Espolon making a come back

[DarrenPASION]

Campari bought the Espolón brand along with the San Nicolas Distillery where it is made in 2009. The brand has been absent from the US market for three years, having been originally introduced to the US in 2000.

We're hosting a re-release party next week at my work (invite only unfortunately). New bottles look cool. Any Espolon fans? Opinions, thoughts? Think the juice changed at all?

Price - US$24.99 per bottle

[totallytequila]

In one of the other Espolon threads I started a couple of weeks ago, another member mentioned that he thought that they had an over surplus of original juice leftover. Apparently they planned to fill the newer bottles with the old juice? Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that Cabo Wabo did the same thing with their newer label bottles. Anyway, I have always stated many times in the past that IMHO, Espolon is one of the finer tequilas on the market. When Albertson's supermarket chains closed down here in Florida and were selling off their liquor inventory, I bought as many bottles of Espolon as I could find....all at 50% off! Now that they are releasing the newer bottles at a mid-20's price point I plan on purchasing mucho! I enjoy this juice so much that I'm not even sure which flavor I like best. The blanco is just soo flavorful....so earthy. The little extra time in the wood allows the repo to soften nicely. The anejo speaks for itself and has always been in my top five.

If you would Darren, please let us know if you find out any inside info on this juice and share your thought on the quality. Thanks!

[DarrenPASION]

Originally Posted by totallytequila

In one of the other Espolon threads I started a couple of weeks ago, another member mentioned that he thought that they had an over surplus of original juice leftover. Apparently they planned to fill the newer bottles with the old juice? Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that Cabo Wabo did the same thing with their newer label bottles. Anyway, I have always stated many times in the past that IMHO, Espolon is one of the finer tequilas on the market. When Albertson's supermarket chains closed down here in Florida and were selling off their liquor inventory, I bought as many bottles of Espolon as I could find....all at 50% off! Now that they are releasing the newer bottles at a mid-20's price point I plan on purchasing mucho! I enjoy this juice so much that I'm not even sure which flavor I like best. The blanco is just soo flavorful....so earthy. The little extra time in the wood allows the repo to soften nicely. The anejo speaks for itself and has always been in my top five.

If you would Darren, please let us know if you find out any inside info on this juice and share your thought on the quality. Thanks!

I plan on drilling the reps when they are here on thursday with 50 questions. lol ... also might try to con some free tequila. Doesnt hurt to try

[totallytequila]

Originally Posted by DarrenPASION

I plan on drilling the reps when they are here on thursday with 50 questions. lol ... also might try to con some free tequila. Doesnt hurt to try

I went out hunting yesterday and stumbled upon a couple of surprises. I found a shelf filled with GC Plata on sale for $15.99 a bottle. Although it's not my favorite tequila, I figured for that price I would grab a couple of bottles. I mean they get the same price for freakin JC Gold! I also noticed that they had about 2 or 3 bottles each old label Espolon Blanco, Repo, & Anejo all priced the same at $49.99 which of course I found to be quite odd. Since I still have some old school Espolon remaining at my bar I passed on purchasing any of those however, as I am getting ready to head to the checkout, to my surprise I see about a dozen bottles each of new label Espolon Blanco & Repo priced at $19.99 each! That's $5.00 below suggested retail. I may have just found my answer to the best sub $20 tequila! So sometime this week I plan to do a side by side comparing the old juice to the new. I will report back with my findings in the near future.

[Rastaman]

Originally Posted by totallytequila

I went out hunting yesterday and stumbled upon a couple of surprises. I found a shelf filled with GC Plata on sale for $15.99 a bottle. Although it's not my favorite tequila, I figured for that price I would grab a couple of bottles. I mean they get the same price for freakin JC Gold! I also noticed that they had about 2 or 3 bottles each old label Espolon Blanco, Repo, & Anejo all priced the same at $49.99 which of course I found to be quite odd. Since I still have some old school Espolon remaining at my bar I passed on purchasing any of those however, as I am getting ready to head to the checkout, to my surprise I see about a dozen bottles each of new label Espolon Blanco & Repo priced at $19.99 each! That's $5.00 below suggested retail. I may have just found my answer to the best sub $20 tequila! So sometime this week I plan to do a side by side comparing the old juice to the new. I will report back with my findings in the near future.

I can't wait to hear your full report!!

[DarrenPASION]

Talked to my guy with Southern Wine and Spirits today... he says same juice, different packaging.

Let me know how they compare side by side.

[Rastaman]

I can see a trend going on here. There are many brands of tequila now with more coming out every single day. The market share that's available is getting eaten up quick. Anyway, some brands are still putting out very expensive and in some cases very good tequila but other brands are starting to want a bigger piece of the pie and the way to do that is lowering the price and even changing the bottle to something much more simplistic.

Personally, i'm not much for gimmicks. I avoid them. The more simplistic your bottle the greater the chance I'll check it out. I'd rather get a really basic bottle and have you charge me less for the tequila than pay an extra $5 or $10 for a bottle I'm going to throw away at the end.

If this turns out to be the case with Espolon then I say bravo!! $25 to $35 is so much more reasonable than $40 to $60. And the moment several great brands are available at that ($25 to $35) price point it's going to start seeming silly to pay more unless you really really want to and like your particular brand.

I've seen a few brands drop the price of their full line lately. And I commend it because that enables folks to buy even more of their favorite brands.

[Piña]

Ive always been a fan of the anejo.. Glad to see its back

[wichie13]

Espolon has been a fav for me ever since I first tasted it at the distillery.
Can't say which one i like the best, think the whole line is excellent, heres hoping its true that only the bottle has changed.

The new bottle looks ok too, did like the old one but juice is numero uno!

[DarrenPASION]

No side by side comparison, but I had the blanco today at the party and its still yummy. For that price, it might have moved first in line for my daily drinker.