Dulce Vida Blanco

Dulce Vida is a tequila brand that has committed to being 100% organic and leans into that positioning as much as any brand on the market. I don’t blame them for doing so, as maintaining organic certification is expensive and difficult.

If it doesn’t bring you a marketing advantage, it’s tough to justify.

Made at Grupo Industrial Tequilero de Los Altos de Jalisco (NOM 1443), in the village of San Ignacio Cerro Gordo in the Highlands, Dulce Vida has always embraced a clean and naturally sweet flavor profile, using additive-free production.

This is partially achieved with ripe agave and partially with proprietary yeast used across their lineup of expressions. They also aerate before bottling, which further reduces the “burn” sometimes associated with tequila blanco.

Knowing all that, you’d expect this to be very light and dainty and precious. It’s not. This blanco has a ton of flavors and an unexpected combination of them.

Aroma: Probably the most green apple-scented tequila I’ve tried, with a layer of cinnamon on top of that and some mint. The citrus/herbal combination is a puzzler, but it works.

Flavor: It mostly tastes like it smells, which isn’t always the case. Apple, cinnamon, pepper (the spice, not the veg), and brine.

Finish: A layer of alcohol and char slightly overwhelms the apple and cinnamon at the end. A short finish.

I would definitely use this in a cocktail with complementary strong flavors, like a Mule, a Bloody Maria, or a spicy Marg. It has so much oomph that you’d swear it’s a barrel-rested blanco. It’s unusual enough that, even though the price says mixer, I’d sip it too, just to ponder it. Incidentally, Dulce Vida is the only tequila served on Alaska Airlines, so if you’re flying in the West, you’ve got an opportunity to try it for yourself.