Alright and so begins the month of tequila reviews from the company of Sangre de Vida. The lounge received a review sampler set among it’s scotch so we’ll be intersplicing it with that before we move onto the United Kingdom content next month. So those familiar with this ‘shape’ will recall our review of Kah Reposado, and it seems there’s a looming underbelly of hatred and lawsuits between the two companies over the fact that a normal person isn’t likely to notice a difference. The problem there being that to a certain degree Kah is much better (oh no, we spoiled a whole month this time)
The skull look is nice, and as you see directly below it’s nice they haven’t spoiled it. As for the controversy and legalese – we mostly don’t care what spirit companies do, or litigate, but know that it’s what’s inside that counts. As far as sipping or shooting tequila this is actually not bad, but the point of the HBR method is that even if you’re above par in some ways the truly great spirits are good all around.
What they Say: “” (No text on bottles)
Taste: 7.5 – That is actually a delicious tasting blanco tequila. There’s a present, but not overpowering agave. It’s not sweet, but it’s clearly got enough there to balance it.
Aftertaste: 6.0 – That same feeling from that aroma though shows up here. Like it’s not bad, and there’s a followup taste that lingers which feels a bit more like an Anejo tequila if honest.
Burn/Smooth: 6.0 – I wouldn’t call it smooth with that barb, but it’s not burning heavily either.
Aroma: 3.5 – That has a ‘barb’ to the way the smell hurts your nose. Like it mostly seems harmless, but there’s a bit that just stings. The overall smell is fairly good despite that twinge.
Honesty: 8.5 – They don’t have any text (even on the website), and it’s a painted skull. While Kah does this as well, this has no wanky text. So therefore for this (and all of Sangre’s spirits) it will come down to a base score of 7 + the aesthetic of that bottle itself.
Editor’s Note Update: So they recently released what turned out to just be a different bottling of this Tequila in a VERY striking red heart bottle. While this technically would up the Honesty scoring among their branding we’ll maintain the scores as-is because this is potentially a marketing campaign vs. permanent change. However you can now find this tequila in a bottle that looks like this:
Damn son.
Mixability: 5.25
Tequila Sunrise: 5.0 – It does very little adding to the flavors here. It doesn’t ruin it though.
Margarita: 5.5 – Again it does too little in adding flavor here – however that is often more desirable here so it gets a 0.5
Value: 3.5 – That is just too much for something that while it tastes good is just mediocre when mixed. It would either need to be a few points higher in either category instead of splitting.
Google Shop Average: $41
Website: http://sangredevida.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 5.0
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Metric Score: 40.25/70 |+| Metric Average: 5.75 |+| Reviewer Average: 5.0
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Final Thoughts: The problem is that of the four this is the better, but that even taking that into account this doesn’t mix spectacularly well, and it costs just too much even if you use it as a flower vase in a kitchen. You end up paying for that bespoke handpainted unique container more than the liquid inside. Sure that makes it a great gift to have once, but a good spirit on HBR is one that you buy again and again, that you recommend to friends and anyone really.
