My memories of Tres Generaciones Tequila go back a long way. It was one of the first distilleries I ever toured, back on my first visit to the town of Tequila around when we were first launching Luxury Latin America.
The previous bottle design looked older than my memories though, so apparently the parent company Sauza decided it was time for a change. I spotted this new version at the bar recently when I was in the Riviera Maya and I decided to do a new taste test since I was staying at an all-inclusive resort. (That’s one of the great advantages of those places: if there’s anything you haven’t tried before, you just ask for it with no worries about what it would normally cost in a bar.)
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The new design is certainly more contemporary, perhaps an attempt to pull in some younger consumers that Sauza might have lost out on as tequila overtook vodka recently as the best-selling spirit in the USA. Sauza sells loads of its signature low-end tequila, but that’s not something to stake your reputation on. You really don’t want to do anything with that except make basic margaritas in bulk.
As you probably guessed, the name means “3 generations” in English, a reference to how long the family has been running the brand. They are surely onto the 5th or 6th generation by now if the family is still involved since the company was founded in 1873. The 3rd generation actually took over in the 1930s.
They’re on their 5th or 6th corporate owner now too it seems. Past spirits portfolios they have been part of include Pedro Domecq, Allied Domecq, Fortune Brands, and Beam, Inc. Eventually that last one was purchased by Suntory of Japan for $16 billion, with their U.S. base in Chicago. Besides the namesake Sauza, the company also distills Hornitas at their distillery in Jalisco.
Tres Generaciones Tequila Tasting Notes
I had plenty of time to review Tres Generaciones Tequila this time around, with no distractions. It was just me and the bartender and a glass. So first I tried the reposado and then moved on to the añejo, sipping and taking notes.
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Both versions share a few things in common: 100% blue agave, triple-distilled, aged in American oak barrels. The main difference is the time spent aging in the barrels. For the reposado that is four months, for the añejo it is twelve months.
Tres Generaciones Reposado
I was happily surprised with this one, finding it much better than I remembered from my tastings more than a decade ago. I’m not sure if it has gotten better or my memories are just hazy from too much tequila. It’s far more subtle than most reposados from the same region around the town of Tequila itself, with a rounded structure and no “off” notes in the mix.
When I got a whiff of it before tasting, the nose was quite powerful, so I was expecting something akin to a Cuervo, Herradura, or Orendain offering-all in the same area. Just as Cuervo’s Centenario is lighter and sweeter than some of the others from the same company though, the Tres Generaciones reposado is surprisingly smooth. After a while in the glass the nose got lighter as well, so perhaps it just needed to air out a little.
The key thing is, this tastes like an expensive reposado that’s refined, not something you would get in a cantina in Mexico after going through the swinging wood doors. It’s not meant to put hair on your chest. It’s a version that can appeal to a wide variety of sippers, including those who are just starting to find the joy of sipping tequila neat.
3 Generations Anejo
You don’t see a lot of Mexicans drinking añejo tequila except as an after-dinner drink at a nice restaurant or home dinner party, so I’d imagine most of these bottles get exported to the USA and Europe. Consumers in those two countries already have a long tradition of drinking aged spirits and fortified wines like Cognac, so there’s more demand for them it seems.
While the version with four months of aging tasted different than I remembered, this Tres Generaciones añejo one put me right back in the distillery during my first visit. I feel like this aged version hasn’t changed any, which is probably a good thing. Just a different bottle.
The agave sweetness I noted in the first version continues to shine through here, more than with a lot of 12-month+ versions where the wood takes over. That’s probably due, in part, to the triple-distillation. For that reason, it would work better as an after-dinner drink than some others that have lost much of their residual sweetness in the aging.
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The nose was as expected, agave and oak with an alcohol burn, but the first sip had more of a burn than I expected, a bit harsh around the edges. After an exhale though to blow out the alcohol vapors, it settled down and hit all the taste buds nicely. The finish was nice, with all the elements you’d expect from a solid tequila aged for 12 months in oak barrels.
It doesn’t go much beyond that though, which is probably appropriate for an aged tequila that sells for around $50 in the USA, less in Mexico. There aren’t a lot of complex notes to this and it tastes like something rolled off a production line to be marketable to the masses, with no surprises. Oddly, it’s only a tiny shade darker than the reposado as well.
Overall this came across as a “middle-of-the-road” anejo to me: interesting enough to make me want to refill my sipping glass, but not something I’d give as a gift saying, “You’ve got to try this!” It’s kind of what I was expecting after touring their facility so long ago. Their factory is very industrialized, with all kinds of measures in place aimed at increasing efficiency and output, not at delivering any kind of artistry. (They extract the agave juice and cook it, for example, instead of roasting the agave until it carmelizes and then pressing it.) While the name may reflect a long history, they’re not holding onto any of the old ways like Cascahuin.
Pricing and Conclusion
The reposado version goes for $35 to $45, the anejo from $45 to $60, both at a space in the market where there are a lot of contenders, so it won’t break the bank if you take a flyer on it. Again, there are no offputting qualities to either of these and your guests will probably be happy if you break this brand out and start pouring it at your house. After my tests, I would buy the reposado, but probably wait for another all-inclusive resort stay to drink the other.
I’d more highly recommend the 1800 añejo, Milagro, Dano’s Dangerous, or 99,000 Horas if you see them for around the same price. It may be a different story at the duty free airport shop though: Tres Generaciones seems to always be on a “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” deal, which would tip the scales.
For more info, see the official website and put in your birthday to enter it.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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