Casa Obsidiana Reposado

You won't forget Casa Obsidiana.

I have a lot of tequila bottles, but these are the only ones I currently leave out on furniture as drinkable artwork. I'm not usually seduced by packaging, but wow!

Heavy, handcrafted ceramic bottles with inset discs of real obsidian rock that, when tapped with your phone, connect to a brand-explainer video? That's next level.

And the obsidian is perfectly on-brand. The name means "Obsidian House," so-called due to the volcanic obsidian stone strewn throughout the agave fields. That stone was dispersed long ago when the nearby volcano exploded.

As you may know, the volcano is called "Tequila," as-is the adjacent town, and the spirit takes its name from that town. As you can probably tell from the bottles, Casa Obsidiana has big plans and substantial backing through the joint venture that brought this unique brand to market.

On one side of the partnership is the Beckmann Gonzalez family of Jalisco. They have EIGHT generations and 260 years of tequila-making experience, including a little start-up brand they created that you may know: José Cuervo.

On the other side is Jean-Charles Boisset, proprietor of the Boisset Collection, a compendium of highly accomplished wineries based in the Burgundy region of France, with additional holdings in California.

They say the objective for Casa Obsidiana is to represent the art, architecture, flavor, and culture of modern Mexico. A tall order for a tall bottle.

This reposado is made at the Beckmann Gonzalez family’s facility, Tierra de Agaves (NOM 1513), in the Valley. While the distillery does have a diffuser on-site to make other brands, Casa Obsidiana's single-estate agave is cooked in an autoclave and fermented with a 45-year-old yeast strain.

It features an interesting aging approach, with four months spent in French oak barrels that formerly held Boisset Napa Valley Chardonnay. Nearly all tequila resting in wine barrels today is napping in oak that previously held red wine rather than white.

Aroma: Chocolate-covered cherries, hazelnut, vanilla, and cigar box.

Flavor: Very plush in the mouth, with rich, almost dessert-like notes of mocha, chocolate mousse, and earth.

Finish: A nice minerality at the end, with some char.

For craft tequila aficionados who are all about the agave, this expression is probably more cloaked in s'mores-like notes than they’d ideally want.

But for people who walk on the sweeter side of the tequila aisle, and don’t want to venture into a neighborhood with a lot of artificial flavors, this Casa Obsidiana is waaaaay better than the other tall-bottle options you might buy as a flex or give as a gift.