Tequila of the Week: Gran Centenario Cristalino is gorgeous from pour to finish

Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage (or food) that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

Writing this column has generally been terrible for my liver but wonderful in terms of broadening my boozing horizons. Case in point: I actively avoided tequila before coming to USA Today, thinking it was the one spirit I couldn’t drink owing to the same awful, terrible college tequila experience pretty much all of us have had.

Turns out, nope, I just needed to drink something other than Pepe Lopez.

That’s led to a lot of great sips in an expanding market trying to find a balance between established brands, old school quality and, more and more, celebrity branded bottles. Inside that market is a growing demand for more premium options and, well, an oak-aged, extra filtered variety is an easy sell.

Despite my alcohol credentials, I hadn’t tried a cristalino tequila before a bottle of Gran Centenario arrived for review (blind spot, etc). It’s a filtered style of the classic spirit, dripped through charcoal to create a clear pour without losing the barrel-aged elements that imparted some of that rich wood color in the first place. It all seems a little extra, but the entire tequila marketplace is extra at the moment.

Let’s see if it’s worth the additional effort.

Gran Centenario Cristalino: A

Any review has to start with how gorgeous this bottle is. The dark aqua green glass at the top tapers down to a clear so you can see the colorless spirit inside. The bottle is segmented like a skinny Hibiki whiskey. And it’s heavy. Combined with its length, it feels like something the Iron Sheik would have twirled over his head in the ring to mystify foes.

The tequila smells a bit strong from the pour, hitting you with a boozy upfront scent that gives way to agave, oak and a little pear. Since it was finished in calvados casks, that last part makes sense.

The first sip is light on the tongue but complex as it weaves its way down your throat. There’s a lot to latch on to here. Spice, fruit, vanilla and familiar tequila notes all find a moment to shine in a spirit that finishes warmly but never burns. Cinnamon, pear/apple and a little caramel/baked sugar sweetness all come through.

I keep coming back to this to figure out exactly what’s going on and I get something a little different each time. It goes light, rush of flavors, then warm, sugary spice finish. It looks like a premium tequila and tastes like one. There’s so much going on here, and it’s all great.

Would I drink it instead of a Hamm’s?

This is a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Gran Centenario Cristalino tequila over a cold can of Hamm’s?

Yes. I can safely say the $90 bottle of tequila is better than the beer that costs $15 per 30 pack.