La Gritona Reposado Tequila is a subtle rested tequila distilled by Melly Barajas and her staff of women at her small distillery in Valle De Guadalupe, Jalisco (NOM 1533). Melly distills La Gritona only with agave that has matured, always with an age of between 8-10 years, and all of her pinas must originate in the iron-rich red soil of the local Jalisco highlands. These agave plants are cultivated at the height of their sugar production, near the end of the life cycle. They are put into ovens within 24 hours of trimming. La Gritona is and always has been additive-free.
La Gritona Reposado is very pale for tequila with an eight-month barrel rest. They use the same barrels repeatedly to allow them to become stripped of most of the residual oak, whiskey, and color. The aging is intended to soften and round out the blanco tequila from which La Gritona is derived, not to introduce new notes. They plan to keep the verdant and crisp qualities of the original plant intact while still allowing it to age briefly in the oak. They do not use copper stills or a tahona and do not diffuse or use an autoclave. The cooked agave is crushed with a steel mill and then distilled in steel stills with copper coils. Every step of production takes place under one roof, and the facility is overseen by a small staff of local women who work on each process from start to finish.
La Gritona currently bottles an average of 12,500 liters per batch. All of the agave remnants that are left over after production are given to local farmers to use as cattle feed. Their bottles are hand-blown with recycled Mexican glass in Zapopan, an hour from the distillery.
La Gritona is a very vegetal tequila without any oak, pepper, vanilla, or dulce de leche that can be associated with a highland reposado. It retains the crisp qualities reminiscent of an excellent silver tequila while expressing subtle signs of Melly’s deliberate aging. The finish is exceptionally round with no burn. We recommend it straight with no ice, lime, salt, or mixer. It’s best when paired with a nice cold Mexican lager or pilsner.
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