Review: Aga Vie Esprit D’Agave
What is it about the French and tequila? First Given blends tequila with lime juice and grape juice in Cognac, France, and now there’s Aga Vie, a commingling of blanco tequila and Cognac that have been (re-)distilled together into one oddball spirit. (This distillation removes whatever color is left behind, namely from the Cognac.)
Describing Aga Vie leads terms that are exactly as you’d expect: The nose is sweet like tequila, and the body offers an agave punch plus some of that brandied sweetness. To dig into the details, when you first get a whiff of Aga Vie, imagine not blanco but reposado tequila (there’s some wood in there), with a little honey thrown into the mix. On the palate, things get weird. The tequila’s there — though it’s not particularly definable beyond indistinct agave notes — but it’s considerably overpowered by the sweetness of the Cognac. Aga Vie doesn’t delineate the proportions of tequila to brandy in this spirit, and it’s hard to tell whether a little expensive Cognac goes a long way in a lot of cheaper tequila or whether it’s the other way around, but either way the mixture will be confusing to anyone who’s accustomed to drinking either of the two. The vanilla notes from the Cognac make you feel like you’re drinking an older tequila stock at first, but the impression soon fades as a hefty sweetness takes hold on your throat. The spirit ends with a mouth-coating candy-like character that is hard to shake and which, all things considered, is the only part of the experience that isn’t particularly satisfying.
The natural question you might ask next is: But why? Why would you take perfectly good tequila and Cognac and blend them together? The official story on the Aga Vie website evokes the French occupation of Mexico (a brief period in the country’s history), but I doubt anyone was mixing up tequila and Cognac during those years. Whether we should be doing that now is left as an exercise for the reader.
80 proof.
B- / $45 / agavie.com
Aga Vie Esprit D'Agave
$45
need to get AGA VIE LOCALLY IN BEVERLY hILL
The owner of the brand, Aga-VIE is Andrew Hibbert, his company is Innovation Spirits LLC, Newport Beach, CA 949) 955-3832. Email: info@innovationspirits.com
I am a friend of Andrew and this Aga-vie is a winner! It would be perfect in Beverly Hills! Yea the IVY and the Polo Lounge! And everywhere else!
how are you. I own a few liquor stores in MI and have had a few customers ask about your product when is it making its way down here
Where can we find aga vie in Southern California?