This New Tequila Was Aged in Still Austin Bourbon Barrels
What happens if you age tequila in barrels that were previously used to mature some really good whiskey? If everything goes right, you might have an even better tequila on your hands. And that is the case with the new La Pulga Tequila Reposado Double Barrel, which was aged in barrels from Still Austin, one of the very best craft whiskey distilleries in the country.
La Pulga is a Texas-based brand that is only a few years old. The tequila is made at Agroindustria Guadalajara (NOM 1068), along with a few other brands, at high elevation in the town of Capilla de Guadalupe. La Pulga utilizes what it calls a 50/50 cooking process for its agaves: Half are cooked in a stone oven, the other half in an autoclave. Fermentation takes place in open vats using yeast from nearby citrus orchards, and the tequila rests in oxygen-infused stainless-steel vats for 19 hours after distillation. Aged expressions are matured in used whiskey barrels from Kentucky and Tennessee.
This new reposado expression got a special secondary maturation, however. It was initially aged for seven months in the aforementioned casks, but then spent an additional four months in barrels that were used to mature Still Austin Red Corn Bourbon. If you’re unfamiliar with Still Austin, it’s a small craft distillery in the Texas capital that makes really excellent bourbon and rye. The Red Corn Bourbon, which is part of the distillery’s bottled-in-bond series, is the latest release, made from a mashbill of 36 percent red corn, 34 percent white corn, 25 percent rye, and five percent malted barley.
The point of using different types of corn in the mashbill is to explore how less common varietals affect the flavor of the whiskey, which if taken to another conceptual level should influence how the wood will affect another spirit aged in the barrels. “Having spent time living in Austin, I’ve long admired the originality and craftsmanship coming out of Still Austin, so finishing this tequila in their prized red corn bourbon barrels felt like a natural evolution for us,” said La Pulga cofounder Sarah Castillo in a statement. “It’s still unmistakably La Pulga, but with added depth, a little extra character, and a story that connects two fast-growing, award-winning brands from two great Texas cities, Austin and Fort Worth.”
The best way to see how these barrels affected the tequila would be to do a side-by-side comparison with the regular reposado expression. Of course, you can also just enjoy this on its own merits, because it’s a very good tequila with notes of green pepper, black pepper spice, citrus, vanilla, cinnamon, grass, and caramel on the palate. Plus, it’s bottled at 90 proof, which is higher than most tequilas and brings some extra heat and flavor, and the label features a red serpent, which is a nod to the artwork on the Still Austin Red Corn Bourbon bottle. You can find La Pulga Tequila Reposado Double Barrel starting this month at select retailers around the country (SRP $70).
