Extra Añejo Tequila

About

Extra añejo is tequila aged at least three years in oak, and it's the newest category on the shelf. Mexico only created it in 2006, which means every bottle here belongs to a classification younger than most of the people buying it. Three years in wood takes tequila somewhere closer to whiskey than to the blanco it started as. We carry 33 of them, from $50 up to just under $1,000, and the gap between those two numbers is not entirely about what's in the glass. We ship to most states, with an adult 21 or older required to sign at delivery. What Extra Añejo Means The line is simple. One to three years in oak is añejo . Past three years it becomes extra añejo, and there's no upper limit, so a four year old and a twelve year old carry the same designation. What that time does is predictable. The agave softens, the oak compounds build, and the spirit picks up vanilla, dried fruit, chocolate and toasted wood. Color deepens toward amber. Some producers then filter the color back out, which gives you a clear spirit with the flavor of an aged one. Those bottles sit in cristalino as well as here. When the Oak Takes Over Worth knowing before you spend $200. The risk in this category is that three or more years of wood can bury the agave completely, and a fair number of extra añejos taste more like a decent bourbon than like tequila. If what you like about tequila is the cooked agave and the pepper, this is the category most likely to disappoint you, and the añejo shelf may be the better place to shop. It's also the category where additives are hardest to detect, since caramel coloring and oak extract hide easily behind legitimate barrel character. Producers who don't use them tend to say so plainly. If a bottle is silent on the subject and tastes implausibly smooth for its age, that's worth noticing. None of which is an argument against the category. A well-made extra añejo that keeps the agave in the picture is one of the better things you can pour. It's an argument for tasti