Recently a friend of mine asked me about what to keep in mind when buying tequila. Here's my answer:
Here are my golden rules that I use when buying tequila:
• The tequila has to be añejo or reposado, which means it has aged and looks yellowish, not white at all. The white tequila is very young and though it tastes really good –pretty much all margaritas are prepared with this kind of tequila- it hasn’t yet fully achieved the more complex and sophisticated flavor the aged tequilas have. Añejo is the oldest thus is more expensive but it’s the best. To fully enjoy añejos and reposados you have to take them on a straight shot.
• The tequila has to be made of 100% agave (some labels say “100% blue agave”)
• The tequila has to come from Jalisco, Mexico. Similar to Champagne, which has to come from that specific French region to be called Champagne, if it’s made elsewhere it’ll be called “sparkling wine”. However, Tequila a town in Jalisco, Mexico is the ONLY place on earth with the kind of soil needed to plant blue agave and create tequila. We in Mexico have lots of other alcohol drinks that come from agave but they are not tequila, they are mezcal (from Oaxaca), or pulque (from Central Mexico), etc. These are as good and complex as any good tequila (if I could tell you about pulque, you’d forget about tequila!), just they are not tequila.
The regular and well known brands that I prefer in Mexico and that strictly comply with my rules (I think you can find them here too) are: El Jimador (reposado, not expensive at all but darn good!), Sauza Conmemorativo (reposado/añejo though it’s Sauza is also good), Cazadores (both white and reposado are good), Don Julio (reposado, good!), Herradura Añejo (Yummy! I love it!), Corralejo Añejo (only for very special occasions).
Then there’s a plethora of new and very sophisticated tequilas (like the one I brought to Trish’s party) which names I don’t remember (maybe “Milagro”?) so in these cases I just follow my three rules above.
Note that I’m not a connoisseur so I’m only passing on info that I’ve gathered during the years from my own experiences and from friends and family. Somebody from Jalisco or from the “PhD” program that Elaine mentioned last night might give you more or better info.
Hope I didn’t sound too academic (boring! …)
Salucita!
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Also see:
A new name in Tequila
San Francisco socialite provides the cash; Southern California woman, the image
Linda Murphy, Special to The Chronicle
Friday, September 15, 2006
(09-15) 04:00 PDT AMATITAN, Mexico -- Drive 30 minutes northwest of Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city, and a periwinkle carpet of blue agave plants begins to unfold, at first in patches, then eventually covering entire hillsides of red soils deposited 200,000 years ago by the eruption of Tequila Volcano.
Look closer and the lavender-blue plush shag becomes jagged and severe. The blue agave's razor-sharp, barbed, 6-foot-long leaves pierce the sky -- and any gringa foolish enough to get too close.
