El Espolon Tequila Silver

Tasted out of a double ball glass.
I was very impressed by this blanco as I fel
it covered all the bases as far as a blanco is concerned.
Fruit, vegetal, sweet, earthy, and finishing with a great agave lingering.
For $21.99 it's the best blanco bargain in town.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the tequila connoisseur that many on this forum are, but I must say that Espolon is a surprisingly good tequila - especially considering the cost. I've enjoyed a few bottles of the blanco. It's an 100% agave that sells for about the same price as many popular mixtos, but it's much better than any mixtos tequila that I've ever had. This is a true bargain - I hesitate to post this review for fear that more people will discover Espolon and cause the price to increase.

Espolon Silver ? NOM 1440 ? Tasted 12/31/06. With a clear color, Espolon Silver has intense aromas of earthy and floral scents. Less apparent are moderate spice and fruit with mild smoke aromas. Upon initial taste, the tequila has a heavy mouth feel and has a slight burning sensation on the tip of the tongue. Intense flavors of agave, spice, and earth accents are followed by moderate floral and smoke flavors. The finish consists of hot alcohol intensity and a medium-to-long duration of flavor. I rate this tequila at the ?A/A-? range.

Being the type of guy who's always on the lookout for a good value, I found it nearly impossible to pass up Espolon when I saw it for under $20. It's a good brand from a good distillery. Let's see how it tastes...

Aroma: Nice cooked agave nose with some citrus.
Initial Taste: Very simple. Agave, citrus and a hint of spice.
Body: Medium-thin, but oily enough to coat the mouth well. Very agave forward. Lots of pepper to round out the sweetness.
Finish: A very nice finish for such an inexpensive brand. Generally cheap tequilas are a bit more bland or seem watered down. This one has a nice, spicy finish that lingers around nicely.

For around $20, this is nearly a must have. It's a great mixer and very good value blanco sipper. Very smooth with a lot of spiciness and character. If you see this one on the shelf, it's a no brainer.

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