El Tesoro Releases A Tequila Finished in Knob Creek Rye Barrels

Whisky isn’t the only spirit that’s caught the cask-finishing bug. Beam Suntory’s El Tesoro tequila has unveiled a new añejo expression: El Tesoro Mundial Knob Creek Rye Edition. The new tequila from La Alteña Distillery features a 12-month cask finish using barrels that held Knob Creek rye for seven years. The aim is to give the tequila some of the rye’s sweeter and spicier notes, namely vanilla, dark chocolate, cinnamon, caramel, and orange peel.

This is La Alteña’s second whisky cask-finished expression. In 2021, the distillery released El Tesoro Mundial Collection The Laphroaig Edition, its first showcasing of this style. That release saw an El Tesoro añejo tequila spend an additional 12 months in Laphroaig 10 Year Old casks. The goal was to impart some of the Islay single malt’s maritime salinity and peat smoke notes onto the tequila. That was the first release in the Mundial Collection, an experimental line that spotlights cask finishing. The decision to utilize cask finishing was a relatively surprising choice from the family-owned distillery which, according to third-generation proprietor and master of operations Jenny Camarena, always followed a proudly traditionalist approach to making tequila.

Now, two years later, La Alteña has doubled down on the cask finishing experiment with the release of Knob Creek Rye Edition, and it has a lot in common with its predecessor. Both are aged tequilas that undergo a year-long secondary maturation in whisky barrels, before being bottled at 40% ABV.

In tandem with this new expression, La Alteña has released a second batch of its The Laphroaig Edition. The new batch, which has received updated packaging, will be available for purchase alongside Knob Creek Rye Edition, each with a suggested retail price of $175. Note that both expressions are available in limited quantities, so may the odds be in your favor if you plan to purchase either.

Tequilas finished in whisky barrels aren’t all that common, but other houses have also taken the plunge. Sauza’s Hornitos Black Barrel is an early example, while Corazon has had a series of annual release single barrel tequilas finished in barrels from Buffalo Trace distillery. Espolon has a bourbon barrel finished añejo, the barrel presumably coming from sister company Wild Turkey, and Codigo has an offering aged in W.L. Weller casks.