Almatitán Alma Plata

A very enjoyable agave brand from the Valley, Almatitán is built on the generational experience of two families.

The owners, father and son Miguel and Tino Sandoval, bring decades of tequila industry experience and tradition to merge their passion with the expertise of the Montes family; multi-generation tequileros who own the amazing Destiladora La Roca (NOM 1646) in Amatitán, Jalisco.

That’s an enormous amount of possibility for greatness, but it becomes even more amplified when you give the reigns to Alvaro Montes and add input from a tequila ‘architect’ like Hector Davalos. For tequila nerds (like me!), this lineup is a literal dream team.

So, what else could you need to create amazing tequila? Well, one of the biggest contributing factors in the flavor of all tequila comes from the location where the agave is grown. Terroir, the ‘flavor of the earth’, creates definite differences in flavors, and to me, the Amatitán and El Arenal agave fields have a unique set of herbaceousnes and vegetal qualities, and bigger flavors overall.

Almatitán (the brand) specifically harvests its agave from 400 hectares of fields in the local area where volcanic soil has provided minerals to the agave and water. This provides a touch more sweetness than ‘earthiness’, and the Almatitán Alma Plata really delivers it.

At 48% ABV, this blanco has complex and bold flavors, leaning toward the sweet side, but has a mineral earthy quality that gives it balance. The vegetal and herbal flavors round out the overall complexity. The mouthfeel is silky, rich, and provides a finish quality that is superb.

Almatitán isn’t everywhere yet, but it is definitely a brand to look for and I would suggest starting with this Alma Plata expression to explore the flavor profile of agaves from that region.

Nose: Vegetal / lightly cooked agave / brine / minerals / light citrus / lime / herbal / tea

Taste: sweet lightly cooked agave / vegetal / herbal / mineral / earth / brine / hint of green pepper / hint of banana / hint of ripe melon / lime / anise / very light touch of jalapeño

Finish: very heavy viscosity that beautifully coats the palate and allows the complex sweet vegetal, earthy, and mild green pepper tastes to linger and become a very light minty clean taste at the final swallow