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Agave competition draws 80+ Mexican entries

El Gran Jubileo Tequila Extra Anejo walked off with top honors in the inaugural Agave Spirits Competition, held in Cancun, Mexico.

The 100% blue agave liquor from Destileria la Alborada in Jalisco state took the Platinum Medal, the Top Agave Spirit Award and the Judges Favorite Award.

A panel of six judges from three countries reviewed more than 80 spirits from Mexico during competition at the Royal Resorts Club International and Hacienda Sisal Restaurant between February 2 and 8. They blind-tasted the entries in sixh categories -- aroma, initial taste, body, finish, smoothness, and quality for price. Agave spirits from all over Mexico were eligible to compete in this inaugural Agave Spirits Challenge and dozens of tequilas, mezcals, sotols and agave-based liqueurs entered.

The final rankings produced the top six spirits, which then were tasted blind for the final grand tasting. The finals included three tequila products, two sotols and one mezcal. In addition to the El Gran Jubileo, other platinum winners were El Zacatecano Mezcal Añejo, Hacienda de Chihuahua Sotol H5 Extra Añejo, Tres Mujeres Tequila Añejo, Vida Tequila Reposad and Hacienda de Chihuahua Sotol Añejo.

The complete list of medal and other award winners is available at Agave.net, the sponsoring organization. The event was hosted by founder Darin Jones, owner of TEQUILA.net. It was open to all agave spirits of Mexico, including tequila, mezcal, sotol, destilado de agave, raicilla, and bacanora.

Go here for an explanation of those categories.

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2 comments:

Mike Morales said...

Um...

I thought you were going to be one of the judges.

What happened?

Mike Morales
Intimate Tequila Tastings(TM)

William M. Dowd said...

An unexpected death in the immediate family forced me to withdraw at the last minute.

Thanks for asking.