Calirosa Blanco Tequila Review
I'm never one to run to celebrity tequilas, but this one just hits different! Adam Levine of Maroon 5, along with his wife, Behati Prinsloo, have invested in Calirosa Tequila. Diageo had recently had a tequila tasting at my local cigar bar and I was impressed enough with the Calirosa “Rosa Blanco” tequila that I went to my local liquor store and picked up a bottle for further review. Today, you get to enjoy the fruits of my labors!
Is Calirosa Blanco Tequila Any Good?
Before I answer that question, let's talk about where this comes from, and how it's made.
All of the Calirosa products are produced by the Real Family. Their involvement in making agave spirits goes back to 1942. (Not to be confused with Don Julio Real, or Don Julio 1942, of course!)
Tequila maker Luis Trejo Rodriguez is the brands master distiller.
NOM 1459
Region: Jalisco (Los Valles)
All expressions made by Calirosa are from the Blue Weber agave that aged seven to nine years prior to harvesting, and the agave is cooked in brick ovens. Once the liquid is is fermented for a time of up to 50 hours, it's twice distilled before being placed in California red wine barrels to mature for another 30 days, which becomes apparent when you notice the light pink color of the spirit through the bottle. This beautiful spirit takes emits aromas of strawberry, raspberry, and honey. A very agave forward spirit, you'll get some fresh fruit notes in tandem with dark berries.
I'll also note that I believe this to be additive free tequila! If you have followed my blog for any amount of time, you know most of the spirits put out by celebrities use artificial sweeteners to get non tequila drinkers on board. This is NOT authentic tequila, folks. I urge you to read this page for more information on additives.
I'm happy to report that I REALLY enjoyed this blanco tequila and I predict it will do very well and be a popular base for signature cocktails, especially in the brunch environment. The fact that a “rose” crowd will have an interest in this, not to mention wine drinkers and women who like pink bottles, will get Calirosa a lot of attention. This isn't your traditional blanco tequila since it has a lot of notes of fresh fruits, but it does come with that peppery taste that most blanco's tend to kick off. I REALLY like sipping this neat, but it does just fine with some ice over it as well.
Watch my full video review of this tequila for my full take. Again, I'm quite surprised as this isn't the type of tequila I seek out when I try new tequilas, but I'm happy I was introduced to it and I'll find myself drinking this one as well as most likely coming up with some unique cocktail ideas using this as a base. (In my video below I show a take on ranch water using Topo Chico and this tequila.)