Tequila Ocho Reposado La Ladera 2021 Review

The Musty One in the Family

Hey, my nose works! First sniff and—whoa—buttery. Which, for a second, got my hopes up.

Now before we go any further, let’s be fair to Ocho. They do things differently. Each year, they release four different Reposados, Blancos, and Añejos—all from separate agave estates. That means the flavors can vary widely. We’re talking estate-specific agave, regional terroir shifts, and the tequila equivalent of different cousins showing up to the reunion with wildly different vibes. If you’re curious how they break it down, check out their different estates here: Tequila Ocho Terroir

I say that because if this bottle spoke for all of them, the rest should smack it across the face, shush it, and exile it to the corner. This isn’t the family representative—it’s the awkward one making everyone uncomfortable.

The flavor? Straight-up musty. Like an old dusty crawl space that hasn’t seen daylight since the 80s. And no, that wasn’t a one-time thing. I came back to this bottle several times hoping I was wrong. I wasn’t. That musty note was always up front, proud, and unbothered.

There are some cinnamon and baking spice notes hanging out, plus a faint campfire wisp—but they’re just background noise while the crawl space flavor tells its life story. And I didn’t ask for that.

This one just didn’t work for me. But let’s be clear: this is one estate, one harvest, one year. That’s the beauty—and risk—of estate-bottled tequila. Don’t write off Tequila Ocho as a whole. They’ve got plenty of bottles that absolutely deliver, including estate blancos that have become some of my all-time favorites.

And hey—if anyone from Ocho is listening—send me the full lineup next year. Blancos, repos, añejos from every estate. I’ll break them all down one by one and give each their moment. A guy can dream, right? here is the review.

🥃🥃1/2 (2.5 Tequila Glasses)