Great sipping. Can drink all day and have a good time in the backyard

Rating: 10/23 I've heard that Cazadores is a solid enough mixer, but not a great mixer, so I haven't tried it before. Getting my hands on a sample, I'm curious to find out whether it might be a good value. N: Wow, I could smell the alcohol coming off of this even as I was just pouring it. It's a clean alcohol scent though and it blends into some mild agave with light wood, paper, lime rind, faint brine, and a touch of spices. Honestly, not a bad nose at all. P: The alcohol hits first, though the agave comes quickly after it. There's a bit of of a hot burn. Some sort of light woody spices with faint white pepper. Minerality. Lime rind, a touch of brine. A little bit of paper as well. There's artificial caramel as well though. This tastes manufactured and a bit off. I wish the flavor were bolder and the alcohol presence were reduced, but this honestly isn't a bad palate, despite the slightly manufactured character. It's not great as a sipper, but it is fairly balanced and has a decent amount going on, so a bolder version could be a great mixer. F: Lingering wafts of alcohol with some bitterness (possibly from the lime peel) and little bits of agave providing a touch of sweetness. Occasional notes of white pepper. - Conclusion - This is actually pretty decent. There is certainly too much plain alcohol flavor and the palate is mild enough that it is likely to be overwhelmed in many drinks, but it seems like a good choice for something like a tequila martini. It's pretty unobjectionable. Side by side, Fortaleza Blanco Still Strength 2019 (17/23) absolutely crushes this with its richer, fuller flavors and more subdued alcohol. Still, I would already be raving about this if I thought it were going to be near a 17. Side by side, it's extra apparent that there's something bitter and off here. I don't have many tequilas open right now, so II'm shifting over to Evan Williams Single Barrel (12/23) for comparison. The Evan Williams is a bit fuller a more balanced than this is. The more I sip this, the more the bitterness and alcohol stand out. That said, I expect bourbon to be much bolder than reposado tequila to begin with, so the relatively thin margin that Evan Williams has over this in terms of boldness doesn't necessarily mean that the Evan Williams is better within its category. On the other hand, I don't feel like I can come up with such a squirrelly argument for this possibly being better than Buffalo Trace (13/23). Buffalo Trace just is better than this. I can imagine this being as low as a 10 or as high as a 12. The 10 seems like a bit of a stretch though. I was leaning toward a 12 for a bit, but now I'm thinking more like an 11. Eh, if I had to choose right now, I'd probably go with the 12. Coming back to this, the flavors aren't super well integrated and there's something artificial about this. It's kind of upsetting. A 12 is out of the picture now and a 10 - or even 9 - is increasingly likely. Right now, I'm leaning toward a 10.

Cinnamon, oak and apples on the palate, followed by the fruitiness and sweetness of the agave. Finishes with some white pepper.