Tequila Pairings and Product Launches at Casa Herradura

Tequila might not seem a suitable pairing beverage for a gourmet luncheon. Unless you’€™re at Casa Herradura, the Tequila Herradura distillery in Amatitan, Jalisco . A five-course lunch on Oct. 22 Casa Herradura was paired with the full Tequila Herradura product line’€”including the brand’€™s new Cognac Cask Finish Reposado.

Chef David Salgado from Paralelo 28 restaurant in Guadalajara prepared the lunch, which started with a Baja clam ceviche, with black radish and cilantro and ginger foam with smoked avocado mousse; the course was paired with Herradura Blanco Original. The second course, a boneless roast quail stuffed with thyme, mint and breadcrumbs, served on a bed of Herradura Reprosado flambé peaches, with vanilla and kafir lime beurre blanc, was matched with Herradura Reprosado.

A third course of tangerine and cardamom sorbet had a dash of Herradura Reprosado tequila. The fourth course was a Casa Herradura agave-braised lamb shank with sautéed baby greens and black truffle mashed potatoes; it was paired with Herradura anjejo.

The final course paired a bitter chocolate truffle with the new Coleccion de la Casa, Reserva 2013–Cognac Cask Finish Reposado, which Casa Herradura officially launched Oct. 24 . The small-batch tequila was crafted by its master distiller Maria Teresa Lara using traditional production methods and a proprietary fermentation from naturally-occurring wild yeast. Herradura ages the tequila in American oak barrels for 11 months, then transfers it to French oak casks sourced from France’€™s Cognac region for three more months.

The release is the second of Herradura’€™s small-batch tequilas; the first was a 2012 Port Cask Finished Reposado that came out last spring. The Cognac Cask Finish Reposado will be available throughout the U.S in November at a suggested retail price of $89.99 for a 750-ml. bottle. Owned by Brown-Forman since 2007, Herradura has been producing tequila in Amatitan since 1870.