Cincoro — A Review of Michael Jordan’s Tequila

Oops, there’s something wrong with Cincoro Tequila, the VERY expensive “premium” tequila from Michael Jordan and his business partners; Wyc Grousbeck, Emilia Fazzalari, Jeanie Buss and Wes Edens. A who’s who in the basketball world.

As far as tequilas go, most people tell me I know my stuff. I have a collection of over 100 bottles from as many brands. Some are incredible, but most are not worth the glass they sit in. It’s a tough challenge finding tequilas that you like in this day and age.

Growing up in Chicago, my family and I have always been huge Bulls fans. Considering that tequila is my favorite drink, I couldn’t wait until I got my hands on a bottle of MJ’s tequila. I ordered the three expressions I could afford; Blanco ($75.00) Reposado ($87.00) and Anejo ($140.00). The Extra Anejo retails for $1,600, sorry Mike, I can’t swing it. Having read the press releases and details of the project, I was thrilled to hear them claim that they don’t work with a contract brand distillery. These types of distilleries are known for using immature agave and adding additives, such as; glycerin, oak extract, caramel and other artificial colors and sweeteners to compensate for the lack of flavor. In an interview with Forbes magazine, Emilia Fazzalari said of the 100 distilleries in Mexico, “A lot of them are contract distilleries. You can walk in and pick a tequila and put it in a cool bottle and do a marketing play. It never even occurred to us to do that”.

Sorry Emilia, I have to call foul. Clearly, you are not telling the truth. I did some research and, Cincoro is manufactured in a contract distillery which bottles 96 other brands, according to Tequila Matchmaker. In fact, the distillery produces more contract brands than any other in Mexico.

But how does Cincoro taste? Well, let’s start with the Cincoro Blanco. The smell is light, but the taste is heavy. It has a thick and oily mouth feel reminiscent of cough syrup. This is often a characteristic of tequilas that have added glycerin. Brands sometimes do this to give the illusion of an aged product, which is odd because Blanco is unaged.

The Cincoro Reposado is not much better. It smells of aspartame or some sort of chemical sweetener, tastes just as artificial and burns the throat on the way down. Overall, it is a very weird tequila.

Finally, Anejo. I was holding out hope, but, I was sorely disappointed. The Cincoro Anejo starts out a bit oaky and then becomes just as artificial as the Reposado and just as oily as the Blanco. It is as if they poured Splenda and canola oil in the bottle. All three Cincoro expressions have additives and they all taste artificial.

All of these characteristics are common among the industrial size distilleries that produce so many brands. It is unfortunate too, this could have been a great tequila. All they had to do was work with a more reputable distiller and care more about the product.

One positive note however…the bottle itself is beautiful! Tall and angular, the five sides of the bottle pay homage to the five co-founders. It even has an agave embedded in the glass. According to the Forbes interview with Fazzalar … “with most ultra-premium spirits, selecting the perfect bottle was paramount to giving the brand a mystique”. Apparently, Jordan focused on the design with his longtime collaborator Mark Smith, Nike’s vice president of innovation special projects.

Unfortunately, even though the bottle is nice, the Cincoro closure is cheap glass and poorly made. Upon my second time opening the Cincoro bottle, the cap itself snapped in half, spraying glass everywhere and the cork got stuck in the neck of the bottle. See pictures below.

All in all, I am deeply disappointed. Not only does this tequila taste awful and synthetic, the cap is a nightmare to take on and off. I really did not enjoy spending next 15 minutes picking up broken glass.

MJ, from the bottom of my heart, I was hoping Cincoro would be my new favorite tequila, but alas… you missed the shot at the buzzer.

Bottom Line:

Cincoro Blanco = Oily

Cincoro Reposado = Weird

Cincoro Anejo = Undrinkable

Sincerely,

Eric Swanson

Tequila Connoisseur