Luminar Mezcal Añejo

Day 17 advent calender. Tried neat. To the nose it smells more like a tequila with notes of agave and oak. On the palate it’s wayyy more like a tequila than a mezcal which is a bit disappointing. After further sips I do get slightly notes of vanilla. I don’t hate it but I suppose I prefer jovens more. Surprising it was rated 93 at TW.. must be that more people enjoy tequila here 🤔

Let sit for about 5 minutes. 👀: Pale blonde with sunlit grassy flecks, legs start strong but dissipate quickly; 👃: Sweet with smoky notes as if from pineapple, a bit plasticky; 👅: Very oily and creamy, hardly any flavor; 🏁: Almost no linger, flavor dissipates quickly.

Not bad burns but smooth after

There are better añejos out there. Try them.

Rating: 8/23 N: I get more caramel, vanilla, and light banana notes than I did from the reposado. There's wood that's dry and on the dusty side. A little bit of light mineral fruity (apple?) sweetness comes through too. It's a solid nose. P: There's a nice sweet caramel with some richness, but also mineral restraint with some dustiness that blends into wood. There's a little bit of lemon and orange in here, but those flavors are hard to pick out. And then there's also this big gob of sulfur. It's really overwhelming. It's also sort of like rotting vegetation. Somehow, it seems like the vegetal and smoky flavors merged to create this real mess at the core that also lacks complexity. F: A bit of caramel sweetness and mineral, but mostly sulphur. - Conclusion - This isn't as harsh as the other Luminars, but it's the first of them that has flavor-wise been actively unenjoyable. Even for the sake of the review, I'd rather not finish this 50 ml bottle. There are some notes here that are enjoyable, but the core flavor is bad and this is still kind of harsh. There's no way that this is higher than a 9, but it's probably at least a 6. I'm leaning toward 8. I feel like the joven can get away with the sulphur better because it's a deliberately funky product. The flavor here seems like a more refined until the big, rotting, sulphuric blob hits. The sulphur along might leave it at a 9, but the rotting flavor is horrible. I think an 8 seems about right.

More of a nice anejo tequila, smooth with a bit of spice but not smokey. Also tried the Joven and Reposado, with similar results.

Detected traces of boredom

This is terrible.