ArteNOM 1414 Tequila, Reposado 100% Agave, Lote ANREP1813 (40%, 70cl)

For over a decade, Jacob Lustig managed the tequila and mezcal portfolio of the largest liquor distributor in the United States. Lustig has had a lifetime of experience in the tequila industry: as a child, his family moved back and forth between San Francisco and Oaxaca, Mexico. Later, as a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Lustig studied the history of the Mexican liquor business.

"My passion for nuanced and unique agave spirits began in southern Mexico during the early 1990s," says Jacob, "when I renovated a centuries-old Oaxacan mezcal distillery after concluding an intensive study of regional mezcal distillation and its myriad production configurables." As the manager of a tequila and mezcal portfolio, "I was able to work closely with over forty of Jalisco's finest tequila distilleries."

Selección ArteNOM Tequila is the first and only company authorized by the Tequila Regulatory Council to bottle tequilas from different distilleries and release them under a single brand name. "A prevailing regulation in the tequila industry specifically prohibits the bottling of any brand in multiple locations, in order to assure aficionados consistent flavor and quality in their preferred mark," says Jacob, but after years of working with the Tequila Regulatory Council, Jacob was granted permission. Gratefully, the Selección ArteNOM Tequilas are now being applauded in both Mexico and the United States.

ArteNOM Seleccion de 1414 Tequila Reposado is produced in Arandas, Jalisco (elevation: 5,400 feet) by master distiller José Manuel Vivanco at the Destileria El Ranchito. Vivanco is a fourth generation distiller — his great, great grandfather began cultivating agave in the highlands of Jalisco just after the Mexican Revolution. Vivanco ferments his estate-grown agave using a natural indigenous-yeast that is found in and around his distillery. After twice-distilling the agave, Vivanco ages the tequila for four months in white American oak casks that were previously used to age bourbon. Seleccion de 1414 Tequila Reposado has notes of mature agave and banana bread, followed by a long, smooth finish with notes of honey, citrus and vanilla.

Selección ArteNOM Tequila is the only project of its kind.