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Brand of Promise: The Bad Stuff Extra Añejo Tequila Review
Mike Morales & Alex Perez, Tequila Aficionado Media • May 05, 2020
Ladies and gentlemen, we have been waiting with baited breath for The Bad Stuff Tequila.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to be tasting and dissecting The Bad Stuff! Let me tell you right off the bat, Mike is going to nominate this tequila for Brand of Promise just in the packaging category. It’s a soft finish and the whole story is inside.
But, as always, we’re going to taste the stuff first, and then give you all the background information. People are gonna ask us, “What the hell does it taste like?!” because we can get carried away just by the background information. We feel it’s really important that you get the whole story.
It’s a really good looking bottle. It’s gorgeous! It’s elegant; it fits really nicely in your hand, and look at the color! The Bad Stuff looks and feels very nice; it will display beautifully. It’s long, tall, elegant, and has narrow shoulders and a long neck. The color on this thing is beautiful!
We are going to pour ours in our handy-dandy Glencairn glass. Like we said, we’re going to taste the juice first, and then get into the back story.
The nose on this is amazing! What a beautiful color. It’s a deep gold; no sign of copper, it’s gold. Every once in a while, we have had Extra Añejos that have had a little bit of a red going through it, kind of like a brassy gold. This one has none of that. This one is very beautiful. For those of you listening on the podcast and cannot see, beautiful legs and tears. It’s nicely sheathing; it’s not clinging to the glass - just nice, even tears.
Alex quickly takes a sip. “Sorry, I didn’t wait for you on that one. I couldn’t resist”, he laughs. Sometimes, Alex can’t help himself.
It is really caramel and really heavy honey on the nose, as well as butterscotch. Wow! That center - there’s something scotchy in the center. It’s got a great nose; it’s all barrel though. It’s very different though. It’s not dried fruit. Like we said, it’s butterscotch with some vanilla notes. We have not had a nose like this in a very, very long time. Both of us have had some great Extra Añejos and primarily, we get the dried fruit scent. This is a whole other nose, man! This is not what we expected!
Mike dives in now that Alex has already had a taste. For an Extra Añejo, you’re not going to get the cloying sweetness that’s going to stick to your palate with The Bad Stuff. This is the real deal. This is dry, but has a sweet nose, and it even goes in a little sweet, as well.
We are loving this nose! It’s nose is completely different; it is just lovely! We’re not even getting baking spices, as you would in your typical Extra Añejo. We’re not getting that tobacco, dark chocolate, or mineral notes, either. This is very different.
On the second taste, The Bad Stuff is still really great on the palate. It’s not resting on your palate. It’s not cloying nor sticking, and we love the dryness. Alex notes it’s medium finish. Mike is getting nuts and almonds - nutty notes, but not getting as much wood though. We really like The Bad Stuff - this is really good.
The Bad Stuff is not a typical Extra Añejo. And, you know, the Extra Añejo category has now become typical. It is a category now, and sometimes there are flavor profiles that you expect to see.
Let’s give you a background check and the reason we know who this is. The Bad Stuff comes from Felipe Soto Mares, who is a long time Tequila Catador from the Southern California area. He is a Maestro Catador, and he’s really an entrepreneur and a visionary when it comes to food and beverage.
The reason this tequila is called “The Bad Stuff” is because of one of the investors who convinced Felipe to actually market this tequila got the naming rights. He goes, “Let’s drink the bad stuff”, bad meaning good. When we were growing up, bad meant good. If he had waited another five or ten years, it might have been called “The Rad Stuff”. It’s like “phat”, with a “ph-”. Mike is a little bit older than Alex; he could have called it “The BOSS Stuff”, because stuff was “boss”. And The Bad Stuff is really, really good and really different.
During the 1920s, Roberto Mares Sr. (Felipe’s Grandfather) and his family left Mexico due to the Cristero Revolution, and fled to the US during Prohibition. With Prohibition came great opportunity. Mares harvested the local blue agave, fermented and distilled it, and then drove to the speakeasies of San Diego and Los Angeles selling tequila to support his family. The Mares Family and the Soto Family married, and the craft of making tequila was passed down. Two generations later, Felipe Soto Mares, the Master Tequila Maker, has perfected this recipe.
“This stuff is BAD - The Bad Stuff!”
Now, here’s why we know Felipe. For the longest time, Felipe wanted to launch his own tequila, and it took him a long time. He was promoting this brand before he could even import it. He was also one of the main head judges of Spirits of Mexico. So we got to know the guy from several years of being involved. He was the head of a branch of the Mexican Tequila Academy in the San Diego County area for a while. A lot of us know him - he’s been in the business for a long time. He’s very generous and very easy to learn from, as well. He’s a teacher, and still has connections with the current Mexican Tequila Academy.
His ultra-premium, small batch Extra Añejo tequila is made out of 100% pesticide-free, estate-grown blue Weber agave from the highlands of Arandas, and is aged over three years in virgin French oak barrels.
The Bad Stuff is an award-winner already. Glorious Spirits made it a winner as Best of Class. It’s kosher. All the information you need to know is on the back of the box and also on the bottle.
And how about that bottle! Elegant bottle, love the box. It’s even got Felipe’s signature right there on the label. It shows the bottle number on each label as well. Mike got 1207 of 1680 and Alex has 1114 of 1680. By the way, their crest is Felipe Soto Mares’s family crest, if we’re not mistaken. It’s beautiful!
You can catch them on Instagram @thebadstufftequila. They do a lot of neat stuff on Instagram. It’s very much approachable on their Instagram and Facebook, as well.
The Bad Stuff is worth every penny...This is NOT your typical Extra Añejo
The price point for The Bad Stuff is $200+. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s worth every penny. This is really good. This is not your typical Extra Añejo, which there are some out there now that are just typical, alright. Both of us have had enough of these, we already know what to expect. This one, The Bad Stuff, is a very, very pleasant surprise. And now that we’ve read that it’s got the French oak barrels - the funny thing is when we’ve had French oak, we’ve had the cocoa and the chocolate flavor, we’re not getting any of that.
We got more notes of almonds, nuts, beautiful vanilla notes - but not even baking spices. “I’m not sure how he’s doing this,” Mike laughs in wonder.
Alex states that he’s still exploring as he pours himself another glass. This Extra Añejo is really complex. There’s a lot of layers going on.
The nose is amazing, and it’s not perfumey. It’s not like flowers, but it’s not like cologne either. You may have seen some of the old videos or listen to us on the podcast, where Mike will say, “I want to wear this as cologne.” Well, he doesn’t want to wear The Bad Stuff as cologne. He really wants to smell it and taste it. The Bad Stuff is really different and beautiful.
Wow. Brand of Promise, hands down! Go get yourself
a bottle of The Bad Stuff; you will not be sorry!
FTC Disclaimer: All samples are received free of charge but no payment is accepted by Tequila Aficionado or its agents for reviews. All reviews are the opinions of those participating in the tasting and positive reviews are never guaranteed.
Source: Mike Morales & Alex Perez, Tequila Aficionado Media
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5/5/2020
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