Blue Head Tequila Blanco

The first time I tried this blanco, it was early in my tequila tasting experience, and was a little unpleasant, but I decided to give it another try.

The nose evolves as it opens up. It starts earthy and grassy, but turns sweet and vegetal (green pepper) after a period of time. It's actually a nice balance of agave and the aforementioned other elements. The taste focuses on the sweet and the pepper, but more heated pepper instead of raw vegetal pepper. It has a pleasant heat. The body is more on the thin side, but not watery, however it does have a bit of oiliness to offer - a redemptive factor. Not much burn in the finish - very smooth. What it lacks in heat, it still has in taste. The original flavors of sweet heat remain, but primarily on the back of the palate, and not deep in the goozle. A raw vegetal lingering creeps up over time.

I have to say the repeat performance of this blanco has been quite nice. It has some complexity and pleasant elements throughout that keep me coming back for more. I will not be mixing this one. Priced in the low $30 range, I think it is worth it. In fact, I might have to spring for one of the aged varieties now. The bottle is not fancy with the painted native American head, but I actually like the screw top with the wooden cap, and overall the bottle is very functional. Me like'em this firewater.

Tasted this on 5-22-10 in Riedels. Initial nose is clean agave, with fuel and green chile/vegetable/herb. Lots of alcohol both in nose and in finish. Intake is clean and light, slightly smooth, with a nice burn going down. Finish happens quickly then disappears, but leaves the back of the palate slightly numb and with a nice memory of the experience.

This is not a sexy bottle, despite the cool artwork. However, it is apparently one of those instances where they paid more attention to the contents than to the packaging. The price is more than fair - but, to be fair, we see this only at one liquor store in our area (Broudy's) and they always have Cuervo Platino on sale for $29.99, the same price as Blue Head, which is why it's taken us so long to get to tasting Blue Head and others in their price range. I feel that if it were priced a teeny bit lower, it would be healthy competition for El Jimador and Azul for that affordable-100%-agave-to-be-sipped-or-thrown-into-a-margarita tequila.

In all, this is really good, highly approachable, very affordable and a worthy addition to any collection.