In late 2024, Jose Cuervo certainly made deliberate plans to cause a stir - the Tequila giant unveiled the Devil's Reserve, complete with a mosaic styled label depicting a devilish character over what I can only assume is an agave plant, housed in a specially made green tinted bottle emblazoned with a striking red band carrying its name. With an aesthetic like that, this is almost feels like Jose Cuervo's baiting us to try it - it feels like the proverbial trick or treat. The moment it was released, it felt assured that this was either going to be a party trick or a cult favorite - and today we're about to find out!

Now of course, there were considerations around the making of this - it was deliberately brought down to 30% ABV, which Jose Cuervo says is an answer to the call for lower-alcohol alternatives. It's made by infusing Jose Cuervo's Silver Tequila with some sweet heat, although it's not specified what is used to infuse the Tequila. There's even a little backstory made for the expression, "The Devil, bored and wanting a party in hell, turned to Cuervo, the master of good times. His request was simple: for every bottle of Cuervo tequila, The Devil gets his share. Jose Cuervo Tequila has been to hell and back and picked up a devilishly sweet heat along the way. And so, Devil's Reserve was born. For the first time, The Devil is ready to share it with the world." And if you take a closer look at the label you'll find traditional Mexican motifs such as loteria cards, with the Devil character rendered in a Mexican folk art style called Alebrije.

Now for what it's worth, when picking this up from the local liquor store, the man running the cash register at the store seemed pretty excited when the bottle was brought to the checkout. He'd even take it upon himself to tell me it was a good pick and he had a heck of a party with it. 

Well, we'll see if this is the real deal or just a one trick pony... or devil I should say.

Let's go!

Review: Jose Cuervo Devil's Reserve

Tasting Notes

Colour: Water, Clear

Aroma: Super vibrant and multi chromatic, high toned aromas of watermelon hard candy, pink guavas and bubblegum, wrapped around by this crunchy, peppery yet green note of chopped green bell peppers and cucumber. Yet that doesn’t fully capture just how vibrant the aromas are - it’s intensely of rose water, potpourri and fruit essences of apricots, peaches, pineapples and mangoes. Incredibly expressive and intensely powerful, yet surprisingly not punchy or prickly. Certainly eclectic.

Taste: Medium-plus bodied, it’s almost alittle syrupy and rounded. It starts off sweet and candied of simple syrup, that’s just gently infused with jalapeños, watermelon hard candy and pineapples. It’s surprisingly gentle and very approachable - enough to swirl on the palate with no bite whatsoever.

Finish: It gets alittle more savoury here, of charred meats, and charred jalapeños, and whilst it’s still moderately candied and sweet, it’s turning more dry here. It’s a clean and smooth, rounded even, finish that’s of an almost syrupy texture. Lingering jalapeños and watermelon hard candy aromatics.

My Thoughts

This is a most bizarre spirit - yet what’s most bizarre seems to be how much I actually like it. And look, nothing about this feels natural - it’s immediately apparent the moment those vibrant, multi-chromatic aromas of watermelon hard candy, green bell peppers and fruit essences radiate out intensely. So, let’s not kid ourselves on this one. But let’s leave that aside for now, for the sake of reviewing it.

Firstly, I have to say that this isn’t actually particularly spicy - but hold up, it’s very satisfying. The aromas whilst high toned and quite an eclectic mix, comes through incredibly confectionary, with perhaps the most challenging aspect for me being the crunchy and pepper greenness of it, which feels like sniffing chopped green bell peppers. But again, it’s not prickly or eye-watering.

On the palate, it’s surprisingly rounded and almost syrupy. It’s certainly sweet and candied, and whilst the aromas were quite intense, on the palate it’s far more approachable and gentle. Heck, you can even roll it around the tongue with no burn at all. As mentioned, it’s candied and here the flavours are much more gentle. Into the finish is where it gets quite interesting from an evaluative standpoint - it almost brings down the richness of the body, to showcase this firm and well-defined savouriness of charred meats and jalapeños. I can’t help but think of cheesy nachos topped with jalapeños for some reason. Yet, it’s still really approachable, still with some of that candied quality that wasn’t totally stripped out. Those jalapeños and watermelon hard candy linger on, and by now you kind of almost love it.

And so what’s so satisfying here is that on the palate, it’s got a great texture to it, syrupy and rich. The flavours whilst wacky are also vibrant and gentle in taste, infused into this candied quality. The finish is surprisingly complex and evolves really nicely to a clean and firm finish. And so quite honestly this really is very enjoyable, with perhaps the aromas the most shocking (and a little bit challenging unless you regularly snort chopped green peppers). Call me mildly horrified - at my enjoyment of this.

PS. I think chilled and served as a slushy, this would be pretty incredible.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot