Olmeca Altos Plata Tequila

Another successful margarita night. Bottle cashed. Batch 18HV0483

Sweet agave, followed by pepper, mild citrus and briney, finishes with bright peppercorns.

Rating: 12/23 N: Nice savory herbal and vegetal notes. Spice (white pepper) with some musty cardboard coming out. A little mint. Faint orange rind. It has a bit of earthiness and faint smokiness in with that cooked agave savoriness. A meatiness really starts coming out as I let the glass sip and I'm not sure if that's going to be cooked agave or poor quality distillate. On to the palate to find out. P: Not quite what I was expecting. It's smooth and kind of watery at first until some peppery harshness kicks in. It plays up the musty cardboard big time. There's also fresh ginger. I get some fruitiness, but it isn't big, bold, tropical flavors. Maybe a bit of banana and apple. Vague herbal and vegetal notes form a base, but they don't make it particularly rich or interesting. There's kind of a bitterness that could be lime rind. Some minerality that has some faint brine to it. I'm kind of underwhelmed by this palate. I feel like there should be more going on and the taste should be more substantial. It's a bit muddled, a tad sulfuric, and a little harsh. It would be fine in a cocktail, but I don't think I'd sip this neat. F: musty cardboard, vague herbal and vegetal notes. A bit of minerality, but it isn't a super light and thin finish. - Conclusion - Próspero Blanco strikes me as better than this initially. They have similar flaws, but Próspero has less emphasis on them and some nice tropical fruit flavors to balance it out. Except that the alcohol is much more apparent in the Próspero. I'm quite confident that Tapatio Blanco and Partida Blanco are better than this though. So for scoring, this looks like it's landing in the 11 to 14 range. I'm thinking a 12 is most likely. Thanks @ctbeck11 for the sample :)

Sweet and peppery nose. Lots of citrus on tasting with some sweet cooked agave and a peppery hot finish. Most flavorful tequila I’ve had in this price range.

Earthy, Herbal and Fruity: This tequila tastes and smells deeply earthy at first. It tastes like the agave plant and the ground it came from, its super deep and dark, I don't really enjoy it. On the second sip, that goes away, and all I can taste is the aftertaste I get from orange juice. I don't like the clash of those two flavors, at first I taste the earthy darkness, but then I get overtaken by that orange juice taste, very weird mix. This tequila is okay for the price, its got some unique stuff going on. In a margarita it tastes like I mixed orange juice in there because of that tates I was talking about earlier