Kiwi Treasure Trove #1- Herradura Antiguo 1870

I enjoy every trip back to NZ. The weather is lousy, there's nobody around and invariably everything is shut because it's a public holiday. I do however always manage to find a fair bit of loot and this Christmas holiday proved no different.

Herradura Antiguo 1870

This year I grabbed a bottle of tequila - one that's a rare find on Australian shores. It's not a new product to me - rather the bottle of Herradura Antiguo 1870 I came across is a piece of nostalgia for me. It had me reminiscing about those wild nights I used to have as a younger bartender. I used to annoy the shit out of older bartenders in Auckland. Now I irritate bartenders old and young alike in Sydney with ridiculous orders - like London's Calling I got Christian Blair to make me a Eau De Vie last night.

Anyhow I digress. I first came across this delicious reposado at a cracking wee bar called Tabac - it was their house pour. The bar is still there though it has been years since I've visited so I cannot attest to it's ongoing excellence or whether the still pour this beaut. But they poured plenty down my throat back in the day.

According to Hancock's who distribute and market Brown-Forman's Brands in NZ the Antiguo 1870 was released in 1995 to commemorate 125 years of Tequila Herradura. It's also meant to be a replica of the tequila that Casa Herradura was producing in 1924. It is rested in pipones for four months. At any rate, if you manage to pick up a bottle (it only costs 53 NZ Pesos or $41 AUD) you'll enjoy sweet agave and poached pear on the nose with fragrant cinnamon, vanilla and dried garden herbs. The palate's initial agave sweetness is is voided by a dry and complex mid-palate with plenty of savouriness as you'd expect from the valle de Tequila. Enjoy lingering black pepper, olive and minty notes from this well balanced drop.

If you enjoy it as much as I do you'll start pestering your Brown-Forman contact to get it brought into Australia. Unlike the last test match or Rugby World Cup, New Zealand having a better selection of booze is one thing you don't have to live with.