Alright, alright, jail for me parking this under the Mezcal/Tequila section - but are you not the least bit curious how Kendall Jenner's tequila tastes like?

Well, I took one for the team.

I had popped by a good friend's house one evening and it was almost befitting that I found a bottle of 818 Tequila, the Anejo expression (aged 1-3 years) to be specific, amidst a room whose aesthetic screamed California hot girl summer. It just made sense - of course, I'd find a bottle of 818 Tequila here, where else.

Whilst waiting for my friend to figure out what clothes were to be donned that night, I decided to help myself to some of the tequila. What else was there to do aside from exploit the free wifi.

For the sake of posterity, 818 Tequila - named after the postal code of Kendall Jenner's hometown of Calabasas, California, US - is one of the crop of celebrity tequilas, a manifestation of this wave of celebrity-branded products. Which is itself quite remarkable I might add - celebrities the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and many others are no longer contented with brand endorsements, and have become more business-people than simply actors.

And it has paid off brilliantly, many of whom have seen their brands acquired by large conglomerates for hundreds of millions of dollar. While it's easy to call bullshit on these products, I still marvel at how adaptable these celebrities are - it really does take quite a fair amount of hustle and vision no?

And so in classic celebrity-brand style, 818 Tequila as you might be unsurprised to hear, is of course sourced from a tequilero. The usual process goes something like this - celebrity is brought to the facility, they taste a couple of samples and then choose one of them, which they then work together to help brand, and is now "their" tequila.

If this horrifies you, it might blow your mind to know that this is prevalent in anywhere from Japanese sakes and American bourbons, where distilleries and breweries provide bulk production and not even celebrities, but whole businesses focus on just the marketing side of things - so really, not the most unusual thing here.

| Read: What’s The Big Deal with Celebrity Tequilas, Anyway?

How do we know 818 tequila's production was outsourced? Well, for one does anyone genuinely believe Kendall Jenner's out there in Jalisco working the agave fields? And even if you did believe it, tequilas typically come with NOMs which is a code that tells you where the tequila is made - a sort of postal code or business ID if you will.

Early on, 818 had been produced at NOM 1607 which is the Mieles Campos Azules - this was also around the time when Kendall Jenner had fended off critics by showcasing that her 818 tequila had actually won several competitions when entered blind - implying that it was of legitimately good quality, never mind her association with it. However, when 818 was commercially released, it seemed that production had shifted to NOM 1137, which is known to be the place where many other celebrity tequilas are produced such as George Clooney's Casamigos. 

It's quite amusing how this photo Kendall posted was reported for promoting "irresponsible consumption" - in my books, this tells you exactly what you should expect from the tequila.

As such, I suppose this has fuelled critics who claim that Kendall Jenner has in fact little involvement with the tequila-making - no shit, Sherlock. That seemed more than obvious.

In any case, I think perhaps of all the "controversy" surrounding 818 Tequila, the one that is probably worth taking note of is the fact that additives have been added to it to give off flavors of caramel and vanilla. 

For the anejo expression, it's supposedly aged in a blend of French and American oak barrels.

In any case, let's get to tasting it.

818 Tequila Anejo (AKA Kendall Jenner's Tequila) - Review

Tasting Notes

Color: Honey

Aroma: There's an intense note of caramel corn and bubblegum, and actually very rounded - no heat or spikiness whatsoever. Lots of caramel custard pudding, almost alittle bit of honeyed pecans and butterscotch. Definitely very sweet but quite enticing - who doesn't like caramel, really.

Taste: Very smooth and creamy here, again intense notes of caramel corn, cotton candy and butterscotch. There's no sharpness, bitterness or heat here.

Finish: Here it does get a slight bit more vegetal and bitter but still really soft, and in a way that does give a nice balance to the otherwise confectionary sweet taste on the palate. There's a long, mellow warmth as well.

My Thoughts

For what it's worth this actually tastes really good - if you tasted it blind what you'd probably think is that this was a really smooth, mellow, rounded, sweet dessert beverage - although it is pretty obvious from the aromas and taste that something has been added because of the sheer intensity of how confectionary it is. Now this is all judging it purely on how it tastes - which get why it's so popular.

Now, here's the catch - this tastes absolutely nothing like tequila. Does it taste good? Well, most people would say caramel tastes good - so in that sense, yes. But does it taste like what a textbook tequila tastes like? Not in the slightest - there's no vegetal quality to it, or pepperiness, minerality and even the light dried fruits - it's much, much sweeter, and in fact alittle closer to a grain whisky or a corn-heavy bourbon.

So there you have it - it tastes like caramel corn for the most part, which is why it's so popular because it's really sweet and easy to drink, and tastes absolutely nothing like tequila.

TLDR: a nice sweet tasting drink, does not taste like tequila.

Images courtesy of 818 Tequila and Kendall Jenner.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot