Review: Laneta Tequila Blanco and Reposado
Laneta’s website features but a single page and many images, all of which are overlaid with text. The most striking of these images features a farmer harvesting agave. “The Truth,” it proclaims, followed by a description of how the absurdly beautiful bottle and its faceted base were inspired by the toil and craft of tequila distillation. This observation isn’t intended as snide, but rather a nod to the statement of intent: it’s all about that bottle.
Co-founded in 2021 by Edward Geyman, CEO of architectural materials and design firm Carvart, Laneta has a bottle for the ages. Its form intended to evoke the agave, it’s a long, sleek obelisk of a thing. The articulated spearhead stopper alone weighs in at just over 4 ounces and feels like it’s meant to be kept as a trophy long after the bottle’s been drained.
The tequila? Right. Distilled by the Jalisco-based Case Maestri, Laneta is the latest in a long line of contract-distilled projects including E-40’s E. Cuarenta and Tesla’s Tesla. Let’s dig in.
Both expressions sit at 80 proof. NOM 1438.
Laneta Tequila Blanco – At first whiff this double distilled blanco has an additive bomb’s worth of vanillin on the nose that, when allowed to rest, opens up into notes both green and perfumey. The palate is pleasant enough: lightly vegetal, viscous with a lingering black pepper finish. I’m left searching for more agave but otherwise this is a solid base as a mixer, if not the world class blanco or even top tier sipper its vessel deserves. C- / $90 [BUY IT NOW FROM CASKERS]
Laneta Tequila Reposado – The reposado is aged in ex-bourbon barrels for eight months and it shows. It smells of chocolate covered toffees and fried dough. There’s some slight agave on the palate masked by dominant caramel flavors. It’s sweet, tacky, and that peppery finish of the blanco is there, just slightly subdued by the overwhelming dessert notes. If not as refined, it’s a tequila in the vein of Clase Azul, an objet d’art containing liquid intended to appeal to your average whiskey drinker. C / $120 [BUY IT NOW FROM CASKERS]
Laneta is a Mexican colloquialism for “the truth.” This is a tequila intended as a showpiece, something for the bar cart, and this shows in both expressions. Take a look, right there, at the top of the website. They’re nothing if not upfront about it.
Laneta Tequila Blanco
$90
