Last week, Código 1530 unveiled its 15-Year Extra Añejo with an intimate dinner at a private members’ club in New York, hosted by brand representative Ricardo Lonam.
The evening brought together an intimate group of tequila enthusiasts, brand representatives, and friends of the house for a first tasting of the limited release tequila. Guests arrived into the club’s warm, dimly lit hotel and were led into a private event space for the evening. Before dinner, the group gathered near the bar for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. The drink menu kept Código at the center with a Paloma, Margarita, and Reposado Old Fashioned. The Paloma was the fan favorite throughout the evening, bright with grapefruit, lime, and agave.
Photo Courtesy: The Knockturnal
Around the dinner table, amber lamps, deep banquettes, and mauve florals gave the space a sophisticated members club feel. The 15-Year Extra Añejo was present in the room throughout the evening. The bottle sat in its wooden presentation case, with a certificate of authenticity. Ricardo led the dinner in a way that made the technical parts of the tasting feel personal. He spoke about Código not as a celebrity tequila, though George Strait is one of the founding partners, but as something that began privately among friends in Cabo. At first, it was simply a house tequila, with the goal of making something they were willing to drink themselves.
Photo Courtesy: The Knockturnal
Ricardo returned often to process, patience, and the difference between making tequila by design and making tequila by process. Código’s choices were not about shortcuts. The brand uses French oak wine barrels rather than the more common American oak ex-bourbon barrels. Ricardo compared the barrel to the vehicle for the journey. Both can get you somewhere, but the experience is not the same. For Código, French oak brings a softer and more layered character, giving the aged expressions fruit, spice, and wood.
Dinner and tasting were paired together. The menu included endive salad with tahini dressing and citrus, Código-cured trout with cucumber vinaigrette, a 28-ounce bone-in ribeye, grilled whole dorade and serrano tabbouleh, cauliflower steak with spicy tahini and salsa verde, and Código tequila mango sorbet. Plates were shared as the table moved through each expression. The ribeye, sliced thick and served with compound butter, became one of the most photogenic dishes of the night, while the dorade kept the table from feeling too heavy.
The first pour was Reposado, and it was the one I would most likely make my regular drink. In the glass, it was soft and easy to return to, with citrus, a light touch of vanilla, a little cinnamon, and enough agave spice to keep it from feeling too sweet. It can be used in a neat pour or a cocktail base, which explained why it worked so well earlier in the Paloma.
Añejo came next, darker and more rounded. Ricardo called it his personal favorite and the bottle he drinks day to day, especially with a cigar. The oak was more present here, but still not heavy. There were dried fruit notes, subtle dark chocolate, and a little banana bread quality from the way the barrels are charred. Origen, the six-year Extra Añejo, was also surprisingly smooth, with notes of maple syrup, dried fruit, spice, and tobacco.
Photo Courtesy: Código 1530
Then came the 15-Year Extra Añejo. Introduced as the brand’s crown jewel, Ricardo called it a product of “art, science, and a lot of patience.” The tequila had been aged for 15 and a half years, then finished for about six months in French Cognac casks. In the glass, the color was deep amber with a red undertone. On the nose, it had dried plum, dates, tobacco, maple, vanilla, and dark chocolate. For something aged that long, it was remarkably composed. Rich but not blunt. The Cognac finish made it softer, while the agave still stayed visible underneath the oak and dried fruit.
By the final pour, the room was still filled with conversation. Guests talked about the finish of the 15-Year Extra Añejo, the food, and the bottles they save for meaningful nights. The evening concluded with the 15-Year box being passed carefully from one guest to the next, a fitting close for a tequila built around patience, craft, and the pleasure of sharing it at the table.
