“The Most Special Aged Agave Spirit We’ve Ever Sold” — Ultra-Rare, Cask-Strength Chato Barrel

The legend of Caballito Cerrero begins with Don Alfonso Jiménez Rosales, a prominent member of the Tequila Herradura family. When his family refused to approve of his love interest, Don Alfonso sold his shares in the business and purchased a centuries-old fábrica hidden deep within a canyon. There, he distilled tequila not for commerce, but for the sheer love of the craft.

That devotion lives on today through his son and grandson, known collectively as Los Javiers. The father-son duo—Javier Jiménez Vizcarra and Javier Jiménez Terán—produce just 6,000 liters of agave spirit annually. By trade, they are contract lawyers who set aside time each year to make a tiny amount of exceptional spirit. Because the Jiménez family never registered with the CRT, their liquid cannot legally be called tequila, even though their production predates the organization and still meets every traditional benchmark. Legend has it they gave the CRT the middle finger, though Javier himself explains that they simply found the registration process unnecessary and burdensome.

The result speaks for itself. Even without the name, this is among the finest agave spirits in existence. The distillery lies hidden in the hills north of Amatitán, down a rough dirt road that drops steeply into the Tecuane Canyon. Built in 1873, the facility still operates much as it always has. Agave is delivered to the plateau above and gravity-fed into brick ovens for slow, even roasting. Each batch fills just one fermentation tank. Crushed with a vintage roller mill, the agave fibers are returned for a second pass and then pressed by hand with a trowel to extract every drop of juice. Before fermentation, the juice passes through a sieve, leaving larger fibers behind. This painstaking, fully manual process is unlike anything else in the region.

After open-air fermentation, the juice is distilled in both stainless steel and copper. No one knows exactly why the spirits from this canyon taste so much better than nearly anything else in the valley, but the Jiménez family’s passion is palpable in every drop. Free from the constraints of CRT regulations, they can also use agave varieties beyond Blue Weber. When we tasted this barrel of Chato, we knew it couldn’t slip away. Even more remarkable: after selecting barrel #10, we learned it had been transferred to a second cask due to a leak—making this the first double-barrel reposado ever exported by the distillery.

Of the 6,000 liters produced each year, only one or two barrels contain Chato. Fewer than 400 liters are bottled per vintage, making this an exceptionally rare release. Offered at full cask strength (100.8 proof) with zero additives, this is the most special aged agave spirit we’ve ever sold. Step aside, Fortaleza—the real legend is waiting at the bottom of the ravine.

The color is that of pale white wine (0.1), a reminder that both barrels used for aging have already been in service at the distillery for decades.

-David Othenin-Girard, K&L Spirits Buyer