The Noble Bloggers #5 featuring Khrys Maxwell’s Muchoagave.com
Mucho Agave is the work of a unique and charismatic character in the world of Tequila. Khrys Maxwell has been a longtime aficionado and one of the most inquisitive people to explore the world of distilled agave spirits, having visited “quite a few” distilleries in Mexico (a LOT, of them, actually). A relevant member of the most important Online Communities about Tequila, Khrys writes extremely detailed (and amazing!) tequila reviews, using his wide experience with agave distillates and tequila, having tasted hundreds of brands.
And did we mention he is also a rock star? An accomplished rock guitarist, with several recordings under his belt. His new band, Los Loaded Saints, start recording their debut album next week. But we are here to talk about tequila, so this is what Khrys wants to share with you today.
“When you go to your local water hole or liquor store, you will notice that there are a bunch of tequilas out there. I’ve tasted a lot of them. And for the brands that have been around for 20+ years, I usually prefer the ones that were distilled and bottled before 2001.Back then, it seems like the producers were taking their time to create unique and full bodied tequilas – they weren’t using any shortcuts, nor were they neutering the flavor profile for the American market. But to me, Casa Noble is one of the few brands that is better now, than they were 5, 10, 15, years ago.
In just the last 7 years I have seen Casa Noble fine tune their production process, not in order to be “more efficient”, but to make a good tequila, better. And on top of that, Casa Noble has become distinctive, a brand that separates itself in an ocean of tequilas. From harvesting individual agave based on ripeness, rather than age of the field (which by the way, their agave fields are in the state of Nayarit which has a different terroir than La Valley de Tequila or Los Altos). By slightly adjusting the cooking temperature and time to get more character from the agave as well as using natural fermentation and a third distillation, Casa Noble has achieved a defined profile in their unaged Crystal that is silky, sweet, herbaceous, citrusy, and robust. But what really separates Casa Noble from the rest, are the barrels they use to age their reposado and añejo tequilas.
Used American whiskey barrels are the most commonly used barrels for aging tequila. This is very traditional, and has gone back to the Prohibition era. There are also few producers out there that use French Oak. One could argue the virtues of either types of cask, but to me they are both great. Casa Noble is one of the few who use French Oak. Not only are they using barrels that had been previously used for wine or cognac, but they use brand new Taransaud and Jacques Garnier barrels as well – and as far as I know, the only tequila brand that uses these very special French Oak casks. Beyond the sweet, fudgy, chocolate notes that are typically associated with used French Oak barrels, these new barrels bring more defined spice, honey butter and raw dark chocolate tones to the table. The Taransaud and Jacques Garnier casks also bring a lot of depth to Casa Nobles’ reposado and añejo tequilas, and helped to create a unique flavor profile that stands out from the rest.
Uniqueness is what I want from a tequila, and Casa Noble delivers!”
Please visit his website by clicking on the link below:
