Cañada Alambique Serrano 2024

NOSE: Incredibly high-toned, acetone-rich. Nutty cheese rind (parmesan?). Agave-adjacent. In the background, dry, old evergreen needles- like cedar or pine bows in an old wreath. Some dry pine bark. Slightly saline. PALATE: Juicy! Powerful!! Salted mango juice, fruit pechuga, papaya, mandarin orange syrup. An absolute wave of concentrated fruit syrups hits your palate. Unctuous! FINISH: Thick! Salted caramels & salted pretzels! Sweet oranges covered in a very tart dark chocolate. Skittles, mango candies. Rich and long-lasting. OVERALL: Oh boy… this is a challenging spirit to review. It’s just so potent & powerful- and the flavors hit you like a tsunami. But it’s just so damn juicy and packed with exploding fruit flavors. I’ll give the nod to Batch 1, however, as an overall more balanced and cohesive spirit. But if richness & power & concentration of flavors is what you’re after, this may be your favorite. Again, I have to note: the ethanol caught up to me eventually, and left my throat feeling raw (like any 70+% spirit would). That being said, it’s far from the first impression. SCORE: 88/100