About a month ago, liquor stores in Guadalajara started prominently displaying a new innovation in tequila presentations – tequila in a can! Actually, a half can, like the new mini Cokes. Of course, we’ve already seen mixed drinks such as palomas in a (full-sized) can, but we’ve never seen straight 100% agave tequila artfully siphoned into an aluminum receptacle with a pop top for our drinking enjoyment. But this is just what the brand La Gavilana did, offering up its canned reposado for about $5 bucks. Needless to say, we had to give it a try.

I’ll be honest – I had my hesitations. Tinny tequila did not sound appetizing. However, the company’s website assured me that a can was the perfect presentation for this tequila because it was easy to chill, easy to transport and recyclable. It also said that this repo is aged 6 to 8 months in American Oak, and is not only double distilled, but filtered!

Despite these assurances, I felt that my evaluation would be tainted by the can factor so I asked my brother Matt Pruitt, who is a member of the punk rock band The Have Nots, to help me assess it. Perhaps it wouldn’t meet my standards, but what about the standards of a touring, hard drinking, hard partying punk who can’t afford to spend $60 (or $30) on a nice bottle of tequila. At 5 shots for $5, maybe it would suffice.

Continue reading, see us taste it for the first time…

A couple weeks ago we went back to the States and discovered that the tequila fairies had sent us the full line of Tequila Semental. They came in attractive bottles that feature a picture window of a fierce bull, suggesting that the tequila might be “fuerte,” with strong or astringent characteristics.

Then we read that the tequila is triple distilled so we scrapped the thought—a third distillation typically smooths the tequila significantly.

Apparently, “Semental” refers to bulls that are considered the strongest and bravest of their kind, and so are used for mating. Or, they are bulls considered so brave and skilled in the bullring that they are spared from death.

Would this tequila prove to live up to its bold name? We sat down with our friend Mark Alberto Holt and did some sampling.

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When we heard that winemaking behemoth E. & J. Gallo was getting into the tequila business, our interest was peaked. How would Gallo — best known for its omnipresent, lower-priced tipples approach the over-crowded tequila market? Well, they started on the right foot when they aligned themselves with the Camarena family, which has been making tequila in the highlands of Jalisco for six generations. This gave their brand clout, and they took it one step further by naming their tequila Familia Camarena.

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The other day we visited David Yan, Marketing Director for Casa Noble tequila in Mexico, at his house in Guadalajara. Part of David’s job is to bring guests to the Casa Noble distillery, conduct tastings and delve into the fine points of how to really taste and enjoy tequila. When it comes to tequila tastings, David really knows his stuff.

During our visit, David showed us how to warm up our mouths for tastings. Yes! You need to warm up so don’t sprain anything. Okay, it’s actually to activate your taste sensors. (See the video on how to warm up your mouth.)

Once we were done with the warm up, he tapped into his collection of treasure bottles and let us sample a 11-12 year old Casa Noble Crystal, second release. This is Casa Noble blanco from another era entirely, and given how much I enjoy their current blanco I couldn’t wait to try it.

Continue reading/see the video…

Scarlet of TasteTequila.com to be guest host of live tequila show this week!

Have you ever wished there really was a bar where everyone knew your name and were always glad you came? Few of us have this in real life, but there is a special place where tequila lovers can gather (virtually) once a week, on the Tequila Whisperer show.

The Tequila Whisperer is a live online show hosted by Michael Lipman (aka Lippy), who tastes and critiques tequilas on the air, oozing tequila love while sharing his knowledge of the spirit. Lippy is fun to watch (see the little video promo that we created when he attended our “Drain The Bar” party earlier this year) and he has a tried and true audience of tequila lovers who trade information, opinions, salacious comments and fun-loving barbs in the rolling chat log.

Continue reading / watch video…