El Tesoro is one of the best tequila brands that is owned by a large drinks company: Global Suntory Spirits, formerly known as Beam Suntory. That is the same company that owns Jim Beam and all of its sibling brands, which means that El Tesoro has access to any number of barrels to use for special releases. The latest is a reposado that was aged in Basil Hayden Toast barrels, a special whiskey release that came out in 2021. We got a first taste, and this is a tequila worth trying.
El Tesoro has been making tequila at the La Alteña Distillery in Jalisco for about 80 years. Carlos Camarena, grandson of founder Don Felipe Camarena, is the current master distiller, and his sister Jenny Camarena is the head of operations at the distillery, so it’s still very much a family business despite its massive corporate overlord. In 2021, El Tesoro released the first expression in its Mundial Collection, an anejo aged for 12 months in Laphroaig 10-Year-Old Scotch Whisky casks. Last year, Knob Creek Rye Edition came out, another anejo that was aged for a year in Knob Creek Rye barrels. The new El Tesoro Mundial: Basil Hayden Toast is the third release, and this one was aged in the finishing barrels used to create that bourbon.
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As a reminder, the core expression of Basil Hayden is a high-rye bourbon made at the James B. Beam Distilling Co. that is sometimes considered to be sort of an entry level expression due to the fact that it’s bottled at the minimum 80 proof. Toast was a twist on the original, substituting brown rice for the rye in the mashbill and giving some of the bourbon a secondary finish in toasted barrels, a trend that has gotten more traction over the past few years, before blending it with bourbon aged entirely in new charred oak. This Mundial release was aged for about six months in those used toasted barrels, making this a reposado—something that Jenny Camarena says was really based on flavor, and not a specific plan to release something different from the previous anejos.
This tequila does indeed taste very different from the regular reposado, and I believe there’s a reason for that beyond it being aged in a used toasted barrel versus a used charred barrel. The toasted barrels used to age the tequila were initially used to age the brown rice bourbon for about two months, far less than the typical four years or long that bourbon is aged. So the color and flavor of this Mundial reposado is darker and more assertive than the regular expression, which makes sense given that timing—the wood is more reactive having been used to age whiskey for much less time prior to aging the tequila. In other words, the toasting of the barrel has surely affected the flavor, but perhaps the amount of time the barrel was previouslly used had an even greater impact.
Regardless, this is a tasty reposado, with notes of toasted nuts, vanilla, caramel, toffee, and a surprisingly large amount of baking spices like cinnamon and nutmeg on the palate. You can find a bottle of El Tesoro Mundial Collection: Basil Hayden Toast Edition (SRP $175) to try for yourself at websites like ReserveBar now.
