Suavecito Añejo

I had the pleasure of meeting the owner of Suavacito, Mr. Bill Foss, a former owner of a Chicago-based construction company.

On the verge of retirement, Bill heard from one of the guys on his crew about some available land in Jalisco, Mexico. Bill went to Jalisco, and by happenstance, heard a professor talking about sugar levels in agave. Bill could not ignore the serendipity. Fast-forward a bit: Bill hires the professor, Dr. Luis Ramirez, to grow his agave.

Bill never intended to make tequila. His goal was to own the best possible agave farm and let others take the production risks. Then the 2008 housing recession hit. Bill had all this agave, and the U.S. market had receded so significantly that he had nowhere to sell his beautiful agave.

Necessity being the mother of invention, he started making his own tequila. But he wanted to do it differently. He felt the American market was put off by the burn from some tequilas, so he decided to do something interesting.

Bill was already bitten by the agave bug, and all too quickly, he was making his own tequila. But he wanted to make something (pardon me) “smoother.” To make that happen, Bill had agave nectar added to his final product.

Between the relatively low 35% ABV and the added sugars from the agave nectar, he achieved his goal of a smoother tequila.

Even syrup made from agave is still an abocante (Spanish for sweetening or mellowing agent). Keep in mind that the CRT, the Mexican regulatory agency overseeing tequila production, allows up to 1% of a tequila’s total weight to consist of abocantes. Mr. Foss fully admits to the addition of agave nectar—it’s right on the label. I can respect that.

One further note on the alcohol levels before we get into the nose and palate of this tequila. An ABV of 35% is generally more common in releases for the Mexican market.

On the nose, I get notes of caramel, butterscotch, baking spices, honey, and a fruit note similar to baked pear. I will say, for a sweet tequila, this is not off-putting. To be honest, I rather enjoy the aroma.

On the palate, however, it falls very flat and lacks complexity. There’s more baked pear, brown sugar, caramel, and hints of cherry and chocolate.

Suavecito Añejo is too sweet for my taste, but someone new to the tequila world may really enjoy this.