Review Zircon Azul Plata Tequila

The Jaime family has been growing agave in Mexico for more than 100 years.  Starting with Pascual Jaime supervising the Sauza family plantation from 1905 to 1935. After the Mexican revolution, he was granted a parcel of land and started growing blue agave in the volcanic highlands of Arandas, Jalisco.  Zircon Azul is the current version of this very old family recipe

The nose of Zircon Azon Plata is ripe pineapple sweet with hints of green and white pepper.  You can certainly smell the sweetness of the agave with a slight vegetal greenness and spice at the end.  A nicely balanced combination.

The mid-palate is fresh agave, with a hint of spicy nutmeg and a mineral quality.  Zircon Azul Plata finishes lightly dry, smooth with peppery heat and a balance of fresh fruit and spice.  With its complexity and balance, this is obviously a high-quality tequila worth sipping neat or with an ice cube.

Zircon Azul

Cruzan Aged Rum with used Whiskey Elements

Today’s experiment involves used Time & Oak elements.  I started off with a single element used in whiskey for 48 hours.  I decided to use Cruzan Aged Rum for my experiment.  Cruzan Aged Rum is my go-to mixer rum and although it says aged there’s no statement, and it is rather light, so I doubt it spends much time is barrels, but it is lightly sweet and overall just a great rum for cocktails.

I had the element in for 12 hours, and it added a nice light spiciness.

After 24 hours it added a bit of dryness on the finish with a light oak flavor.

48 hours in added flavors of rice pudding and sawdust. A little bit funky but that’s okay for rum.

Then I decided to get all crazy, and I added two more used elements for the last 24 hours for a total of 72 hours of aging.  This added lots of nice color and flavors of caramel, and toasted oak.

A fun experiment as I had been wondering what several elements will do it once, especially used ones. I would say this was a modest success. My general experience is that the elements work better with something that a little more age or color to it and I think this rum is a little bit young for this experiment, so I’m going try something older for the next experiment. The elements improved the character and made it taste more mature and added a lot of flavors to it.
THE LIQUORIST

Bushmills Red Bush & Time & Oak Element

Bushmills Red Bush is a modestly priced minimum three-year aged whiskey.  While very smooth and sweet, overall this whiskey lacks the complexity found in more mature malt whiskeys.  Let’s see if an element can make it even better.

At 12 hours the element adds a nice light oak sweetness.

24 hours in we get more oak, very sweet flavors of maple syrup, and praline pecan while the finish has a lingering subtle sweetness.

Bushmills Red Bush

48 hours it becomes funky, very heavy oak and an odd spiciness.



Well this experiment wasn’t very subtle and sweet! 24 hours with the element, and I was very happy with the results. This modestly priced Irish whiskey became something much more enjoyable.