Tequila takedowns, cask finishes, and BTAC pricing...oh my!
Fawn Weaver’s tequila takedowns prove questionable
It’s not often we get a mashup of whiskey and tequila to talk about, but Fawn Weaver, founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey has delivered just that. In two of three Instagram videos she called Tequila Takedown Part 1 and Takedown part 2, Weaver expressed her dismay over learning that tequilas she’s loved for years contain additives—flavoring, coloring and aromatics—that Mexico’s regulatory body doesn’t require distillers report unless they exceed 1 percent of the liquid by volume.
After criticizing tequila makers who use additives, Mexico’s regulators who OK them and Americans who purchase them instead of bourbon, she heaped praise on Uncle Nearest bourbon for its purity. But wait, there’s more.
Part 1 was weird, especially when, at the end, she said, “I see dead people,” clanked a bottle of Uncle Nearest on the wooden stopper of Don Julio 1942 and then began dancing. (WTH?)
Part 2 was strange when she voiced her disappointment about shopping at a store where she couldn’t find any additive-free tequilas except one—Patron El Cielo, a cristalino. (If you don’t know what that is, trust me, cristalinos are worthless, high-priced spirits, marketing gimmicks of the worst order.) In a few flag-waving moments, she mentioned America and American products to point out that Americans should buy only American. (Editor's note: It appears that Tequila Takedown Part 2 has since been deleted from Weaver's Instagram account.)
All of this served to make Part 3 even weirder. She said “Big Tequila” has worked to convince consumers that tequila is “more pure, more clean than our native product, bourbon”—a claim which she didn’t substantiate and which I find no fact. In this video, she’s flanked stage right by several bottles of Uncle Nearest whiskies and stage left by high-quality, additive-free tequila bottles. After calling the tequilas pure and lovely, she said, “And that’s what this is all about. Those of you who know me, you’ve already figured that out. … you knew this Part 3 was coming, telling me who your favorite additive-free tequilas are.”
I don’t buy it. Weaver is backpedaling. If she wanted to elevate great tequila, why did she call her series Tequila Takedown? Heck, at least start off Part 3 calling it Tequila Uplift. Watch Parts 1 and 2 and compare her words to Part 3. You’ll figure it out.
She went from being upset that no one told her about additives to becoming flummoxed that she couldn’t find anything on the web to guide her to the good stuff. (www.tequilamatchmaker.com is an excellent source for this). She never said anything in the first two Takedowns that even hinted that she was going to praise additive-free tequilas in the third Takedown. When tequila-knowledgeable critics pounced after Takedowns 1 and 2, Weaver got wise.
And to ensure you know where I stand, additive-free tequilas are the best by far.
Loving current cask finishes
Just when I wanted to proclaim this year that I’m finished with cask finishing, some great bottles came my way to make me think, “Finally, something that really benefitted from and was noticeably changed by another cask.”
The guys at Pursuit United have figured out double oak better than many. Using net-encased oak “staves” (Jenga-looking rectangles, really) inserted into the cask via the bunghole, they get much greater control over the oak impact on the whiskey. Taste it regularly, and when it’s ready, yank out the “sausage link staves” and let the spirit continue aging in its first cask.
It suits my palate for sure, and apparently others’ as well. They kept running out of bottles when selling at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. Great problem to have.
Sherry casks, you ask? Sometimes. I've preferred PX’s golden raisin note over oloroso’s nutty note until Angel’s Envy master distiller, Owen Martin, turned that notion on its head. His solution is long aging (17 months in the case of a single barrel oloroso second cask I helped pick) and casks chosen carefully by a trusted and good supplier. I really dreaded the idea of picking an oloroso cask, but I was blown away by the results he poured us.
I was in Austin, Texas, recently to attend an event centered on Bearface, a Canadian whisky. This whisky starts in ex-bourbon casks, moves to red wine casks, aged in shipping containers in British Columbia, and then finished in virgin, toasted Hungarian casks. I’ll detail that process in a later story, but just know the whisky is good, truly unique and wholly affordable. If you’re looking for a low-proof sipper with character, I recommend it.
But this year, perhaps my favorite surprise was Barrell Bourbon’s Ice Wine Cask finish. I try to spit out most of what I’m tasting for reviews, but none of that happened when reviewing this. I try to review at least two and ideally three whiskies in the course of an afternoon, but this one stole the show, was swallowed happily and my sipping glass was refilled at least twice. The other two reviews were pushed to the next day.
Blame high BTAC prices on retailers
This week, Buffalo Trace announced the release of its Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Of the five bottles in the group, none is higher than $149.99. You read that right. MSRP is $149.99.
To the multitudes who blame distillers for soaring prices, you’re mistaken. Put this one squarely on retailers who know the market will bear much more. If read reviews closely, most list MSRPs. That's the only clue you need to know who's price gouging.
Nuff said about that.