Corazon (heart) de (of) Agave (agave) first caught my attention through the power of marketing. Bottled in an eye-catching, long necked, hand crafted glass bottle, I was naturally drawn by a vessel that looked like it belonged in an alchemy lab more than in a liquor cabinet. I was shopping for alcohol at the time and it seemed like a fun buy until I took a gander at the price and my heart (corazon) stopped.

These days I only work part time and I don't have a lot of free cash to dump on high end alcohol, a factor you will see influencing choices for upcoming reviews, like Polar Ice vodka. Depending on the age you want to buy, Corazon can run from the high forties for the blanco up to close to a cool hundred dollars (US) for the anejo, depending on where you shop. It was the highest dollar tequila commonly available around Fayetteville and it was with a heavy heart that I concluded it was outside of my current price range.

My friend Wes, however, came to the rescue, purchasing a bottle of the blanco for my birthday. Now, truth be told, when I make the claim that tequila is my favorite alcohol, I should clarify that I am referring to at LEAST a reposado. I'm not usually a huge fan of blancos. Oh, I'll drink 'em and enjoy them, but the heart and soul of most good tequila is found, in my opinion, in the more aged representatives of the species. Now, admittedly, I haven't had a sip of the aged Corazon just yet, but its blanco is more than a match for more anejos I've encountered.

Corazon de Agave is an estate tequila, with everything from the agave to the bottles produced at Destiladora San Nicolas Estate in Jalisco. The alcohol is double distilled using the still pot method, aged in fresh oak casks which have not been used previously to age sherry or anything else. I imagine this is probably not exclusive to Corazon, but they also mention that the hand crafted bottles are washed using the tequila itself, which I thought was a cool approach.

Corazon does not skip on the agave. It sports the usual 100% blue agave content that pretty much all decent tequilas does. What's important is that when drinking Corazon, you can freaking taste it. If you don't like the agave flavor of tequila to begin with then you sure as hell won't like Corazon. At the same time, you can enjoy this powerful taste without all of the added burn and bitter that come with most other tequilas. It actually makes you appreciate an unaged tequila for what it is. If someone asked you, upon taking a sip, what they were drinking, you could reply, "Agave flavored vodka," and it would probably be a minute before they got the joke.

It is also a sipper. There's too much flavor in every molecule of Corazon to waste slugging shots of the stuff. Sip it, and let it sit around for a few minutes. Don't feel rushed. Run the liquid over your tongue and see how each area reacts. Try tasting it after eating different types of cheeses or olives. Hold your nose and see if you can tell the difference between sipping Corazon and biting into an onion. Corazon is one of the very few alcohols which I will say cannot be imbibed with only the goal of getting drunk in mind. If that's all you want, turn elsewhere, even if you are looking for a nice drinking companion in an alcohol. Corazon is only to be consumed by those who are of the mind to savor the flavor of an excellent tequila, with getting drunk, for once, being the positive side effect of the experience.

Key Facts about Corazon de Agave :

Alcohol Content : 40%, as all imported tequilas are.

Price : Take a breath and pony up. The blanco is another premium brand's anejo, and the anejo thinks it's a 15 year scotch. If you spend $40, you're lucky.

Notes : I kind of felt that the ol' lime and salt ritual was out of place with such a powerful flavor. I'm all for a good food and drink tradition, but in this case you're kind of spoiling what amounts to a work of art, if you ask me. If and when I get my hands on one of the aged bottles, I'll be sure to add my thoughts here.

Final Standing : Completely pissed.