From cocktail sotol to satisfying añejo, this brand’s line-up is unique in its own way. Susan Coss takes a trip down memory lane.
It was 10 years ago when I had sotol for the first time. It was our first Mexico in a Bottle event, and I heard through a friend in the industry that this guy named Ricardo Pico was interested in participating. At the time, he worked for a sotol brand called Hacienda de Chihuahua. I’d heard of sotol, but had never actually tasted it. I was intrigued, though I also wondered how it would fit in at what was being billed as a mezcal event. As it turned out– perfectly. Hacienda de Chihuahua continued to work with us as we expanded to Chicago and New York in 2016.
This was the first wave of sotol being the next big thing, following very quickly on the heels of the rapid rise of mezcal. In March of 2016, Mezcaleria Las Flores opened in Chicago’s Logan Square and beverage director Jay Schroeder put sotol on the US map, crafting a few sotol cocktails for the menu and creating a huge buzz around it. It looked like sotol’s moment had come.
And sure there was interest. The category grew, but it never took off like mezcal–despite the initial hype. It has remained in the background, and every couple of years, there will be an article proclaiming or asking if it will be the next big thing– I know, we published one too at the beginning of last year.
From perfume to sotol
Since 2014, so much of my sotol journey since has been small production batches thru Clande, Sotoleros, La Higuera, Parejo, and Lazadores–to name a few. When Hacienda de Chihuahua reached out to me last fall to do a product tasting, I was actually pretty excited. I hadn’t had any contact with the company since 2016 and was curious to see how things would taste. Plus, it would be a chance to meet (via Zoom) master distiller José Daumas, who began his illustrious career distilling perfume bases for Bulgari and Dior before turning to alcohol distillation in 1958. For years he worked Champagne, Cognac, Brandy and eventually Tequila. In 1989, Federico Elias approached him to investigate the viability of working with Chihuahua’s agave plants to create mezcal. They eventually turned their attention to sotol and founded Hacienda de Chihuahua.
Says Daumas, “My main goal with sotol has always been to make a fine spirit from it, to take advantage of every element it gives and follow it carefully from its wild harvest through to fermentation, distillation, and resting before bottling.” With Elias’ support, Daumas spent five years analyzing all aspects of this unheralded native succulent, its ideal harvest point, and the best processes to apply to it. “Sotol’s aromas and flavors differ from spirits like tequila and mezcal produced from agave, and these differences need to be respected,” he says.
Hacienda de Chihuahua was the first major brand of sotol to come into the US market in 2006/2007, not long after sotol received a Denominacion de Origen in 2002 (see our Sotol 101 for history, process, and more). The Hacienda where it is made has been distilling sotol since 1881. The brand is available in a majority of markets in the US, with Texas, Colorado and California being the largest markets. While the brand has seen continued growth in the US market, the majority of its growth has been in Mexico.
A sotol tasting that surprised me
There are currently nine expressions in the line up:
- Sotol Plata
- Sotol Rústico
- Sotol Platinum
- Sotol Reposado
- Sotol Añejo
- Sotol Oro Puro
- Sotol H5
- Crema de Sotol Nuez
- Crema de Sotol Chocolate
For our tasting, we focused on the plata, reposado and añejo. It’s important to bear in mind that these are not “traditional” sotols. The hearts are steam-cooked, and then fermented with champagne yeasts and distilled in copper columns. These processes are infinitely familiar to people who enjoy quality tequilas, but somehow we look down on them when employed by other spirit categories, where it is seen as “industrial.” I know I have been guilty of that kind of snobbery at times. I also know there are times I want to reach for something that is not highly complex, and is pretty straightforward with flavor. For me, Hacienda de Chihuahua is kind of like a tequila version of sotol–consistent and straightforward in both aromas and flavors.
But what was really crazy for me was how familiar the flavors were, especially the reposado and añejo, even though it had been nine years since I last had it. It took me right back to our first Mexico in a Bottle and my first impressions of sotol.
The plata is a 38% ABV blanco that is straightforward in aroma and flavor. The grassiness of the sotol comes through at this lower ABV, and while the tails are not long, it is definitely a pleasing sip on the tongue. I would love to taste the rústico version, which is 45% ABV.
The reposado is aged in white oak for 12 months and also has an ABV of 38%. There are definitely floral aromas, and the first sip had more spice on the tongue than I was expecting. The light vanilla finish does not detract from the taste of the sotol.
The añejo is triple distilled and aged for two years in white oak and is also 38%. I struggle with añejos because I really like to taste the plant in both sotols and mezcals, so it was a bit of a surprise that this was my favorite of the three. It retained the grassy/vegetal notes of the sotol, especially in the aromas–surprising given it spent two years in wood. It’s not cloying with vanilla, and has an undertone of floral honey. This is a great bargain for people looking for an alternative to high-priced añejo tequilas.
We all know it can be hard to go “home” because nothing is the same as it used to be. Sometimes because things have physically changed but also because you have changed from life experiences. It can be like that for food or drinks. A palette expands over time and the things you once liked no longer appeal to you. But I don’t feel that way about Hacienda de Chihuahua–I was pleased that it hasn’t changed over the years. I appreciate it being my gateway and introduction to sotol, and that it is still infinitely drinkable.
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