AsomBroso 11 Year Old Añejo Tequila
Humidor Included
The taste of this two-decade plus gestation (10 year growth and 11 year aging), is like no other tequila. The initial nose has a sweet intensity, with hints of butterscotch and caramel; as you inhale you get hints of honey and oak and a bit of cinnamon. Your initial taste is warming to the throat with an agave hint, but no bitterness. Your subsequent sips reveal a smooth oakiness with a short but sweet finish.
To be called Anejo, tequila must be aged at least one year in oak barrels 600 liters or smaller. Extra Anejo is a relatively new category and requires the tequila to be rested at least three years in oak barrels not larger than 600 liters. And, from its inception, to be called AsomBroso, its Anejo had to be aged at least FIVE years. Its five-year maturation in relatively new French Oak casks gives AsomBroso its storied aroma, flavor profile and award-winning taste.
Now comes a new unofficial category: Vintage…comprised of only one entrant: an extra special aged anejo only available in extremely limited quantities. This is a tequila from my own collection, an 11 Year Anejo, virtually unheard of outside of the Tequila Elite of Mexico. This is the first and only 11 year old tequila to be sold in the United States. While there is no Vintage nomenclature for tequila as regulated by the Mexican CRT (the official Tequila Regulatory Council), for all intents and purposes, this is a Classic Vintage tequila and worthy of an “outstanding” or “great” rating if this were a wine. This Vintage 11 Year Anejo Tequila was rested for eleven years in 220 liter French Oak casks. This eleven year old tequila is certified by the CRT and its offering will be the first of its kind outside of a select “inner circle” in Mexico.
Over two decades ago, Enrique Fonseca Sr., a renown agave grower and tequila maker, had an idea…take his best organically grown agave and use it to make a special longer aged, extra special tequila. After a ten-year growth period, he hand selected the 100% Blue Agave plants to become this special tequila. He then took his freshly distilled premium silver tequila and sealed a cache of it into a few small French Oak casks as part of his experiment in making a longer aged Anejo.
Now, 21 years after Fonseca’s inspiration, and after aging 11 years in the small casks, I have convinced his son and my partner, Enrique Fonseca Jr., to let me bottle and distribute some of this unique family legacy.
Please join my inner circle and take the time to sip, savor, and then enjoy Senor Fonseca’s finest vintage tequila.
While tequila aficionados may be familiar with the categories reposado (aged at least two months) and añejo (aged at least a year), the extra-añejo label applied to tequilas aged more than three years wasn't established until 2006. At that time, this tequila was already mellowing in oak barrels, so someone at AsomBroso was definitely looking ahead. Distilled according to time-honored practices using organically grown 100 per cent blue agave, AsomBroso 11 Year Añejo is then patiently aged in French oak barrels, imparting the tequila with a unique bouquet of aromas and a smooth, warm mouthfeel. Since the agave plants harvested were ten years old, and it sat for an unheard-of eleven years, this expensivo spirit took more than two decades to make, and displays the kind of elegance and refinement that can only come with age. Wondering about the shape of the hand-made bottle? It was inspired by an eighteenth-century crystal decanter discovered in an English castle by founder Ricardo Gamarra, and is replete with intricate millefiori glass "flowers."
