Alma del Jaguar Anejo Single Barrel #49 (98pf) Tequila 750ml

A store pick selected by Paul & Rodrigo, our tequila gurus

Alma del Jaguar is produced at the fifth-generation Vivanco family distillery, NOM 1414, in the highlands of Los Altos, Jalisco. The brand built its identity around a rare dual-yeast fermentation method, blending wild native yeast with imported Champagne yeast, a technique developed with master distiller Sergio Cruz and Adam Fodor of the International Tequila Academy. Alma del Jaguar also ties its releases to conservation, donating a portion of proceeds to the Northern Jaguar Project to help protect wild jaguar populations in Sonora, Mexico.

This bottling is a single barrel store pick, hand-selected from Barrel #49 and bottled at 98 proof straight from the cask with no chill filtration and no blending. The agave is grown above 6,800 feet in the Los Altos highlands, slow-cooked for 54 hours in traditional brick ovens, then double-distilled in copper pot stills before resting in oak. Because only 150 bottles came from this single cask, the release captures a snapshot of one barrel's individual character rather than a blended house style.

The nose opens with fresh herbs, soft florals, banana liqueur, and cane sugar, with hints of cherry and fig emerging from the oak. On the palate, coconut, butter, and tropical fruit give way to cinnamon, black pepper, vanilla cream, torched citrus peel, and tobacco. The finish is long, layered, and lightly peppery, with dried cherry sweetness lingering at the end.