There was a time, not long ago, that Don Julio tequilas were revered as "THE" tequila of tequilas throughout most of Mexico's upper-echelon consumers. The bottle, the image, the name, the tequila in itself were all one step above everyone else.
Now, history has a tendency to repeat itself, and the Gonzalez family (now into business again with a brand of their own: Reserva de los Gonzalez... really great stuff) walked out of a long time mission with Don Julio and sold the brand to foreign interests. The brand gained on momentum in the USA, but here in MX things got sadly worse.
Don Julio Reposado used to be a true jewel in the tequila universe. That beefy, slightly "yeasty" aftertaste and the full-blown highland agave power made it an instant favorite. Smooth and tasty, ideal for mixing or sippin' straight, not even a hefty price tag kept it away from the aficionado's hands.
For me, this formerly superb reposado lost most of its luster well over a year ago. Having finished my last of the "old ones", I waited quite some time to go get a new one. knowing that the brand had indeed changed hands. Just for a little history's sake, I think you should know that the original Don Julio started his own distillery way back in 1942 , called La Primavera, located in the beautiful highlands town of Atotonilco El Alto (hence the name "1942" on their super-special anejo), and it was until 1985, his 60th birthday, that his sons created the brand that bears his name: Don Julio.
Now that DIAGEO got his hands on the brand, and the La Primavera distillery no longer belongs to Julio Gonzalez, some changes were to be expected. And changes were not very good.
I must say that the complete Don Julio lineup was really good, bordering on fantastic, back when I organoleptically evaluated them early in my career, back in 1990. The flavor was full, vibrant, delicious,with all the character and mineral accents that define most fine highland tequilas (Tesoro, Espolon, Centinela, 3 Magueyes...to name just a few), and it was really a unique brand in the sense that it simply grabbed the upper-end market in Mexico and never let go. Until recently...
I will NOT include a organoleptic description of the OLD DJ's, but I will try to describe the DIFFERENCES with the new one during this epinion. Will also skip the visual part because it becomes irrelevant in the context of this writing.
WHAT WENT WRONG?
The old DJR was full of fresh cut agave and green grass element in the nose. Now, there is no freshness and quite a bit more alcohol feel. Yeast (bread like sourness) is evident. Most of the subtle, highly aromatic wood notes are now compressed into a heavy oak-rusty sensation. Once harmonious olfatory elements turned simple, flat, almost primitive. One point to its favor, is that there is no harsh-chemical feel, so that is a good thing to note.
The change in flavor structure is more subtle, but a bit annoying nevertheless. Start with a sweeter, thicker agave flavor, that grew in definition but lost depth. Before, the agave notes covered the fresh cut green sensations to the caramely, almost cabbage-like fully cooked agave notes, adorned with coats of toffee-like sensations. Now it is a flatter, simpler agave flavor. Not bad, but far from the old-time magic.
The wood notes worry me the most, because the once harmonious and balanced oak notes, full of secondary elements reminiscent of vanilla, fresh cut anise and even prune, mutated into a much oak-heavy layer that screams "enhancement" (many tequilas use oak essence to balance the wood notes, not only legal but also encouraged for consistency's sake...), might be an effort to please the oak-heavy palates north of the border? This is the most frequent complain I get from old-time DJR fans that began looking for other options since the "mutation" began...along with an almost unanimous perception that the alcohol feel has been greatly reduced, or "softened"... it is like robbing DJR of its real, true long time flavor identity!
BOTTOM LINE
If you never had the OLD DJR, you will most certainly find it a REAL GOOD, solid tequila to sip around. It remains bold and sophisticated, and quite capable to hold its ground against mot reposados around, including more expensive ones. Trouble begins when you are a hard core fan of old-school highland tequilas: compare against the repos from Tapatio, Centinela, 7 Leguas or Tesoro, and you will see what Im talking about....
Sad to discover the old charm is gone, but relieved that most of the true tequila values still can be appreciated.
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