revealing aromas of dried and grilled tropical fruits (papaya and pineapple), light caramel and vanilla, cooked agave, baking spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom), grapefruit peel, and herbal notes.
On the palate, the flavors pop fully rolling the tequila slowly across your palate. The flavor profile is earthy and herbal with a slight malolactic note and is defined by punchy cooked and musky raw agave, the baking spices from the nose with the addition of cloves, more prominent caramel, light vanilla, orange zest, tropical fruits (dried, fresh, and grilled: papaya, pineapple, mango), herbal/grassy/vegetal notes, oak/barrel notes, and a finish of punchy black pepper and some anise and oak tannin bitterness mixing with the sweetness. The flavors need time to pop fully on the palate. The mouthfeel is creamy/oily with a good finish of 7-9 seconds.
The brand’s name refers to the veil of volcanic ash that covered what is now the Jalisco Valley in ancient times shaping the mineral rich soil in which Blue Weber agave plants now flourish in.
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