Rating: 16/23 N: A nice balance of agave with wood. It's dry and kind of dusty with a bit of mint, mild agave sweetness, faint spices. It smells a little complex, but not very. P: Dry and spicy but with a nice sweet caramel agave layer that blends in pretty seamlessly. It lacks the sulfuric funk that the blanco has, fortunately. I get a hint of orange, a bit of mint, and a dash of lime. The mild woody spices really help to fill out the profile with some white pepper and add to the maturity. The complexity is decent here and the balance is really nice. This is light and easy to sip. F: Rich (but not full) with those spices, orange, faint mint, and a bit of extra complexity. It's sweet with that agave character and some woody dryness. It's a fitting conclusion to the palate. - Conclusion - This is a very nice tequila. It isn't excellent, but it's an enjoyable sipper for sure. It isn't as full as the blanco, but it holds together better. Between the two, I'd take this. I'm looking in the 15 to 16 range here. Probably a 15. Although I find this quite enjoyable, I can say for sure that it is not on the level of Fortaleza Blanco Still Strength (17). I might have underrated the Fortaleza a little, but there is a sizable gap between it and this, so I don't see how this would ever go past a 16. I have Cabeza at a 16 (though I can imagine upping it to a 17) and it also beats this. Although Cabeza is rougher around the edges, it has a really punchy and interesting flavor. Cabeza is the least sophisticated of the three, but it's very interesting and tasty. I was leaning toward a 15, but I think I'll give this a very low 16. Side-by-side with a lot of cross-category spirits, I found that the ones I rated 15 were clearly inferior and the ones I rated 16 were generally superior. Consider this to be the lowest 16 out there, but a 16 nonetheless.